The case of Ambazonia

Will "Ambazonia" become Africa's newest country?

Momentum is something very important when we develop a project. Calls for secession of Ambazonia are growing and an Anglophone separatist movement in the south-west and north-west of Cameroon is gaining momentum. Separatists say they have been marginalised by a the government which is Francophone. Protests have been raging for a year now, shutting down schools and courts, and recent violence between security forces and opposition activists killed more than 17 people, according to Amnesty International. President Paul Biya has condemned the violence and both sides are called for talks. But what's really likely to happen next?

Southern Cameroons was the southern part of

the British Mandate territory of British Cameroons in West Africa. Since 1984 it has been part of the Republic of Cameroon, where it makes up the Northwest Region and Southwest Region. Since 1994, pressure groups in the territory have sought independence from the Republic of Cameroon, and the Republic of Ambazonia was declared by the Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation (SCAPO) on 31 August 2006.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS MANDATE

Following the Treaty of Versailles, the German territory of Kamerun was divided on June 28, 1919, between a French and a British League of Nations Mandate, the French, who had previously administered the whole occupied territory, getting the larger. The French mandate was known as Cameroun. The British mandate comprised two geographically separate territories, Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons. They were administered from, but not joined to, the British territory of Nigeria through the British Resident (although some incumbents had the rank of District Officer, Senior Resident or Deputy Resident) with headquarters in Buea.

Applying the principle of indirect rule, the British allowed native authorities to administer populations according to their own traditions. These also collected taxes, which were then paid over to the British. The British devoted themselves to trade, and to exploiting the economic and mining resources of the territory. South Cameroons students, including Emmanuel Mbela Lifafa Endeley, created the Cameroons Youth League (CYL) on 27 March 1940, to oppose what they saw as the exploitation of their country.

TRUST TERRITORY

When the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946, most of the mandate territories were reclassified as UN trust territories, henceforth administered through the UN Trusteeship Council. The object of trusteeship was to prepare the lands for eventual independence. The United Nations approved the Trusteeship Agreements for British Cameroons to be governed by Britain on 6 December 1946.

Southern Cameroons was divided in 1949 into two provinces: Bamenda (capital Bamenda, hence also thus named) and Southern (capital Buea). Yet the residential type of administration was continued with a single British Resident at Buea, but in 1949 Edward John Gibbons was appointed Special Resident, and on 1 October 1954, when political power shifted to the elected government, succeeded himself as first of only two Commissioners.

Following the Ibadan General Conference of 1950, a new constitution for Nigeria devolved more power to the regions. In the subsequent election thirteen Southern Cameroonian representatives were elected to the Eastern Nigerian House of Assembly in Enugu. In 1953, however, the Southern Cameroons representatives, unhappy with the domineering attitude of Nigerian politicians and lack of unity among the ethnic groups in the Eastern Region, declared a "benevolent neutrality" and withdrew from the assembly. At a conference in London from 30 July to 22 August 1953, the Southern Cameroons delegation asked for a separate region of its own. The British agreed, and Southern Cameroons became an autonomous region with its capital still at Buea. Elections were held in 1954 and the parliament met on 1 October 1954, with E.M.L. Endeley as Premier. As Cameroun and Nigeria prepared for Independence, South Cameroons nationalists debated whether their best interests lay with union with Cameroun, union with Nigeria or total independence. Endeley was defeated in elections on 1 February 1959 by John Ngu Foncha.

The United Nations organised a plebiscite in the Cameroons on 11 February 1961 which put two alternatives to the people: union with Nigeria or union with Cameroun. The third option, independence, was opposed by the UK representative to the UN Trusteeship Council, Sir Andrew Cohen, and as a result was not put. In the plebiscite, Northern Cameroons voted for union with Nigeria, and Southern Cameroons for union with (the formerly French) Cameroun.

INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT

Southern Cameroons became part of Cameroon on 1 October 1961. Foncha served as Prime Minister of West Cameroun and Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Cameroun. However, the English-speaking peoples of the Southern Cameroons (now West Cameroun) did not believe that they were fairly treated by the French-speaking government of the country. Following a referendum on 20 May 1972, a new constitution was adopted in Cameroun which replaced the federal state with a unitary state. Southern Cameroons lost its autonomous status and became the Northwest Province and Southwest Province of the Republic of Cameroun. The Southern Cameroonians felt further marginalised. Groups such as the Cameroon Anglophone Movement (CAM) demanded greater autonomy, or independence, for the provinces.

Pro-independence groups claim that UN Resolution 1608 21 April 1961, which required the UK, the Government of the Southern Cameroons and Republic of Cameroun to engage in talks with a view to agreeing measures for union of the two countries, was not implemented, and that the Government of the United Kingdom was negligent in terminating its trusteeship without ensuring that proper arrangements were made. They say that the adoption of a federal constitution by Cameroun on 1 September 1961 constituted annexation of South Cameroons.

Representatives of Anglophone groups convened the first All Anglophone Conference (AAC1) in Buea from 2 April to 3 April 1993. The conference issued the "Buea Declaration", which called for constitutional amendments to restore the 1961 federation. This was followed by the second All Anglophone Conference (AAC2) in Bamenda in 1994. This conference issued the "Bamenda Declaration", which stated that if the federal state was not restored within a reasonable time, Southern Cameroons would declare its independence. The AAC was renamed the Southern Cameroons Peoples Conference (SCPC), and later the Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation (SCAPO), with the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) as the executive governing body. Younger activists formed the Southern Cameroons Youth League (SCYL) in Buea on 28 May 1995. The SCNC sent a delegation, led by John Foncha, to the United Nations, which was received on 1 June 1995 and presented a petition against the 'annexation' of the Southern Cameroons by French Cameroun. This was followed by a signature referendum the same year, which the organisers claim produced a 99% vote in favour of independence with 315,000 people voting.

Armed members of the SCNC took over the Buea radio station in Southwest Province on the night of 30 December 1999 and in the early hours of 31 December broadcast a tape of a proclamation of independence read by Judge Ebong Frederick Alobwede.

Amnesty International has accused the Cameroun authorities of human right violations against South Cameroons activists

BAKASSI PENINSULA

Following the International Court of Justice ruling of 10 October 2002 that sovereignty over the Bakassi peninsula rested with Cameroon, SCAPO claimed that Bakassi was in fact part of the territory of Southern Cameroons. In 2002, SCAPO took the Nigerian government to the Federal High Court in Abuja to require it to take a case before the International Court of Justice to establish the right of the people of the Southern Cameroons to self-determination. The court ruled in their favour on 5 March 2002. On 14 August 2006 Nigeria handed over the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon. SCAPO responded by proclaiming the independence of the Republic of Ambazonia, to include the territory of Bakassi.

Southern Cameroons is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) since 2005 and a charter member of the Organization of Emerging African States (OEAS).

EMMANUEL MBELA LIFAFA ENDELEY (1916 - 1988)

Endeley was born on 10 April 1916; his family was among the wealthy members of the Bakweri ethnic group. He was educated in Buea and Bonjongo in Southern British Cameroons and Umahia in Nigeria. Endeley eventually entered the Nigerian School of Medicine in Yaba. In 1942, he took the post of assistant medical officer in Nigeria, and in 1945, he served as chief medical officer in Buea.

Endeley was concerned with providing a voice for workers in Southern British Cameroons and for citizens of British Cameroons in general. In 1939, he helped form the Cameroon Youth League (CYL). In 1944, he was a founding member of the Bakweri Improvement Union. In 1947, he joined union organizers of the Cameroons Development Corporation (CDC) in Southern British Cameroons. He became union secretary the following year. Endeley organized and participated in petitioning United Nations delegations and in organizing general strikes. He was a founder of the Cameroons National Federation (CNF) in 1949 and later served as its president.

