Southern West Cameroon Revisited (1950-1972) Volume One: Unveiling Inescapable Traps

Introduction

xxiii Introduction The Landscape “Not to know what took place before you were born is to remain forever a child” (Marcus Tulius Cicero). The title of this book derives from a topic appropriately selected to kick-start discussions in the year of celebrations marking the Golden Jubilee of the Independence (and Reunification) of Southern Cameroons.5 The subtitle, interestingly, is taken from the autobiography of Malcolm Milne, the Deputy Commissioner of Southern Cameroons, while the rest is deduced from sorting out, analysing and classifying an assortment of historical data on the theme. At first sight the title is likely to sound preposterous and exaggerated, but such a feeling is sure to dissipate on appropriate confrontation with the details. It is therefore essential to throw in some light right at the beginning to illuminate the background issues. These concentrated around two focal points: the insurmountable hurdles calculated to frustrate the quest by the Southern Cameroonian political leadership and people in their struggle towards autonomy, strangely enough by their British Colonial Master in collusion with France and the United Nations during the crucial years, 1958-1961. This was compounded by the prevailing Cold War politics in which every single international issue was seen through tainted glasses and interpreted in terms of either favouring Capitalist Western Europe under the hegemony of the United States of America or Communist Eastern Europe led by the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the Afro- Asian bloc, which claimed veiled neutrality at the United Nations, vacillated in between them. Thus situated, the terms “conspiracy” and “treachery” become the mildest euphemisms the reality of the saga of the “snares” that the “nice, gentle, little people” of the Southern 5 1 Epilogue, the Editorial Board of the Summit Magazine in its issue, Number 16 of April-June 2011. xxiv Cameroons faced at the hands of the British6 and then at independence and reunification, treacherously thrust into the coy arms of the Ahidjo Regime. This was characterised by his sly but unbridled pursuit of power and authority that was astutely and steadily unleashed through 1961-1972.7 Thus it is evident that during the crucial years from 1958-1961, Southern Cameroons was placed on the tenterhooks of Great Britain, while, from 1961-1972 these were hurriedly replaced by those of the administration of President Ahmadou Ahidjo. Combined, they constitute the series of “inescapable traps”, as Malcolm Milne describes it, with which Southern Cameroons was beset. Chilling revelations of British deeds and misdeeds in connection with their unbending determination to obstruct autonomy for Southern Cameroons only recently came to light with the publication of the declassified British secret papers, further amplified by Malcolm Milne’s spontaneous confessions.8 6 Malcolm Milne, No Telephone to Heaven From Apex To Nadir - Colonial Service in Nigeria, Aden, The Cameroons and The Gold Coast 1938-1961 (Meon Hill Press1999), pp.424-428. 7 PRO CO.554/2412 XC3343, “Ahidjo rejects defence responsibility for Southern Cameroons”, Secret and Personal CC.74/69., JO Field of 8 October 1960 to Rt. Hon. Iain Macleod MP. 8 As Deputy Commissioner for Southern Cameroons Milne was one of the major executors of British Colonial policy in the Territory. Martin Njeuma, “Reunification and Political Opportunism in The Making of Cameroons Independence http://lucy. ukc.ac.uk/Chilver/Paideuma/paideuma-REUNIFI.html. 9/9/13 xxv Malcolm Milne Deputy Commissioner, Southern Cameroons On the side of the Ahidjo Regime, the saga of the sordid traps neatly laid out against the Southern Cameroons delegates to the historic Foumban Constitutional Conference explode from another confessional source, the octogenarian retired Divisional Officer, (Sous Prefect) of Foumban Municipality at the time, Mr. Emmanuel Njoya. That these plots were carefully timed and unleashed on the occasion of the very first encounter by the two former Trust Territories to formulate terms for reunification is of inestimable significance especially as the Anglophone delegates approached the conference with child-like confidence and trust in ‘meeting their brothers’ for the very first time. Equally unearthed, are verbatim accounts of the alleged “secret deals” between Foncha and Ahidjo dug out from reports and correspondence in the declassified British secret papers. These reveal by far, vastly dissimilar versions from those so far paraded as gospel truth. Open collusion between the British, French and Republic of Cameroon delegates against an “enfeebled and besieged Foncha Government” was abundantly dramatized during the disastrous xxvi discussions at the Buea Tripartite Conference in May 1961,9 happening just...