Fellow Compatriots

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On the occasion of the 46^th anniversary of our independence, it is with utmost joy that I send you my warm fraternal greetings.  First of all, I like to invite all Southern Cameroonians to go on bended knees before Almighty God, thanking Him for having safely guided us this far in our struggle for the restoration of our sovereign statehood.  We are confident that God, who is always on the side of the oppressed, will lead us to FREEDOM.

Forty-six years of sovereign independence would have taken us far by way of socio-cultural and economic development.  Above all we would have been exercising our sovereignty among the comity of sovereign nations at the UN, AU, Commonwealth, ECOWAS and other international organizations.

But most painfully, the past 46 years have been years of mourning, agony, as we bury our youths and loved ones stroke down by the bullets of a callous annexationist regime. These years have been marked by stagnation and retrogression because we have been denied the right to be masters of our own destiny.  Like a beautiful lady in prolonged agonizing labour the almost five decades have brought us only woes, heightened frustration and impoverishment because of brutal colonial domination and foreign occupation of our land by la Republique du Cameroun which plunders our natural resources for its exclusive development. When we raise dissenting voices, we are brutalized, tortured, maimed regularly detained in deplorable conditions and/or killed by the forces of occupation.

No wonder the cream of our youths are drifting into the Diaspora to escape political victimization and to look for greener pastures, some of whom have drowned in attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea   on their way to Europe.

I wish to seize this opportunity to both thank and congratulate the bulk of our citizens who though feeling the pinch, have decided to stay home and fight the enemy of la Republique du Cameroun to the logical end for the attainment of sovereign statehood. As the problem is here, so is the solution. Our freedom will come from our collective endeavours.

Although we have made several strides to internationalise our cause, it must never be forgotten that the home front is the place where the liberation war must be fought and won.  Southern Cameroonians in the Diaspora have an obligation to intensify their efforts. I wish at this point to pay tribute to all Southern Cameroonian sons and daughters in the Diaspora for their dedication to the cause of our FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE . I equally, urge those who are still sitting on the fence, to wake up from slumber and like patriots join the struggle so that we can liberate Southern Cameroons sooner rather than later.

Fellow Southern Cameroonians , ladies and gentlemen, we know that fighting for freedom requires sacrifice – the highest of which is the ultimate sacrifice of life, for as the adage goes we can’t eat omelet without cracking eggs.  While we strictly adhere to our motto “The Force of Argument, not The Argument of Force” we have generally been provoked, molested, arrested and tortured, even shot and killed by the forces of occupation. I invite all of you at this juncture to observe a minute of silence in memory of those who have paid the supreme price for our freedom. (May their souls rest in perfect peace).

That their deaths may not go in vain we must here and now re-dedicate ourselves anew to the struggle and declare; never to retreat and never to surrender. Southern Cameroons must be FREE!

Ladies and Gentlemen, 2007 has been quite an eventful year in the life of our struggle for FREEDOM: with our people- men, women and youths demonstrating greater commitment than ever before. The spirit of Southern Cameroons nationalism is reaching record high to the embarrassment of the occupier of our land.

Our successes on the international scene have been thanks to our membership of the UNPO whose solidarity and campaigns for Southern Cameroons independence have been systematic and unrelenting. We also salute the support given us by the UNPO member nations and the Presidency. Through international exposure and participation at UN Human Rights Council, our friends are now found on every continent of this planet. We thank you all for your support and pray that this should be intensified in the days ahead so that SOUTHERN CAMEROONS takes its seat at the UN.

Aggressive international offensive has been intensified with measurable results. For the first time SCNC-UK and SCNC France on May 20, the day la Republique effectively imposed its military occupation of Southern Cameroons , organized peaceful demonstrations with clear messages respectively, at No. Ten Downing Street , London , and in Paris . SCNC Holland and SCNC Belgium have been keeping the Flag of Southern Cameroons right to freedom and self-determination at its peak.

In April SCNC USA held a Conference to evaluate the strides made so far and adopt a road map for the way forward. SCNC UK since Sept. 29 and to culminate with 46 Independence Anniversary commemorations has been holding a similar Conference attended by other SCNC Europe Chapters. We salute you all and encourage you all to be the true ambassadors of our struggle for freedom, justice, human equality and dignity.

Certainly the invasion and arbitrary arrests of SCNC leaders and activists by armed troops of la Republique at a well publicized and organized Press Conference to enable the National Vice Chairman and Chair of Foreign Affairs Commission, Nfor, Ngala Nfor report to the Press and Southern Cameroonians on his three months diplomatic offensives, has turned out to be gravel and sand in la Republique ’s gari. We salute the Diplomatic Missions in Yaounde , foreign governments, Human Rights organizations, national and international; national and foreign media for condemning such brutal repression and denial of our fundamental rights to assembly, freedom of speech, opinion and thought and the fervent call for justice to be done. May you all know that here the judiciary is not independent and justice delayed is justice denied.

We take this moment to sincerely thank our courageous human rights lawyers for defiling all odds and sacrificing enormously in defending the right to self-determination of the Southern Cameroonian people. We take this opportunity, once more, to appeal to all Southern Cameroonian lawyers to stand with their colleagues and with their people for FREEDOM is our inalienable and inherent right not a privilege.

SCNC victories on the home front have been remarkable. Since last year we mounted the campaign and sent out a clarion call for “ZERO VOTER REGISTRATION” and “ZERO VOTE” in Southern Cameroons in any election organized and conducted by la Republique. Southern Cameroons is not and will never be an integral part of la Republique.

The so-called twin-elections have come and gone. Low voter registration in Southern Cameroons was historic in spite of intensive buying of voters, votes, bribery and corruption to have people vote. Should one be bribed to perform his civic duty? From the verdict of the distinguished foreign diplomats in Yaounde and total boycott of the elections by foreign observers, the SCNC won gallantly.

We thank those patient members of the SDF who decided to give one more trial. Your hopes have been dashed. Your sense of honour bruised one more time. You have seen the disgraceful out come. Distinguished Diplomats in Yaounde describe the kangaroo-election as “lost opportunity”. Whether Southern Cameroonian SDF, CDU, UNDP, AFP or even CPDM, most you continue to wallow in a “lost opportunity”?

The Yaounde regime distributes seats in National Assembly before date of election is announced. When we called on you not to register, not to waste your valuable time, it was not because we hate your party, it was because we knew it was going to be a fruitless venture. La Republique does not believe in democracy. Elections are meant to fool the world, World Bank, IMF and other lending agencies for results are known before hand.

Having repeatedly seen the truth, please come home and let us rebuild the Fatherland, Southern Cameroons, a shining example of democracy even while still a UN Trust. In 1959 Dr. Endeley lost narrowly to J.N. Foncha and peacefully handed over powers. This was historic. In la Republique it is Paris that decides and never the citizens. This is why an “anglofool” who is a “nchinda” will never occupy a prestigious or policy-making position.

The SCNC is fighting for FREEDOM to restore the lost dignity of every Southern Cameroonian. Come home now and join the train of FREEDOM and be counted among the heroes for tomorrow may be too late.

While we await the final verdict of our case against la Republique du Cameroun in the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, (ACHPR), in The Gambia, we have the honour to salute the Nigerian people and heartily congratulate President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua for his brilliant election to lead this most dynamic and populous African nation. We, in warm fraternity take judicious notice of his declaration in his Inaugural Speech to respect and defend the rule of law. We, Southern Cameroonians, as respecters and defenders of both municipal and international law, have the honour to remind H.E. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua  of the historic Abuja Federal High Court Ruling of March 2002, calling on Nigeria Federal Government to take the Southern Cameroons right to self-determination to the ICJ, the UN and any other international organization.

As a power in Africa and founding member of the OAU that declared the sanctity, immutability and inviolability of colonial boundaries African nations inherited at independence, we solemnly appeal to President Yar’Adua to respect and implement the ruling of his nation’s court.

During the National Executive Council Meeting of 29^th August, it was resolved that all our structures should be renewed before the end of the year 2007. In accomplishing historic task in the supreme interest of the struggle, I invite all of you to elect into office, only those who are competent and dedicated to our cause, so that they can deliver the goods of liberating our country and its people from the stranglehold of colonialism.  Sovereign independence is a right guaranteed all people by international law and we are all geared towards sacrificing all our efforts towards the attainment of that lofty and ultimate goal.