Political career

In 1951, Endeley was elected to the Eastern Nigerian House of Assembly in Enugu. He worked to have Southern British Cameroons granted special regional status apart from Nigeria; when the Southern British Cameroons Regional Assembly was formed, he was one of its first members. In 1953, Endeley joined John Ngu Foncha and Solomon Tandeng Muna in breaking from the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) to form the Kamerun National Congress (KNC), which advocated autonomy for Southern British Cameroons. However, Endeley's political views changed, and he advocated greater integration of the territory with Nigeria. In 1955, Foncha and Muna broke with the KNC to form the Kamerun National Democratic Party (KNDP). Endeley allied the KNC with the Kamerun's People Party (KPP), another pro-Nigeria group, but the coalition lost seats to the KNDP.

In 1957, Endeley squeaked out a victory to become the first Prime Minister of Southern British Cameroons; he was installed the following year. In January 1959, voters replaced Endeley with Foncha. In May 1960, his KNC merged with the KPP to form the Cameroons Peoples' National Convention (CPNC) to be the main opposition party to Foncha's KNDP. Political opinion was strongly in favour of unification with French Cameroun, and the United Nations held a plebiscite over the issue on 11 February 1961. Endeley and the CPNC opposed; Endeley released a lengthy pamphlet urging the people of Southern Cameroons to vote "no". Nevertheless, the vote came in favour of unification.

In the new federated state of West Cameroon, Endeley and the CPNC took the role of Foncha's main opposition, and also supported President Ahmadou Ahidjo's moves to create a one-party system in Federal Republic of Cameroon. He served in several more posts in Cameroon before his death. In 1965, Endeley became leader of government business for West Cameroon. He served as a member of the central committee of Cameroon National Union (CNU), and in 1966, he became president of the Fako section of CNU, a post he held until 1985. Endeley was also elected to the National Assembly of Cameroon. Endeley died on 29th June 1988 at the age of 72.

JOHN NGU FONCHA (1916 – 1999).

Foncha was born on 21st June 1916. He founded the Kamerun National Democratic Party (KNDP) in 1955 and became Premier of Southern British Cameroons on 1st February 1959. He held that position until 1st October 1961, when the territory merged into a federation with French Cameroun. From 1st October 1961 to 13th May 1965, Foncha concurrently served as Prime Minister of West Cameroon as well as Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Cameroon. He held the latter title until 1970.

In 1994, he led a 9-man delegation of Southern British Cameroonians (Ambazonians) to the United Nations head quarters in New York to petition the UN for Cameroon’s illegal occupation and annexation of Ambazonia.

He died in Bamenda, Ambazonia on 10th April 1999 at the age of 82.

AUGUSTINE NGOM JUA (1924 - 1977)

Of all the Ambazonian politicians, Augustine Ngom Jua stands out as the most perceptive, courageous, accomplished and nationalistic, ever with the supreme interest of Ambazonia uppermost in his heart. He was a grass root politician who retained a keen sense of movement in popular feeling in Ambazonia. On 9 September 1959 when contributing to the debate in Ambazonian House of Assembly on the issue of the plebiscite question to be put to the electorate, Jua forcefully argued that the matter of joining French Cameroun was not provided for in the UN charter and ought to be dismissed as one of the plebiscite question. Jua saw no reason why Ambazonia with a larger population could not be a separate state in its own right, when smaller countries like Gambia were given such a privilege. Two years later at the Cameroun-Ambazonia bipartite meeting held in the Camerounese town of Foumban, Jua lamented that he had never seen where people are expected to write a constitution in two days.

The popular A.N Jua was Prime Minister of Ambazonia from 1965 to 1968, a mere three years. But they were eventful ones. Immediately prior to his appointment as Prime Minister on 12 May 1965, Jua held the portfolio of Minister of Finance in the Ambazonian Government. He was the able finance minister who saw Ambazonia through difficult economic period. He thus did good service as minister of finance and was the moving force behind heroic efforts to improve the economic situation in Ambazonia. He and P.M Kemcha (Finance Minister and Vice Prime Minister during jua’s premiership) were instrumental in the restructuring of the state’s Development Agency under the aegis of which were established a number of companies as joint ventures between private investors and Government of Ambazonia.

