Betrayal of Too Trusting a People. The UN, the UK and the Trust Territory of the Southern Cameroons

The UN, the UK and the Trust Territory of the Southern Cameroons

Publication Year: 2009

There is a growing body of literature on what was originally envisioned as a free political association of the French and British Cameroons and its dramatic effects on the 'British Cameroons' community. Anyangwe's new book is an attempt to write the history of the Southern Cameroons from a legal perspective. This authoritative work describes in great detail the story of La Republique du Cameroun's alleged annexation and colonization of the Southern Cameroons following the achievement of its independence, while highlighting the seeming complicity of the United Nations and the British Trusteeship Authority. In the process, Anyangwe unravels a number of myths created by the main actors to justify this injustice and, in the end, makes useful suggestions to reverse the situation and to restore statehood to the Southern Cameroons. The book is rich in archival research and informed by a global perspective. It convincingly shows the uniqueness of the Southern Cameroons case.

Published by: African Books Collective

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As ‘saltwater’ or white colonisation in Africa was drawing to an end, sadly a new and dangerous situation of black-on-black colonisation was emerging in parts of the continent. Some states, themselves beneficiaries of the right to...

1. Historical Background

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pp. 1-13

In the fifth century BC, a Carthaginian sailor called Hanno navigated the West African coast as far as the Gulf of Guinea where he witnessed on the mainland a volcanic eruption from a high hill that would later be known as Cameroons Mountain or Fako...

2. Horse and Rider

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pp. 15-32

In 1958 the Southern Cameroons celebrated with pomp the centenary of the founding of Victoria.¹ That year the British Government certified at the UN that compared with Nigeria the Southern Cameroons had not been...

3. A Trust Betrayed by the United Nations

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pp. 33-46

The case of the British Cameroons exemplifies how the UN sometimes acts in disregard of acknowledged rules or principles for reasons of politics, justifying such course of action on grounds of mere...

4. A Trust Betrayed by the British Government

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pp. 47-61

From the very beginning of the Southern Cameroons’ ‘decolonisation’ saga, the attitude of the British Government was anything but fair and honest. It was clear the Administering Authority was more interested...

5. A Black Colonialist Makes an Expansionist Claim

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pp. 63-67

Cameroun Republic asserts sovereignty over the Southern Cameroons. The claimed bases of that assertion are two arguments, one founded on “history” and the other on so-called “popular consent to...

6. Refutation of the ‘History’ Thesis

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pp. 69-84

As a trust territory, the Southern Cameroons possessed international status and a degree of international personality. These were underpinned by secure frontiers, well delimited by boundary...

7. Refutation of the ‘Consent to Incorporation’ Thesis: the Pebiscite in 1961

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pp. 85-102

The incorporation thesis is strenuously canvassed by Cameroun Republic. That thesis runs like this. The Southern Cameroons was completely fused into Cameroun Republic following the results both of the 1961 plebiscite and...

8. Refutation of the “Consent to Incorporation” Thesis: The Pretended "Referendum" in 1972

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pp. 103-128

The other “incorporation” line of argument canvassed by Cameroun Republic is that by “voting in favour” of “the institution of a unitary system” in the 1972 “referendum”, the Southern Cameroons thereby gave the mandate...

9. The Bakassi Equation

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pp. 129-146

In March 1994 Cameroun Republic filed an Application in the Registry of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) instituting proceedings against Nigeria in respect of a dispute, which, according to the averments of Cameroun...

10. The Matter of Secession

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pp. 147-167

Cameroun Republic repeatedly declares that the on-going self-determination struggle by the people of the Southern Cameroons is a secessionist bid. In its view international law and municipal law proscribe secession and sanction...

11. Determination not by the “Self ”, but by the "Other"

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pp. 169-190

Decolonisation of the Third World occupied a major part of the activities of the United Nations during the first three decades of its existence. The decolonisation efforts of the UN derived from...

12. The ‘Independence by Joining’ Hoax

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pp. 191-216

The plebiscite questions, phrased in extremely vague and misleading terms, raised enormous problems of interpretation as to their intended meaning. Specifically, the following two expressions...

13. Was the Southern Cameroons Ever Decolonised?

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pp. 217-242

At the plebiscite the people of the Southern Cameroons voted affirmatively for independence and also pronounced themselves in “favour” of the alternative to “join” Cameroun Republic. Two months after that...

14. A Historical Injustice Crying Out to be Set Right

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pp. 243-249

In all its dealings with the Southern Cameroons, Cameroun Republic has always appealed to fraud, tricks and lies as methods of statecraft. This disgraceful method of conducting public affairs has resulted in one critical consequence...

Back Cover

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E-ISBN-13: 9789956715602
Print-ISBN-13: 9789956558810

Page Count: 260
Publication Year: 2009