Snapshots: An X-ray of Cameroon�s Democracy, Governance and Unification

41. 45th Anniversary of Southern Cameroons Independence: Southern Cameroons Struggle at Crossroads

159 41 45th Anniversary of Southern Cameroons Independence: Southern Cameroons Struggle at Crossroads Monday, October 2, 2006 Two years ago, President Biya of La République du Cameroon in his traditional New Year message broadcast on CRTV reminded his audience that the first of January marks the date in which one part of the country (French Cameroon) gained independence (January 1960). It was indeed a very thoughtful reminder that what passes for La République du Cameroon is in effect a fractious entity made up of two states of equal status which came together on 1st October 1961 to form a federal republic that was subsequently abrogated in 1972 by political fraud and subsequent presidential fiats. Biya’s motive for that reminder can only be perceived as a cynical exercise in downplaying the significance of the Southern Cameroons struggle to restore its sovereignty and nationhood that has been trampled upon by the assimilationists and annexationists forces of the Francophone led regime in Yaounde. I do not recall any instance in which Mr. Biya mentions the October 1st 1961 unification in all his 24 years in power. The man would go down in history as the President who, with a reckless stroke of the pen, buried the last relics of unification by simply changing the name United Republic of Cameroon (1972) to La République du Cameroon (1984) the name of French Cameroon when it attained independence in 1960. Despite all political acrobatics to undermine and obliterate the political identity of the Southern Cameroons, the vanguard for the restoration of the territory’s sovereignty and self-determination for its people has made significant diplomatic breakthrough to win international recognition and support at the African Union Human 160 and People Rights Commission the Unrepresented People’s Organisation, the UN Human Rights Committee etc. The vanguard movement for the restoration of Southern Cameroons, the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC has experienced the rise of faction leaders like Justice Ebong and Mr. Henry Fossung but this has had little or no effect on the validity of the restoration struggle. When leaders of the Free West Cameroon Movement, the Cameroon Anglophone Movement which later became the Southern Cameroon Restoration Movement and many others converged at the Mount Mary Maternity in Buea in April 1993 to give birth to the SCNC, all Southern Cameroonians spoke with one voice and one sentiment and expressed the unshakable desire to take their destiny into their hands. All political processes based on the right to self-determination must overcome the first and most difficult hurdle i.e. that of creating a political consciousness. In this light, the Southern Cameroons struggle has scored very high marks. Gone are the days when the demagogues in Yaounde tried to falsify the Southern Cameroons predicament as a mere minority question to be equated with that of minority tribes like the pygmy and the Baka of the Equatorial rainforest and the cattle rearing Bororos of the grass field who are clamouring for equal rights and opportunity True enough, Southern Cameroonians have been treated like second class citizens and relegated to the background in the management of public affairs. A recent and shameless manifestation of this attitude was the appointment last week of six assistant government delegates each in the urban councils of Yaounde and Douala. I don’t recall any of them being of Southern Cameroons origin, yet Southern Cameroonians form a significant part of the population of these cities. True enough Southern Cameroonians form at last one quarter of the Cameroon population but that does not make them an ethnic minority. The former British-administered Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons is basically English-speaking with regard to the 161 two official languages (French and English) but that does not simplify its aspirations to those of a linguistic minority. The restoration movement has succeeded in dispelling the false notion that the Southern Cameroons question is an ethnic or linguistic minority issue. Attempts to dissemble the issue by the Yaounde regime has resulted in exposing the regime as a bunch of congenital liars with an incurable penchant for dishonesty and corruption. There is absolutely no doubt that the regime shall never relent in its reductionist agenda, yet no amount of political chicanery can halt the momentum for self-determination. Examples abound. Take the Ethiopian province of Eritrea which began its struggle in the early 1970’s. Take the Soviet satellites of Latvia, Estonia and...