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, let me assure you that the future of our struggle is very bright and that gradually, our objectives are being attained.  With hope and determination, we shall overcome.

The chains to which Southern Cameroonians have been shackled for over four decades are on the verge of being broken for ever!  That is why the annexationist regime is panic-stricken. Whatever they do now regard that as the desperate kicks of a dying horse.

I wish all Southern Cameroonians at home and in the Diaspora and our many good friends, happy anniversary celebrations!

LONG LIVE THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION;

LONG LIVE WORLD DEMOCRACY AND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY;

SOUTHERN CAMEROONS WILL BE FREE.

Done, in Bamenda, SOUTHERN CAMEROONS , this 30^th Day of September in the year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Seven.

By Martin F. Yembe & Jerry SiVidzem in Douala

As activists of Southern Cameroons Independence Restoration eagerly await the ruling of the African Commission of Human and Peoples Right (ACHPR) on Communication 266/2003, a development has been reported to our news room regarding a document that claims to address the institutional issues of this construct known internationally as Cameroon.

It should be recalled that during the 34th Ordinary session of the ACHPR held in Banjul, Gambia from May 21st to June 4th 2004, the African Commission declared Communication 266/2003 as admissible. Communication 266/2003 filed by Dr. Kevin Nwang Gumne and members of the SCNC and SCAPO (for themselves and on behalf of the People of the Southern Cameroons) as complainants vs. la République du Cameroun as respondent states: [Full Story] Source: The Frontier Telegraph

[Paper presented at the 21^st Annual Conference of the Wisconsin Institute for Peace & Conflict Studies on the theme ‘Re-examining Human Rights’, Marian College of Fond du Lac, University of Wisconsin, 3-5 November, 2005.]

Introduction

In 1858 the British Baptist Missionary Society claimed for Britain a coastal enclave at the Bight of Biafra and named it Victoria after Queen Victoria. The area together with its hinterland became British and, after years of historical vicissitudes, was named in 1922 as the British Southern Cameroons. One hundred and fifty years on, that territory is still under colonial rule. The territory was British from 1858 to 1888 when Britain transferred it to Germany. From 1889 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Germany administered it as part of its contiguous Kamerun colonial protectorate acquired in 1884. The territory became British again from 1914 until October 1961 when it tragically came under the colonial rule of the neighbouring French-speaking state of Cameroun Republic and has remained so since then. (Full Story)

Source: The Punch (Nigeria), bu Tobi Soniyi June 29, 2007

Accra (Ghana) - Civil society organizations on Thursday in Accra,

Ghana, inaugurated an African citizens passport. The passport is green, just like the Nigerian passport, carries the logo of Africa and calls on African governments to allow the bearer ”to freely pass, trade, work and reside in any part of the continent with full rights, entitlements and responsibilities of citizenship.” The abolition of travel visas is considered the first step in the adoption of a protocol on free movement of persons, goods and services in Africa.

Foreign affairs ministers from African Union member-states attending the All Executive Council Meeting were issued with the copies of the passport on Thursday. According to the proponents,”The passport is a response to a growing demand by African citizens for an easing of
restrictions on travel within Africa by African governments as a pre-condition for African citizenship.” Speaking at the inauguration, Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Rahim of the UN Millennium Campaign said, “We cannot have a union of African states or even a continental government without continental citizenship.

”If citizenship is the fundamental basis of any effective national state, why shouldn‘t it be so at the level of the Africa Union?” The civil society coalition noted that millions of African refugees, travelers and undocumented workers currently living in neighboring countries were exposed to discrimination and denial of the rights to an identity, to freely work and access essential services. ”The grand debate must prioritize full citizenship status for women, particularly for women who marry across nationalities and currently lose their rights as a result,” Roselyn Musa of the Solidarity for African Women‘s Rights Coalition said.

Thomas Deve, an economist with the Harare-based MWENGO said,”A simple demonstrable decision by the heads of state, led by the current AU Chairperson, would be to abolish the need for visas for African citizens traveling within Africa. “This would move the debate from, just that, debate to a decision that would capture the imagination of 832 million African people.” The ministers of foreign affairs accepted the passports and promised to consider the issue in their deliberations on Thursday.
At the last Africa Union Day on May 25, the Chairperson of the Africa Union, Mr. John Kuffour, inaugurated an African diplomatic passport made available to AU Commission staff and some diplomats only. Attempts to agree on a more inclusive document have so far proved illusive.

Ahead of the July 22 twin elections, the SDF party has reiterated its stand on federalism for effective devolution of powers.

This is contained in a three-page message from the SDF National Chairman, John Fru Ndi, to his militants on the occasion marking the 17th anniversary of the party on Saturday, May 26. 

Fru Ndi said Cameroon is rotten to the fabric and the only remedy is a peaceful return to federated state structures for each area to shoulder its development projects. 
"The SDF party advocated for a federated state assemblies and local government structures that would make the people more effective in managing their own affairs at the local level," Fru Ndi remarked.

According to Fru Ndi, "a vote for the SDF will be a vote for the aspirations of the people since the re-introduction of multi-party politics in the country, and a vote for the supervision of elected officials in managerial positions."  (Full Story)

35TH ANNIVERSARY OF DAY OF NATIONAL MOURNING,

BY CHIEF AYAMBA ETTE OTUN, NATIONAL CHAIRMAN OF THE

SOUTHERN CAMEROONS NATIONAL COUNCIL (SCNC)

Fellow Southern Cameroonians

Ladies and Gentlemen

We cannot so soon forget President Ahidjo's rumbling voice "J'ai decidé …" when in May 1972 he unilaterally completed the annexation and occupation of the state of Southern Cameroons.

With the stroke of the pen he reduced Southern Cameroons to two provinces of la Republique du Cameroun, brought Southern Cameroons under Napoleonic constitutionalism and by Presidential decree appointed two francophone proconsuls to lord it over a people nurtured under constitutional parliamentary democracy, the rule of law and respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms.

It is for this reason we have solemnly been observing May 20 as DAY OF NATIONAL MOURNING in Southern Cameroons and by all Southern Cameroonians wherever they may be on this planet earth.

 It is a Day of National Mourning because:

-           On May 20th the final nail was put on the coffin of annexation and la Republique du Cameroun posted its colonial proconsuls and brutal forces to occupy our land.

-           By Presidential decree the democratically elected government (Prime Minister and Cabinet, House of Assembly, and House of Chiefs) Civil Service, the Police Force, among others, were all abolished.

-           The Southern Cameroons nation as a distinct entity in international law was made to cease being.

-           All Southern Cameroons state institutions - political, economic, judicial and cultural - were either nationalized and headquarters transferred to la Republique du Cameroun territory or simply closed.

As no slave celebrates the day on which he was captured and made a slave, no nation and no people celebrate the day they were annexed and dehumanized.

No people willfully surrender to annexation, foreign domination and alien rule.  The brutality with which we are ruled, the frequent extra-judicial executions and the blood of our youths that regularly stain our dusty roads, the mass poverty which Southern Cameroonians suffer, the mass unemployment our youths are subjected to, the barbaric plunder of our natural resources, the total neglect of our towns, which yesterday were booming commercial centers, among others, are a regular reminder that Yaounde treats Southern Cameroonians as a conquered people, an endangered specie. 

It is for the reason that no people surrender to foreign domination and alien rule that the SCNC was formed to restore the statehood and sovereign independence of Southern Cameroons. Sovereign independence is sacred to a nation as life is to a human being.

No people are free until their nation is sovereign.

No people control and shape their destiny and no people under brutal foreign occupation and alien rule progress.  Southern Cameroons is grossly underdeveloped and Southern Cameroonians generally poorer than citizens of la Republique du Cameroun because Southern Cameroons has become the farm and gold mine of la Republique du Cameroun to be exploited for the exclusive benefit of its foreign masters.

Our struggle for freedom, justice, and equality through sovereign independence is backed by history, international law and legitimacy.  We are wining.  Victory is on our side.  Let us unite, mobilize, remain consistently vigilant and stand firm on our inalienable right to SELF-DETERMINATION, FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE.