Jua was an exponent of state’s rights. He actively championed total independence for Ambazonia and strongly asserted its specificity and individuality. He was a citizen of Ambazonia first and foremost and turned down appointment to Yaoundé as deputy Federal Minister of Health. One of his commendable acts on becoming prime minister was his rapprochement with the opposition party, CPNC. “The opposite is respected and respectable”, he declared in parliament in Buea stretching a “right hand of fellowship” to the opposition and its supporters both from within and outside the House of Assembly.

He formed a KNDP-CPNC coalition government of national unity which saw the return of Dr. E.M.L Endeley to ministerial rank as leader of Government Business in the House of Assembly. The KNDP-CPNC communiqué issued on 19 August 1965 when Jua became Prime Minister affirmed that the leaders of the two parties were agreed: to maintain and defend the sovereignty and independence of Ambazonia and “to work for the preservation of our parliamentary system and political institutions in Ambazonia.” This communiqué suggest that both leaders were probably aware of the machinations of Ahidjo to destroy Ambazonia. Had Jua still been in power in 1972, it is doubtful to the extreme that Ahidjo and his Camerounses accomplices would have overthrown the informal federal constitutional order and so brazenly occupied Ambazonia to this date.

For almost three years the Jua government directed the affairs of Ambazonia in a spirit never known since the 1959-1961 acrimonious politics of pro-Nigeria pro-Cameroun and since the KNDP/CPNC cloak-and-dagger politics from 1962 up to the time of jua’s accession to the premiership of Ambazonia. Jua’s rapprochement was the final healing of the old rift in the pre-independence movement in Ambazonia and was very well received by the people of Ambazonia.

Jua’s government was poplular and established and Jua himself was much loved by the people of Ambazonia. This did not go well with Ahidjo who was the president of the Federal Republic of Cameroon. In a sense, Ahidjo was envious of Jua who, unlike himself was a man of the people and an elected and popular leader. Ahidjo saw Jua who had a strong and commanding personality and spoke with a British accent, as a threat to his absolute power. To Ahidjo, Jua was simply a criminal that had to be convicted at all cost. Ahidjo did not take kindly to the fact Jua had brought into the government of Ambazonia politicians who had doggedly campaigned for the joinder of Ambazonia to Nigeria rather than to Cameroun.

Jua’s government took exceptions, backed by cogent legal arguments to the federal meddling and consistently challenged Ahidjo’s absolutism and “annexationist agenda.” Ahidjo had not anticipated challenge from the government in Buea, at least not in this way. He saw Jua and his unity government as representing a dangerous attitudinal, if not policy shift; a leaning westwards towards Nigeria rather than eastwards towards Cameroun as he expected.

In January 1968, Ahidjo in complete disregard of the constitutional conventions of Ambazonia, appointed Solomon Tandeng Muna to replace A.N Jua as prime Minister of Ambazonia. Read More about Jua-Ahidjo Tug-of-War

Culled and edited in parts from “Imperialist politics in Cameroon: Resistance & the inception of the restoration of the statehood of southern Cameroons” by Carlson Anyangwe (2008).

SOLOMON TANDENG MUNA (1912 – 2002)

1932-1947: Director of several primary schools, then Head Tutor with the College of Teachers of Batibo;

1947-1951: Teacher in Batibo, Ambazonia;

1951: Elected official with the regional Parliament of Eastern Nigeria;

1952-1954: Becomes public Minister for Labour of Eastern Nigeria;

1954-1957: Minister in charge with the Resources and Public works with West Cameroon (Ambazonia);

1959-1961: Public Minister for Labour, then Industry and Trade, Minister for Finance in Ambazonia;

1961-1968: Ambazonian Minister for Transport, Mines, Posts and Telecommunications;

1968-1972: Prime Minister of the federated state of West Cameroon (Ambazonia);

1972-1973: Minister of State in the United Republic of Cameroon.