There is hardly a moment more self-offering, more natural and more opportune for 8 million Southern Cameroonians within the Republic of Cameroun to choose their better history than now, when they’re engaged in a creative battle to challenge decades of politicized controversies and end the long night of oppression and injustice.
I am mindful that only yesterday 47 of our brothers and sisters crying out for brotherhood were answered with incarceration, extradition and the threat of death.With this monumental art of historiography available on AMAZON for everyone to know the truth in its entirety, the trial of Comrade Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Comrade Tassang Wilfred, Dr Nfor Ngalla Nfor and Co. is poised to change Cameroun forever, and will only be compared to the famous trial of ANC leaders Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Nelson Mandela and Co.
In the fall of 1963, the most determined anti-apartheid activists Nelson Mandela and ten other leading opponents of South Africa’s apartheid regime faced a similar trial for their lives.
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| Emmanuel Nebafuh |
The defendants were accused of sabotage, ordering munitions, recruiting young men for guerrilla warfare, encouraging invasion for foreign military units, and conspiring to obtain funds for revolution from foreign states. The first accused, Nelson Mandela plead not guilty: “My Lord, it is not I, but the government that should be in the dock. I plead not guilty.” Each of the other defendants in turn entered not guilty pleas as well. Mandela’s plea was based on the unarmed truth about his country’s history, which eventually had the final word in reality. As a matter of fact, right temporarily defeated is always stronger than evil triumphant.
Like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki, the accomplishments of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Tassang Wilfred and Dr Nfor Ngalla Nfor (not exclusively) were breathtaking.
Amidst gathering clouds, raging storms and against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred they gave Southern Cameroonians a new sense of dignity and destiny.
At a time when the restoration movement is beleaguered in turmoil, when our days have become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights darker than a thousand midnights, it is possible for average brothers to capture what men like Mandela, Sisulu and Sisiku possess. Maybe, but first we must develop an understanding of what united these giants and others who have achieved similar success. Only then can we continue their progress.
Believe it or not, these men didn’t possess super human attributes, and most likely weren’t destined to achieve greatness. In fact, what made these men so great is something that we all have. These men stood for the truth, had a dream, and a will to carry out that dream. They were selfless doers, men who set a goal and then set a plan to achieve it.
What made these men and others like them so great was their ability to think beyond the HERE and NOW and visualise the place they wanted to be and a time frame they wanted to get there.
They believed they were different, special, one of a kind. They never let others define who they were, never let limitations others had placed on them deter them from their dreams, and they never let the fact that what they wanted to accomplish had never been accomplished before frighten them into not giving it a try.
We all have the ability to be the next Mandela, Sisulu or Sisiku. We all have the ability to be the best of whatever we set out to do, whether our goals are small, lofty or life changing. Being the best however means more than simply saying we want to be the best. Being the best takes a dedication of an inner strength that only we can summon from within us, because only we know where to find it.
In many of us, that inner strength has lain dormant all our lives, buried by the constant daily obstacles and negative influences that keep us grounded.
In the circumstance of the ongoing Anglophone Crisis “The Unrefined History of Southern Cameroons” will be launched in the coming weeks, across Europe, the U.S and Africa. It is our opportunity to find our lost inner strength and be part of this major endeavour.
The launch will coincide with a One Million Global Petition for H.E. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda to Refer the Case between Republic of Cameroun and Southern Cameroons to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a fair ruling that will appease both the government of the Republic of Cameroun and the people of Southern Cameroons.
While lauding the efforts undertaken thus far by H.E. President Kagame to ensure that genocide never ever happens again in Rwanda, it must be made clear that this campaign is not asking the President of Rwanda to take the Republic of Cameroun to the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice. Rather, the campaign will appeal to the government of Rwanda to request for ICJ Interpretation of United Nations Resolution 1608 (XV) of April 21, 1961 in the case concerning Southern Cameroons joining the Republic of Cameroun (Rwanda v. United Nations).
It is worth mentioning that it was the ICJ ruling against the Republic of Cameroun on 02 December 1963 that handed Northern Cameroons to Nigeria. Likewise, it was because of the ICJ Judgment of 2002 that Nigeria finally conceded the disputed Bakassi Peninsula to Southern Cameroons (North West and South West Regions of the Republic of Cameroun).
This is a momentous opportunity to set a precedent around the world that states cannot continue to use “Sovereignty” as a “shield” to hide crimes committed against a people, and that conflicts of this nature, that are on the brink of catastrophe can be resolved by the ICJ.
Emmanuel Nebafuh
North West Fons Ambassador for Peace
Universal Peace Federation (UPF) Peace Ambassador
African Parliamentary Alliance for UN Reforms – Permanent Representative, Geneva Switzerland”