The right to self-determination is unstoppable.  Southern Cameroonians should be encouraged and inspired by positive developments in the Saharawi Republic (Western Sahara), Kosovo and most recently in Scotland, which is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  The first two fought wars but seeing that the wars were not leading them to their ultimate goal they stopped the wars and embarked upon aggressive diplomacy for mediation and dialogue.  This peaceful approach is yielding positive results.

To doubting Thomases and agents of la Republique du Cameroun who want to bring genocide on our people, destablise Nigeria and West Africa in general that is still bleeding from wars, we assure you the SCNC non-violent struggle for Southern Cameroons freedom and independence is firmly on the rail and sailing to victory.  We are members of the UNPO that preaches non-violence and right to self-determination of all nations and peoples.  We have attended and addressed the UN Human Rights Council, In our case in the African Court of Justice, we have already won la Republique du Cameroun on the crucial stage of Admissibility.  The international community is becoming more and more aware of the annexation and occupation of Southern Cameroons by la Republique du Cameroun and the pacific struggle of the SCNC for Southern Cameroons freedom and independence.

In the year 2006 Southern Cameroonian people suffered many atrocities in the hand of the occupier of our land.  We equally succeeded in internationalizing the struggle for freedom.  Aggressive diplomatic offensive was intensified.  The echoes of our positive efforts were registered when on January 20, 2007 the National Vice Chairman and ten others, were arbitrarily arrested, tortured and illegally detained for some two months without a charge. The pressure from the international community leading to their release on bail was remarkable.

We thank all who raised their voices in defense of the right to self-determination.  We call on the UN, all democratic nations and organizations and human rights organizations to act now to avoid any war of liberation between the two former UN Trust territories. La Republique du Cameroun wants to provoke a war to prolong its colonial occupation of our land and naked pillage of our resources.

While congratulating all SCNC Units, home and Diaspora, and all Southern Cameroonians and friends in general for their support, I call on all of you to double your effort to expedite victory.

On this Solemn Day of National Mourning, Non-violence should remain your watchword.  In solemnity 20th May should be spent in somber reflection and prayers for the Lord to hasten our restoration.  At 12 noon prompt all Southern Cameroonians dressed in black should in humility before the Lord rise for a minute of silence in memory of all Southern Cameroonians - the UB Students, Ndu Tea Estate workers and those before murdered in cold blood by the bullets of la Republique and all Southern Cameroons nationalists who are watching us from the great beyond.

Southern Cameroons will be FREE.  Support the legitimate struggle and be counted with the heroes.

Long Live the right to SELF-DETERMINATION

Long Live world peace based on FREEDOM and JUSTICE for all.

GOD BLESS SOUTHERN CAMEROONS.

Chief Ayamba Ette-Otun

SCNC Chairman

By Chris Mbunwe

A Catholic priest on Sunday, May 20, in his sermon, lambasted those whom he says propound national unity without examining the realities on the ground.

At all Saints Parish Bayelle, Nkwen, Bamenda Archdiocese, Rev. Fr. Bonaventure Ndong, assisted by the Parish Priest, Rev. George Ngalim, held Christians spellbound with an incisive sermon.

Reflecting on the triple celebrations of May 20, as Cameroon's National Day, World Day of Communication and the Mary Queen of Apostles and Special Patroness of Cameroon, Fr. Ndong appealed to Christians to re-examine their lives in relation to the celebrations.

"My opinion is that we are celebrating half of national unity if we have to call it that way. Reasons being that from pictures shown on CRTV screen Yesterday, May 19, those who watched and saw what I saw must have seen "kalabut" (plank) houses in one part of the country living in abject poverty and pictures of sky-scrappers in another part of Cameroon, showing others living in affluence.

How can we talk about national unity without love and equitable justice? How can we talk about national unity when all is not going well in all facets of life?  How can we talk about national unity when English-speaking Cameroonians or French-speaking Cameroonians do not feel comfortable where they are?" Fr. Ndong asked. 

He said after the so-called Foumban Conference, Cameroon, through the handiwork of President Amadou Ahidjo, was declared a United Republic and 1972 and that in 1984, Paul Biya, without any explanation, changed the name of this country to the Republic of Cameroon.

"This is why I said we are celebrating half unity today," Fr. Ndong remarked. He blamed the woes of the nation on Cameroonians whom he described as docile. He said it was difficult to call any average Cameroonian to reason whenever he/she is called to stand against injustice, corruption, embezzlement and other ills, reason being that Cameroonians have enough to eat and drink.

Hear him: "ask a Cameroonian what can be done concretely to redress the present mess in which we find ourselves, he will look for food and after he has eaten and gulped a bottle of alcohol, he will belch and quickly suggest that the topic be postponed for discussion some other day. And that is how we have remained marking time on the same spot for 35 years.

This day to me could have been a day for national mourning" lamented the Rev. Father.
Talking about the absence of brotherly or Christian love between Anglophones and Francophones, Fr. Ndong said the two peoples do not feel comfortable where they find themselves.

According to him, superiority and inferiority complexes and hatred come into play. "Let's come back home. Why should we keep on killing and destroying each other's property? Are those fighting in Oku-Mbessa Francophones? “the man of God wondered. He said such acts clearly demonstrate that Christian values have been ignored by the same people who stand on roof tops propounding national unity.

Fr. Ndong also told Christians that if there is any church in Cameroon that can pride itself of contributing enormously towards the peace that reigns today, it is the Catholic Church.
"This country has experienced peace which no one person, group or political party can lay claim to.

It is the intercession of Mary, Queen of Apostles as Special Patroness of Cameroon that has kept us as peaceful. To Her, we owe due respect and honour," said Fr. Ndong.

"Self-government won't work without self-discipline, " Paul Harvey

By Gwetang Jacques

The Southern Cameroons struggle in the Diaspora remains one of Yaoundé’s greatest challenging headaches more so as it portrays her ugly image to the controversial international community. This warning signal came from SCNC following a declared national mourning in commemoration of May 20th, a day Southern Cameroonians were sold into slavery 35 years ago.       

All roads led to the Cameroon Embassy neighborhood in Paris in the early hours of May 20th 2007.Members and sympathizers of the SCNC France came out in their numbers carrying placards denouncing La Republique’s illegal occupation of the Southern Cameroons territory. Messages such as "20th May 1972 -- 20th May 2007 amounts to 35 long years of enslavement of Southern Cameroons by La Republique du Cameroun; United with la Republique we perish, Divided we stand were just a few of the different messages floating through the streets of Paris.

The curtain-raiser of the day was a minute of silence in honour of martyrs of freedom and those still languishing in the different torture centers in the name of detention in La République du Cameroun etc. After a word of prayers led by Mrs. Achu Mary Susan, the Chairman, Mr. Vasco Akong made a speech calling on members to remain firm and committed to the struggle. Concluding he said, 'freedom was just around the corner.' Other important speeches came from the vice Chairman in the person  of Mr. Ewubeakem Ojong and Mr. Prizo Agbor, all determined in one voice to see light at the end of the tunnel.

The more than two(2) hours of protest march saw members all dressed in the freedom T-shirts brandishing placards very colorfully and portraying President Paul Biya as falling to rise no more. The occasion was crowned with refreshments at the two symbolic Anglophone Restaurants at the Paris 18th District.

By AGBOR-MBI

Fallouts from the conference shows that for the first time since the Kumbo uprising of 1997 that lead to the arrest, detention and eventual imprisonment of most SCYL activists including its Chairman Akwanga Ebenezer, the top brass of the Youth League met for the first time in New York. It should be recalled that Ebenezer Akwanga and several other SCYL/SCNC activists were arrested in connection with the 1997 "terrorist attacks" and were tried for secession, but in the course of the hearing, the charges were changed to banditry and possessing firearms and finally received sentences raging from 5 years to life in prison.

Information gathered by this reporter reveals that the SCYL chairman Akwanga Ebenezer who finally escaped from La Republique du Cameroun’s notorious Nkondengui maximum security prison and was ferried from Abuja-Nigerian to the USA and giving asylum protection by the United States government met for the first time in person with Secretary General; Lucas Ayaba, Defense Secretary; Benedict Nwana, Secretary of State on chief diplomat of the Southern Cameroons Interim government in-exile, Prince Lawrence Ayamba.

