-
13. Was the Southern Cameroons Ever Decolonised?
- LANGAA RPCIG
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Chapter Thirteen Was the Southern Cameroons Ever Decolonised? Termination of Trusteeship: the Wheeling and Dealing at the United Nations 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 vote, on 21 April, the UN adopted Resolution 1608 (XV) by which it noted that the Southern Cameroons had voted to achieve independence and also to “join” Cameroun Republic, and that accordingly the Trusteeship Agreement concerning the territory would be terminated in accordance with Article 76b of its Charter. Infelicitously, however, the UN appointed 1 October 1961 as the date for the occurrence of all those three events, namely, independence of the Southern Cameroons, political association of the Southern Cameroons and Cameroun Republic, and termination of the Trusteeship Agreement concerning the Southern Cameroons. What status then did the Southern Cameroons emerge into after 1 October 1961, considering the concomitance of its independence and its “joining” with Cameroun Republic? This inquiry is important for the purpose of determining whether it can be said that the basic objective of the trusteeship system, in regard to the Southern Cameroons, was achieved, bearing in mind Article 76b of the UN Charter and Article 3 of the Trusteeship Agreement for the Cameroons under United Kingdom Administration. The plebiscite having gone the way it did, it was then for the General Assembly to evaluate the result and take appropriate decisions in the light of the recommendations of the Fourth Committee. Two months after the plebiscite, on 13 April 1961, the Fourth Committee decided to consider the Trusteeship Council’s Report on the Future of the Cameroons under United Kingdom Administration, and the Plebiscite Commissioner’s Report.1 The Fourth Committee also granted requests for oral hearings from 23 petitioners, 9 of them from the Southern Cameroons. Of the 9, two expressed dissatisfaction with the plebiscite results in the 218 Betrayal of Too Trusting a People Northern Cameroons, while seven contested the plebiscite results in the Southern Cameroons and urged the UN to partition the Territory conformable with the result for each division.2 Throughout that fateful month of April 1961, the handling of the Southern Cameroons question at the UN was characterised by much wheeling and dealing, and bad faith on the part of many players. On 15 April 1961, a draft resolution, sponsored by ten Francophone African States,3 was submitted to the Fourth Committee. In terms of that draft resolution, a six-member commission elected by the General Assembly was to visit the British Northern Cameroons and the British Southern Cameroons to ascertain in particular whether the basic objectives of the Trusteeship system could be regarded as achieved throughout the territory of the Cameroons under United Kingdom Administration. Four days later, on 19 April 1961, that draft resolution was revised, at the instigation of France and Cameroun Republic. In the revised draft, the proposed commission was only ‘to ascertain whether the separation of the administration of the Northern Cameroons from that of Nigeria [had] been effectively carried out.’ Cameroun Republic was evidently satisfied with the result in the Southern Cameroons and did not want it revisited. But it was disappointed with the result in the Northern Cameroons. Arithmetically, if the results for both Southern and Northern Cameroons were computed for the whole of the British Cameroons the alternative at the plebiscite of “joining” Cameroun Republic would have carried the day. Realizing this Cameroun Republic tried, but unsuccessfully, to get France to push for the computation of the results for the British Cameroons (Southern and Northern) taken as a whole. France had just a few years earlier opposed such a procedure in Togo and was thus morally unqualified to push now for a unitary plebiscite result in the British Cameroons. Having thus failed to secure French support for a unitary plebiscite result Cameroun Republic then claimed that the poll in the Northern Cameroons was tainted with irregularities and called for the ballot there to be retaken in the hope that the vote would go in its favour. Cameroun Republic had to tread carefully as in a minefield because if the whole plebiscite issue were to be re-opened, the pro-independence-as-a-sovereign-state voice was going to resurface and prevail. [44.197.251.102] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 05:35 GMT) 219 Was the Southern Cameroons Ever Decolonised? Meanwhile, on 18 April 1961, another draft resolution was submitted by Ethiopia, India, Iran, Ireland...