The meeting of the above mentioned SCYL hardcore had left the Yaoundé regime panicking and worried especially as there is no fallout from the Dallas conference. The government had been closely monitoring the Southern Cameroons Dallas Conference. Some Southern Cameroonians were even paid by the regime to infiltrate the conference and bring back information. One of the conference participants just back to Cameroon is quoted to had said “Cameroon will never be the same again”

With this level of silence especially from the SCYL, the Biya’s government had gone into a secrete crack down of both SCYL and SCNC activists in Cameroons. In Douala, Yaoundé, Kumba, Victoria (Limbe) and Mamfe some street newspaper vendors were arrested by secret police for selling the recently published book titled “Smiling Through Hardship” by the SCYL chairman Ebenezer Akwanga.

In April of this year in the Kumba neighborhood of ‘SONAC Street’ the resident and business premises of an activists Arrey John Mbu was again raided by plain cloth security officers with orders from above as one of them was heard saying - to flush-out all SCNC activists. The said activist had been noted by the Kumba administration for organizing and holding Southern Cameroons meetings in his drinking house. 

The body of another SCYL activist Tchinda Pierre was recently discovered in the Bonaberi neighborhood of Douala. Talking to the deceased uncle only known as Tobias, he told this reporter that Tchinda Pierre was arrested in January 2007 in Yaoundé and detained without charge or trial at the Elig-Essono detention facility with another SCNC/SCYL activist Ndeffo Justin Takoudjou who had since escaped and fled the country for fear of his life. Tobias also explained that since his cousin Tchinda Pierre's escape, he had granted him sanctuary and was also arranging for Tchinda Pierre to leave the country when his body was found. Witnesses who spoke in anonymity to the journalist described the killing as the handiwork of Biya’s secret services against the SCNC-Bameleki supporters. Tobias is also quoted as saying that “the government had now targeted the ‘Bamis’ because we feel safer with and support the Southern Cameroons struggle and the SCNC.

Prior to the Dallas – Southern Cameroons Conference, the hardcore SCNC/SCYL activists in Belgium on Sunday, April 15, confronted Cameroun’s former Foreign Affairs Minister, Jacques Roger Booh Booh, who was CPDM envoy to Belgium for the party's reorganization, in Antwerp, Belgium.

The SCNC activists seized the Minister's coat and trampled on it. Roger Booh Booh, who was heading a CPDM re-organization delegation of the party's organs in the BENELUX, found himself helpless before a protesting group of SCNC/SCYL activists.

ENTER ANOTHER MAY 20th.

May 20 in Cameroon is a day most southern Cameroonians will never forget. This year, the report spoke to a diehard SCNC/SCYL activist called Ebogo Titus and he had this to say:

“Mr Biya and his lackeys should stop pluming themselves about the nebulous notion of "National Unity". Southern Cameroonians have been robed of their rights and heritage. They are continuously being assimilated, with their right to self-determination crushed under alien rule and their resources exploited while they are allowed to die in penury. Neither the Federated State nor the Unitary State has worked out for Anglophones. Unification rather brought slavery and imprisonment while the unconstitutional May 20, 1972 Referendum ushered in the annexation, colonization and systematic assimilation of the Southern Cameroons. No one celebrated the day he was captured and enslaved. May 20, is a "Day of National Mourning" for the people of the Southern Cameroons. I stand firmly on the words of Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka- Odumegwu Ojukwu who, when the clouds darkened and danger loomed, called on his countrymen and admonished "Let's move a little apart and survive rather than Stay close and roast". I say "Divided, We Survive, United we perish"

Watch out for more May 20 interviews and what Southern Cameroonians all over the world have to say.

The primary THREAT to us Southern Cameroonians, as to other Afrikans, is not the threat energy-hungry countries pose to our physical continent.

 The primary and most urgent THREAT against Afrikans is the organized threat outside the continent against our very existence on the planet. If someone is forcing you out of your house, do you help him sweep it? You stop him from forcing you out. So life guarantees that we shall live first, and only later worry about the environment, in Afrika and outside.

If we focus on the euphemism "environment", we shall be deceived to clean up Afrika for someone else alone, because their over consumption will certainly starve us off the planet. Out of their way.

Our priority remains just staying alive, being around... like everybody else. The UNPO statement below makes clear that degraded environments accelerate the effects of oppression and exploitation. They accelerate our extermination in Afrika! Farming practices known to degrade land in Afrika (starving us) are WMDs; "fertilizers" that gradually destroy our continent (starving us) are WMDs; Shell-type oil drilling is a WMD. Target Nigerian Afrikans. These are just a few known environment degraders with directly deadly consequences for Afrikans. Afrophobia. Meritaphobia. All historical preludes to Roman-style genocide in Carthage/Carthaginia, site of modern Tunisia.

Our priority remains WMDs targeting Afrika--I mean the many deadly Trojan horses we find so beautiful and irresistible. Like tomato paste sold us that are unfit for humans in their countries of origin. Like sardines sold us too high in mercury to be sold in the manufacturer's country. Like lice-bearing okrika. Like drinks drinks that contain chemicals banned in the exporter's country. Like the new, ongoing Balkanisation of the motherland of all humanity. I tell you, this is warfare like never before: evil perfected.

Afrika should divert all diguised WMDs and take part, one happy day, in ending this recycling of bloody civilizations.

So life first, environment later. Your very life, not your lifestyle. And for you and me, the starting point, our only foothold is a restored Southern Cameroons. Nothing else comes close, anywhere else.

 Cameroonians from across the board join their youth in celebrating the 41^st youth day on 11 February 2007. As has become traditional, the Head of State, President Paul Biya will address the millions of youth in a bid to give them some hope.

In the days of Ahidjo, 10 February messages played across the country on the eve of 11 February, and beamed on ceremonial grounds on D-day, were full of inspiring deeds and promised deeds.  Bursaries for university youths were usually increased on this occasion, new schools announced and new projects for international scholarships declared.

Today, the youth of Cameroon are so despondent, unemployed and unsure of the future in the land of their birth that they have to take precarious trips across the Sahara and Mediterranean Sea into Europe. In Europe they are subjected to all sorts of debasing an inhuman treatment that they end up cursing the land of their birth.[Full Story]

For forty six years, we remained pliant in the face of untold suffering and brutality imposed upon us by the brutal feet of occupation. Southern Cameroons easily gave away hard earned victories, banging on the fairness of the human conscience. Our cherished heritage was destroyed all but in name and the finest sons and daughters of our land forced into isolated zones in foreign countries. The Southern Cameroonian was made to believe that their interest and destiny could be secured by others. And while Foncha fought hard for union with LRC, Endeley fought harder for union with Nigeria.

PRO: Mr. SG, welcome to Den Haag, what is the purpose of your visit?

SG: I came to consult with my colleagues of the SCYL, shore up their branch and to sell the message and strategy of the organization for the year 2007. [Full Interview]

 
I was privileged to have been part of a team working to develop a curriculum for Cameroon, at the Curriculum Service of the Ministry of National Education in 1994.  The service was out to do a comparative study of the educational systems in Britain , France , Francophone Cameroon and Anglophone Cameroon.[Full Story]

MR PHILIP ALSTON, SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON EXTRAJUDICIAL, SUMMARY OR ARBITRARY EXECUTIONS, OHCHR, GENEVA, by NFOR, NGALA NFOR - National Vice Chairman, and Chair, Foreign Affairs Commission (SCNC)

The Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) on behalf of the Southern Cameroonian mothers, widows, orphans and youths who live in perpetual agony strongly condemn the persistent and systematic murdering of their children, husbands and fathers on flimsy excuses. On condemning the systematic and flagrant violation of the human and peoples' rights we petition and call on the UN Human Rights Council, currently holding its third session in Geneva, to urgently INTERVENE in the Southern Cameroons conflict with la Republique du Cameroun before another Palestine episode is inevitably born in West Africa.[Full  Story]

 Panic-STRICKEN LA REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN GOES tough

Having arrested and detained;

1)     Fidelis Chinkwo - Assistant National Organising Secretary

2)     Emmanuel Emi - Assistant National Financial Secretary

3)     Cletus Che - Auditor, Mezam County

4)     Priscilia Khan - Receptionist, SCNC National Secretariat

5)     Elvis Bandzeka - Activist, 

in deplorable conditions at the Gendarmerie Upstation since September 16, 2006 the occupation forces seem not satisfied.[Full  Story]

Today 1^st October 2006 marks the 45^th Anniversary of the Independence of our nation, the Southern Cameroons. It is my duty to, under the guidance of the Lord, wish you all HAPPY 45TH INDPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION.

To our brothers and sisters in Bakassi, let us unite and celebrate our national independence anniversary in hope and zeal to work for better days and national glory.[Full Address]

 The Gendarmarie arrest of Fidelis Chinkwo, Emmanuel Emi, and three others including a female, Priscilla Khan, Senior members of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) in the Movement’s Northern Zone Secretariat at Cow Street Bamenda, September 18^th 2006 presumably to pre-empt the commemoration of 1^st October, is nothing short of precipitating the Israeli-Hezbolla type confrontation. [Full Story]

Vanguard (Lagos) July 9, 2006 Posted to the web July 10, 2006 By George Onah in Port Harcourt

BARELY one week after secession threat by indigenes of Bakassi  Peninsula and Southern Cameroun under the aegis of Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation (SCAPO), militant youths in the oil rich
peninsula, Friday, declared the area an independent state.

A group which gave its name as Bakassi Movement for Self  Determination (BAMOSD), said it had joined forces with the Movement  for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a group that claimed  responsibility for recent hostage takings in the Niger Delta, in carrying out the secession.[Full Story]

By Shey Evaristus – The Guardian Post (June 14 – 25)

20^th May 2006 provided another occasion for Southern Cameroonians to take stock of the progress of their march to imminent independence; recognizing increasing international considerations to exiled SCNC leaders as a sure beacon at the end of the tunnel.

While la Republic du Cameroon re-enacted the annual ritual of 20^th May celebrations under close intelligence scrutiny, SCNC leaders at home and in the Diaspora charted new courses and strategies to achieve self determination for Southern Cameroons without spilling blood.

At the home front, paid party militants and the increasing army of unemployed Southern Cameroonian youths came out to earn even the paltry 1000 FRS, allotted participants wearing CPDM colors. While placards glorifying the bogus unitary government were permitted, anything in reference to the SCNC, its colors, its anthem was proscribed and the embargo closely monitored by heavily armed la Republic du Cameroon troops.

In the aftermath of the situation, exiled SCNC chief, Justice Alobwede Ebong’s (recently resettled in the US alongside 23 others at American Government expense)  home front convened a council meeting in the headquarters of the Northern zone- Bamenda on May 27^th. Barely had the meeting gone underway than security forces swooped on the hall and arrested 12 leaders adhering to Justice Ebong’s exiled SCNC government.

The victims include Mr. Abel Ndop chairman SCNC Southern zone. A pathetic case in view of his age and declining health. SCNC executive S G, Thomas Nwancham; alongside Anye Solomon Nsoh, Tima Humphrey, Amba Ecclesiastics, Ndi Jacob Ngo, Mbah Samson Sabi, Mbah Joseph, Komfor Micheal, Yombi Mathias, Tangwan Charles Tayim and Mrs Mudoh Jeannette. Their conditions of detention cannot be over emphasized; inline with some of the most savage in Africa.

In the Diaspora, Belgium stole the show, staging demonstrations at the British embassy in Brussels, during which a sharp edged memo on the Southern Cameroon marginalization signed by Rene Morfaw, SCNC Belgium Chairman, was submitted for the attention of the British PM Tony Blair and his cabinet, highlighting the occupation and subjugation of the Southern Cameroons people by la Republic du Cameroon in defiance of UN and bilateral agreements. The tear rendering catalogue of Southern Cameroons grievances under the occupying force continues to gather international sympathy, hardening la Republique’s resolve to completely emasculate the Southern Cameroonian and obliterate his way of life.

One of the brains behind the Tony Blair memo, Prince Ayamba Lawrence top aide to Ebenezer Akwanga’s SCYL exiled cabinet summed up the prevailing situation in Cameroon. “It is a smothering time bomb near its elastic limit” Prince Ayamba called on the international community to study the merits of the Southern Cameroons cause and restore the Southern Cameroons state, to pre-empt the Rwanda style genocide in Cameroun. Ayamba recognized pledges by La Republic du Cameroon to hasten the decentralization process where greater powers will be divulged to the regions but regretted that it fell far short of Southern Cameroons aspirations for total independence now; restoration of the state of Southern Cameroons. (REPUBLIC OF AMBAZONIA according to Fon Gorgi Dinka)

Albeit divergent factions amongst current SCNC leadership and different visions of attaining statehood, Ayamba said he still believed in the SCNC motto, THE FORCE OF ARGURMENT, NOT THE ARGURMENTS OF FORCE  but patience and  tolerance of La Republique’s intensified subjugation was thinning out amongst SCNC youths. Ayamba quoted the recent cases were the UN had supervised peaceful restoration of other independent states sharing similar historical backgrounds like Southern Cameroons. They include East Timor and most recently Montenegro from Serbia under peaceful UN mediation. Southern Cameroons has deposited an even weightier argument with the UN and there is no way the truth will not take its course.

Ayamba said even the UN charter on Human Rights in its preamble recognizes the right of sovereign nations to take up arms and chase out any autocratic occupying illegitimate force. The return of kidnapped and imprisoned Southern Cameroonian activists by French Cameroon authorities to their provinces of origin sparked euphoria among Southern Cameroons families who had missed their beloved ones for long. It was joy and reunion for a few but dreadful chilling moments for families who failed to find their missing ones amongst the released Southern Cameroons patriots

Many are family members of Southern Cameroonians whose close kith and kin have gone underground to spearhead Southern Cameroons liberation. Some have lost limb and life; tortured and incarcerated, the lucky ones have found their way to sympathetic nations but keep their identities and whereabouts secret, to avoid the persecution of family members back at home, constantly under surveillance by the French security forces to exterminate any iota of protest, particularly with the recent sympathy amongst UN members and other bodies, in solidarity with the legitimate aspirations of the occupied Southern Cameroons state.

Disappointed, many destitute families made startling revelations. Sometime in March one Clara Bih was adducted during a home coming party for family members from abroad, other invitees were brutalized and Clara Bih’s destination remains unknown or a closely guided secret.  Her arrest, SCNC intelligence sources revealed may be related to her sister Bibiana Bih currently in the Diaspora. Bibiana Bih is gradually gaining renown as the Geobels of the SCNC propaganda division in the Diaspora. As families looked through the lists of transferred detainees, more disappointment and sobs clouded their visage.

Other victims include Elodie Laure, Yolandin Manfotang, Ndikum Lysa Chwanchwang, Kouokam Pierre Henri, Marie-Clair Monkam, Obi Fidelis Orace, whose activities towards the restoration of the southern Cameroon state earned them the wrath of La Republic’s secret services. Family members are worried about their current destination and with current rumours of special death squads cress-crossing the Southern Cameroons territorial network to stamp out SCNC increasing demands for self realization the worst is feared.

The arrested Southern zone SCNC chairman Mr. Ndop Abel lamenting in his cubicle in Bamenda has been speaking out on the excesses of the notorious La Republic security operatives. Mr. Ndop is locked up alongside hardened brigands in a 9 square meter

Though suffering in health Mr. Ndop dispels concerns about his health but assures the multitude engage in the struggle that the end is near. Even if he dies now he will die a happy man because the end of the Southern Cameroons struggle is at hand. Again he will be only one more martyr in the struggle that has claimed lives, limbs and property, but if he had to do it all over again he was not only ready but also prepared to sacrifice his life for the great new nation soon to re-emerge. Ndop substantiates his view with the UN SG Koffi Annan who called for dialogue when he visited Cameroon. Annan also suffered a humiliating search by French and La Republic agents when he visited Cameroon a second time on mission, officially related to the resolution of the Cameroon- Nigeria Bakassi imbroglio.

The shabby shameless treatment of the UN scribe was reported to be in relation to alleged documents in his keeping justifying the Southern Cameroons cause.  In spite of media outrage the government remained mute and has instead intensified the persecution of SCNC/SCYL activists. Their current actions, Ndop claims are the last pangs of a dying horse. He concluded with a favorite SCNC activist liberation song; Courage brothers do not stumble/ though the path be dark as night/ There is a star to guide the humble / so trust in God/ to do the right.

By Emmanuel Ulayi:  Posted to the Web: Monday, June 19, 2006

ABUJA— THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has denounced as a pill too bitter to swallow, Federal Government’s deal with Cameroun to cede the Bakassi Peninsula to Yaoundé. President of the NLC, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, told members of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Abuja at a seminar that the measures adopted by the Federal Government in its deal with Cameroun were faulty.

Oshiomhole whose address was delivered by an Assistant Secretary of the Congress, Mr. Joel Ojigi, said government must be ready to deal decisively with all issues arising from the decision as regards full resettlement of the inhabitants.[Full Story]

The traditional head of the peninsula and Chairman of the Bakassi Council of Traditional Rulers, Etinyin Etim Okon Edet, after leading other traditional rulers to perform some traditional rites, told our correspondent that the Bakassi people were ready to go to war if the need arose.

He said in Ikang that the people were resolute after he addressed them on why they should be on the alert, while waiting for the next instructions on the way forward.[Full Story]

The traditional head of the peninsula and Chairman of the Bakassi Council of Traditional Rulers, Etinyin Etim Okon Edet, after leading other traditional rulers to perform some traditional rites, told our correspondent that the Bakassi people were ready to go to war if the need arose.

He said in Ikang that the people were resolute after he addressed them on why they should be on the alert, while waiting for the next instructions on the way forward.[Full Story]

In a nationwide radio and television broadcast, the President said his administration worked very hard to find a political solution to the legal setback.

He said of all the areas covered by the judgement of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court at the Hague, Netherlands in 2002, Bakassi remained the sore point.

"The core of the problem is Bakassi where Nigerian troops have been stationed for the last thirteen years after a battle with Cameroonian troops, and where substantial number of Nigerians are living.

"With ICJ verdict that Bakassi belongs to Cameroon, we went into intricate and detailed negotiations on how to implement the judgment."[Full Story]

Filed at 10:35 a.m. ET

GENEVA (AP) -- The World Health Organization said Friday that female genital cutting is a form of torture that must be stamped out, even if it is done by trained medical personnel.

The ''medicalization'' of ritual genital cutting fails to prevent girls from being permanently scarred, threatening their lives when they give birth later and endangering their babies, WHO said in a report.[Full Story]

(Draw inspiration from a great pioneer of Black Education and Freedom: Dr. Mary Mcleod Bethune below)!

Brethren,

Mrs. Olive Shang once managed a program over Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV) called Calling the Women! This time, calling the women is as important in rural development as it is in liberation.

 
We now take this opportunity to call on Ambazonian women to let to rest the pains of re-colonization, deprivation and the deaths of their sons and daughters who stood up for freedom of their fatherland and met with brutal death from a killer Cameroun regime. This call for re-awakening at the eve of a call for our Parliamentarians to not attend Cameroun Parliament, hopefully with a view to restoring the Ambazonia National Assembly on a yet to be scheduled date should be taken seriously--for no nation, as Dr. Mary Mcleod Bethune has shown us with her brief biography below, can survive without women understanding the zeal for freedom and even more so educating people about it, while taking a lead role in making things happen. [Full Story]

By Christopher Fon Achobang

The elective conventions of the two factions of Cameroon’s prime opposition party, the Social Democratic Front, SDF has come and gone, leaving party militants and sympathizers in total confusion.

It had been hoped that these conventions were going to do two things. The Yaounde convention, handiwork of the Ngwasiri-Muna camp, was expected to chart the political roadmap for the SDF. It limited itself to giving positions to opportunists and megalomaniacs. Muna was only interested in becoming the Chairman of the SDF. Now that he has that mandate, is he going to create a political party or simply going to usurp and maintain the name SDF. Whatever the case, he will be expected to register his new political outfit.[Full Story]

GERMAN MAP OF KAMERUN AS OF 1913.

Have you ever heard that a Southern Cameroonian who is a gendarme officer or policeman has killed a francophone citizen on the street in Douala, Yaounde, Ebolowa or Garoua? Can I count how many Southern Cameroonians have been killed in cold blood by francophone gendarmes, soldiers and policemen? Has President Paul Biya ever imposed a state of emergency in any part of La Republique du Cameroun? Why is Southern Cameroons ruled under emergency laws?

These are some of the questions a majority of Southern Cameroonias are searching for answers to no avail and which the SCNC vice chairman emphasized in his write-up captioned ‘The soul of the nation and ancestors in Mourning’ a copy of which was sent to this reporter. The SCNC Vice chairman’s statement stated that;

 1.      Southern Cameroons is a different and distinct nation. With its own international boundaries defined by international treaties, it is not an integral part of La Republique du Cameroun.

2.      Southern Cameroonians are Not citizens of La Republique du Cameroun. They are by culture, history and international law citizens of Southern Cameroons. They are not français Cameroonais.

3.      But on May 20, 1972 President Ahmadou Ahidjo by Presidential decree annexed Southern Cameroons (West Cameroon), abolished the federation, divided Southern Cameroons into two provinces of his country and appointed francophone governors (proconsuls) to rule in Buea and Bamenda.

4.      With annexation, Southern Cameroons, my Fatherland is under military occupation. Southern Cameroons is ruled as a conquered land.  And I am treated as a subjugated person.

In the Diaspora and on the eve of May 20, 2006, hundreds of Southern Cameroonians in Belgium demonstrated in-front of the British Embassy in Brussels carrying various placards such as Free the Southern Cameroons NOW, Release all detained Southern Cameroonians, Intervene Now to avoid another Rwandan genocide in Africa.

In their three page petition, they informed the British Prime Minister Tony Blair that, there are thousands of innocent Southern Cameroonians and Southern Cameroons activists languishing in the prisons of La Republique du Cameroun. Recent reports reaching us states that on the 28 April 2006,  more than sixty-five (65) SCNC Leaders have been arrested in Oku Local Government Area, (LGA) Bui County, Northern Zone of the Southern Cameroons the petition emphasised. Those arrested include Prince Humphrey Mbinglo, Northern Zone chairperson, Pa Henry Nya, Northern Zone Vice Chairperson, Mr Fidelis Chinwags, National Assistant Organising Secretary, Stephen Kongnso, Bui County Chairperson. As at this moment, they are still in custody, without adequate food, water and basics the Southern Cameroonians added.

It was also mentioned in the petition that on the 3^rd Of April 2006, Some 30 members of Southern Cameroons Youth League, (SCYL) were arrested in the towns of Mamfe, Mutengene, Mile 16 and Muea in the Southwest Province by gendarmes. They have since been detained at the Gendarmerie legion in SONARA in Victoria where they are held under the worst inhuman conditions.

Tony Blair was advised to make a call to Mr Paul Biya, asking him to immediately release all Southern Cameroonians under captivity unconditionally, the demonstrators mentioned in their petition.

The situation in the Southern Cameroons is a ticking time bomb the petition said. In fact it is a ticking time bomb whose minute hand runs with the speed of a second hand. Southern Cameroonians called on the international community as well to prevent another war and genocide in Africa. Southern Cameroonians don’t want war, which is why we have resolve to THE FORCE OF ARGUMENT, NOT THE ARGUMENT OF FORCE they stated.

As at press time, this reporter gathered that Madam Ziwou, mother to one Elodie Laure, a Southern Cameroons activist in Europe who sustained injuries as a result of police attacked in March of this year was whisked away to an unknown destination from the hospital by armed policemen. Before her being kidnapped from the hospital, she told the Independent –Gazette that one Yolandine Manfotang had also gone missing.

Meanwhile, in the cité des palmiers neighbourhood in Douala, a printer’s workshop was surrounded and invaded by combine forces of the Gendarmerie and the military for printing SCNC materials (Caps, T-shirts etc). The owner of the shop whose names we got as Mr Henry was earlier tipped off and had already fled the county for fear of his life.

The Southern Cameroonian petition called on Her Magesty’s government  to rapidly take actions of solidarity and support the Southern Cameroons and her people and also to endorse their elementary right to guarantee their integrity and  right to self determination.

Cameroon will step up the fight against corruption and deepen structural reforms to make maximum benefit from a debt relief package from international lenders, President Paul Biya said. Biya, o­ne of Africa's longest-serving leaders, said Cameroon's entry into the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative was an opportunity to alleviate grinding poverty but he demanded more sacrifices from his people to ensure growth. "It is by no means an end to our problems or a panacea that will cause our problems to disappear overnight," Biya said in a televised address late o­n Friday. [ More...... ]

US Ambassador to Cameroon, Neils Marquardt, has stated that Cameroon can "flip" if its current trends continue, though also warning that serious challenges lie ahead for the country. Addressing the American Business Association, ABA, in Douala o­n Tuesday, May 9, the Ambassador said though he is still "bullish" o­n Cameroon, he is, nevertheless, optimistic with recent developments in the country. "The positive decisions by the World Bank and the IMF two weeks ago o­n Cameroon reaching the HIPC Completion Point, are obvious strong indications that the country is moving in the right direction," Marquardt said. (More.....)

Following The Queen's approval to new ministerial appointments, the Government is now constituted as follows.

The Queen has also been pleased to approve that Stephen Timms MP be sworn of Her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council.

 For complete details, click here: Cabinet

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-05/03/content_4504051.htm

ABUJA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The Nigeria-Cameroon joint technical team's intensified work on the delineation of the land boundary between the two countries is "a success story", a senior Nigerian government official said here on Tuesday.

 Briefing the visiting Canadian Permanent Representative to the UN Allan Rock on the demarcation of the Nigeria-Cameroon borders, Prince Bola Ajibola, leader of the Nigerian delegation to the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, said "We have a success story to tell on the border project."

 The boundary delineation is part of the execution of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment of Oct. 10, 2002 on the Land and Maritime Boundary dispute between the two African neighbors.

 "It is quite a success story of being able to promote peace, tranquillity and security between the countries," Ajibola said, adding that "the border demarcation is indeed a subject of interest to many observers especially because it is an issue that borders on international peace and security."

 Ajibola, former ICJ Judge and one-time Nigeria's federal attorney-general and minister of justice, said the commission had ensured the prevalence of peace between the two countries.

 He also said the commission had succeeded in reactivating the activities of the Nigeria-Cameroon Joint Commission.

 Consistent with its mandate, he said the commission had encouraged high-level visits between officials of both countries, making it possible for the two presidents to visit one another at different times since May 2003.

 Ajibola said the commission had met 14 times since its inauguration in 2002, providing the platform for officials of both countries to interact and strengthen the bond of friendship and brotherliness between them.

 According to him, the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Trans-African Highway that connects the two countries from Ikom of Nigeria to Mamfe of Cameroon is to ensure socio-economic interaction amongst the population of both nations.

 "Given the social and economic importance of the Lake Chad to the communities of the Chad Basin Commission member states, considerable efforts have been made by the Mixed Commission to sensitize the international community on the plight of the drying lake," he said.

 According to Ajibola, the technical team has covered 342 of the entire 1,800 kilometers stretch of the land boundary. Enditem

We encourage others to utilize the Failed States Index to develop ideas for promoting greater stability worldwide. We hope the Index will spur conversations, encourage debate, and most of all help guide strategies for sustainable security.

We are pleased to present the second annual Failed States Index. Tens of thousands of articles from global and regional sources were collected from May to December 2005 using Thomson Dialog. Utilizing our CAST software to do initial analysis of these voluminous documents and with a review by experts, we compiled the scores below.

Click here for more info: http://www.fundforpeace.org/programs/fsi/fsindex2006.php

By Dibussi Tande

Cultural heritage is important to the identity of a society. In times of need, songs, texts and works of art can be a beacon of hope and comfort. Cultural heritage reinforces the cultural and historical self awareness. Power of Culture.

In a recent posting on his blog, Cameroonian political analyst George Ngwane analyzes what he perceives as the exclusively political mindset of activists of the former British Southern Cameroons who are seeking to reassert the region’s identity and “political statehood”. According to Ngwane,

“The Anglophone struggle in Cameroon has, in the main, been a political manifesto aimed at reasserting the statehood of Southern Cameroon, West Cameroon or Anglophone Cameroon, appellations that depend on the generational shift or liberation mind-set of the advocates.”

He goes on to lament that the cultural dimension has been completely absent in the struggle even though culture is a vital and indispensable weapon in the search for a new political dispensation in the former United Nations Trust Territory. As he puts it, “

“for if the constitutional rape of the geo-political territory has had both political and economic toll, part of its redemption can be situated within the building block of a dynamic and potent creative industry within that same geo-political territory.

“That geo-political territory has lost the Tiko, Besongabang, Bali and Weh airports but so is it losing a vibrant media landscape. It has lost its road infrastructure but so is it losing its Art and Culture industry...Today’s national political rainbow threatens by omission or commission to eclipse the distinct Anglophone cultural colors needed to radiate the geo-political territory.”

Ngwane therefore concludes that “cultural entrepreneurship” is the missing piece in the political search for constitutional redress because “every cultural tonic carries along a Mao Tse-Tungian revolution and a Meiji restoration needed for the renaissance of any Kwame Nkrumahian political kingdom”.

Ngwane’s analysis is a very relevant and timely one which begs the question whether a nation can be established on and through politics alone. In this posting, I will take Ngwane’s analysis a step further by asking whether (1) groups fighting for political statehood can be successful if they ignore the socio-cultural angle of their fight, and (2) whether nationalist movements can be truly relevant to the key segments of their target communities if they define and articulate their nationalist struggles only in purely political terms.

Referring specifically to the case of nationalist movements in Southern Cameroon, can they effectively mobilize their geographical and political base without a clear strategy for reaching out to those Southern Cameroonians who are not politically-inclined and who are most likely to be mobilized through social causes and civil society organizations?

To read and comment on the complete article, goto: http://www.dibussi.com/2006/04/culture_and_pol.html#more

By Pegue Manga

Fifty prisoners escaped from the Central Prison in Buea, following a massive jail break on the morning of Sunday, August 14. At press time eight of the escapees had been shot and arrested by a mixed squad of warders, gendarmes and the police. One of them Konrad Forbi, said to be a hardened robber died after receiving several bullets around his hips.

Police and gendarmes are still searching for the 42 prisoners still at large. One of the warders on guard, Guiegou Mouko, told The Post that a group of prisoners, numbering over 100, surged towards the main gate of the prison, with a pistol (which turned out to be a toy gun) and threatened to shoot him. "I retreated and fell over the counter in a bid to reach out for my gun in the armoury, as some of the prisoners pelted me with stones," Mouko said.

After overpowering the warder at the counter, 50 of the prisoners outsmarted four other warders who were guarding the main gate. One of the warders, Roger Kum, told The Post that, the prisoners trampled on them as they escaped. "They were armed with knives, stones and cutlasses. We did not have any weapons," Kum said.

The prisoners ran in different directions while the warders sought reinforcement from the police. In the ensuing pursuit, eight of the prisoners were shot. They have been abandoned in the lobby of the prison building writhing in pains.

The Medical Officer in charge of the prison, Dr. Norbert Ndi, told The Post that he did not have the necessary equipment to take care of the wounded prisoners. "For now they will be left there. If they recover fine, if they don't, then it would be too bad for them. By one week you would be surprised to see them already recovered," he said.

The Senior State Counsel for Buea, Martin Sakwe, told The Post that some of the escapees included inmates who had been sentenced to death. Some of them are supposed to stand trial for murder, Sakwe added.

Source: http://www.postnewsline.com/2005/08/8_shot_in_buea_.html#more

the Southern Cameroons Nation.

 By Nfor Ngala Nfor, SCNC National Vice Chairman

The incontrovertible fact that must be reaffirmed here is that the nation called Southern Cameroons is like all other modern African nations, a creation of European colonial interest.  This was done without seeking the consent of the owners of the land.  In carving out their early spheres of influence which later became colonies, they amalgamated hitherto separate autonomous kingdoms and chiefdoms together into larger political and legal entities to which new names were given.  Hitherto, these separate autonomous kingdoms and chiefdoms, were sovereign nations in their own rights and exercised varied functions of statehood. Contact with the west leading to formal establishment of colonial rule started as follows;

1.      In about 500 BC Carthaginian Mariners visited the Bight of Biafra and awed by the majesty of Mount Fako, named it “the Chariot of the Gods.” Many other European sailors, explorers and traders visited the coast of Guinea but nothing significant took place until the 19^th century.

2.      In 1848 Baptist Missionaries from Jamaica set up a Missionary Station in Bimbia.  Joseph Merrick who returned to his routes in Africa to evangelise his African brothers and sisters led these Missionaries.  This was the first Christian Mission Station in Southern Cameroons.

3.      In 1858 Rev. Alfred Saker, an English Baptist Missionary who had been forced out of Fernando Po, crossed over to the mainland and bought a piece of land from the Bakweri and Isubu Chiefs and founded the Sea Port town of Victoria.  Rev. Alfred Saker named it Victoria in honour of the British Monarch H. M. Queen Victoria.  Here we see the marriage of imperial politics and Christianity.

4.      In 1884 Consul Hewett, hoisted the British Flag and, proclaimed Victoria a British Protectorate.  East of the River Mongo Dr Nachtigal, a German Imperial Consul General concluded treaties with the Chiefs of the Douala area and declared the area German Protectorate.

With the British west of the Mongo River and the Germans on the east, this marks the initial birth of the two Cameroons. 

5.      In 1884/5 European powers held the Berlin Conference at which the African continent was partitioned among themselves for direct control and naked exploitation. This marks the birth of colonialism in Africa.

6.      In 1886 the British withdrew their claim over Victoria and it was ceded to the Germans. This means that from 1848-1886 (almost 40 years) it was unchallenged British influence that was spreading in present day Southern Cameroons.

7.      Because the peoples cherished British rule over that of the Germans, they (the Germans) did not find it easy taking over and establishing their own system of administration.  Up to 1905 the Germans were still held down in battles to subdue the natives. For record purposes the Germans were in Southern Cameroons for less than three decades, that is, from 1886 to 1915 including period of the war.

8.      In 1914 the First World War broke out and British and French combined forces under General Charles Dubel (British) defeated and chased away German troops from German Kamerun in 1916.  Failing to set up a joint administration (condominium) due to internal hostility and distrust, German Kamerun was provisionally partitioned into French Cameroun and British Cameroons. What initially was German Kamerun became French Cameroun while the British simply recovered their territory lost consequent upon Nachtigal’s German led coup of 1884.

9.      In the spring of 1919 Viscount Milner, Secretary of State of the British Empire and the French Colonial Minister, Henry Simon, on behalf of their respective Imperial Governments reached a permanent agreement on the British Cameroons and French Cameroun boundary.  This is known in history as the Milner-Simon Agreement in honour of the two Colonial Ministers.

10.  In 1922 the League of Nations ratified the partition and placed the two Cameroons under Mandate System.  While British Cameroons was a Mandated Territory of the United Kingdom, French Cameroun was that of the French. Art. 22 of the League of Nations Covenant constitute the first international legal instrument on the existence of two Cameroons.  No one in his sound mind can recognise the partition of Africa at the Berlin Conference and fail to give due legal meaning to the partition of German Kamerun, into two distinct Cameroons, that was ratified by the Versailles Peace Treaty that gave birth to the League of Nations, the forerunner of the UN.

11.  On June 26, 1923 pursuant to a British Order in Council, British Cameroons, for administrative convenience, was divided into British Southern Cameroons and British Northern Cameroons.  While British Southern Cameroons constituted a separate province within Nigeria’s group of Southern provinces, British Northern Cameroons was further split with a small part administered with Benue Province and two large chunks as parts of Adamawa and Bornu Provinces of Northern Nigeria.

12.  The Second World War 1939-1945 ended with the founding of the United Nations Organisation (UNO). On 13 December 1946 the United Kingdom signed the Trusteeship Agreement with the UN assuming responsibility as the Administering Authority over British Cameroons.  British Cameroons, as all other Mandated Territories of the defunct League of Nations became Trust Territories under the Trusteeship Council of the UN System.  British Cameroons and French Cameroun were equal and were respectively registered as class “B” Trust territories.

13.  In November 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 224(III) protecting each Trust Territory from annexation by either the Administering Authority or any other state.

14.  The Trusteeship Council in discharging its obligations in respect of Art. 76(b) of the UN Charter sent out Visiting Missions to the Trust Territories.  British Southern Cameroons received four Visiting Missions, the first being in 1949.  The Visiting Missions assessed the political, economic and socio-cultural development of the territory towards independence and reported to the Trusteeship Council.

15.  In 1953 Southern Cameroonian Members of Houses of Assembly – (Regional House, Enugu, and Federal House, Lagos) declared “Benevolent Neutrality” in Nigerian politics and gave up all their rights and privileges to fight for the autonomy of Southern Cameroons. They convened the fist political national conference in Mamfe with representatives from all over British Southern Cameroons.  At this National Conference a petition addressed to Her Majesty the Queen was adopted requesting for a separate Region for Southern Cameroons with its own House of Assembly and Government.  Dr E. M. L. Endeley led the delegation to London.

16.  On October 26, 1954, Brigadier E. J. Gibbons, Commissioner, as President of the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly, inaugurated the House of Assembly.  Dr Endeley formed the first Government of Southern Cameroons.  By a Motion from Hon. J. T. Ndze of Nkambe, the House after due debate adopted October 26 as Southern Cameroons National Day replacing Empire Day, May 24.  This was in honour of this historic achievement of regional status and self- government. From this time on Southern Cameroons sent six representatives to the Federal House in Lagos. The Southern Cameroons House of Assembly was consisted of (1) the Commissioner, who, as direct representative of H. M. the Queen, was the President of the House, (2) three ex- Officio Members, (3) 13 Elected Members, (4) Six Native Authority (NA) Members, and, (5) Two Special Members.                                    

17.  In 1957 following the adoption of a new constitution ie, Lyttleton Constitution, two important landmarks in the political development of Southern Cameroons were achieved.  Firstly, ministerial form of government was approved for Southern Cameroons effective in 1958.  Secondly, a House of Chiefs was created in addition to the House of Assembly.  It was in this 1957 that French Cameroun had its first government under Mr Mbida as the Premier.

18.  In 1958, the Commissioner J.O Field declared, “A modern state is in the making, and today, one hundred years after the founding of Victoria, the Cameroons can look back with pride at its achievements and look forward to its rapidly approaching independence with quiet confidence.” (emphasis mine)

19.  On December 5, 1958, by Resolution 1282(X111) the UN General Assembly took judicial note of the statement made by the Representative of the UK Government to the effect that, as compared with Nigeria, the Southern Cameroons had not been delayed in political evolution and that it was expected to achieve in 1960 the objectives set out in Art. 76(b) of the UN Charter, namely, ”self-government or independence”. This UK Government statement was contained in Memorandum T. 1393 of June 27, 1958 submitted to the UN.

May I further add;

a)      That the UK Representative to the UN made this pledge before the UN in 1960 adopted Resolution 1514 on the mandatory granting of unconditional independence to all colonies and trust territories as the necessary instrument for the enjoyment of complete freedom and development by all peoples.

b)      That the UK Representative here subscribed to the distinctiveness of British Southern Cameroons in international politics and law and her duty, as the Administering Authority, to respect her obligations as enshrined in the UN Charter and the Trusteeship Agreement- the treaty she signed with the UN on behalf of the Southern Cameroonian people. 

20.  In January 1959 general elections were held in which J.N. Foncha’s KNDP that had been in opposition since 1955, narrowly defeated Endeley’s CPNC.  As democracy had become the culture of the Southern Cameroonian, Dr Endeley, the first Premier, acknowledged defeat and peacefully handed over to J.N. Foncha.  Foncha became the second Prime Minister of Southern Cameroons while Endeley became the Constitutional Opposition Leader in the House.

21.  On March 13, 1959, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 1350(X111) recommending the holding of a plebiscite in British Southern Cameroons to ascertain the true wishes of the Southern Cameroonian people.

From this UN Resolution it is conclusive that the conduct of a plebiscite would have been uncalled for had Southern Cameroons been an integral part of French Cameroun, which became la Republique du Cameroun on attainment of independence on January 1, 1960.

22.  In 1959 the Mamfe Conference was held to decide on the political future of the Southern Cameroons.  It was at this Conference that Fon Achirimbi of Bafut, speaking on behalf of the Natural Rulers, made the following famous statement “We rejected Endeley because he wanted to take us to Nigeria. If Mr Foncha tries to take us to French Cameroun, we shall also run away from him.  To me French Cameroun is fire and Nigeria is water. Sir, I support secession without unification.”

23.  On September 24, 1959, the Premier of the Southern Cameroons, J.N. Foncha, addressing the 4^th Committee of the UN General Assembly, declared; “Any attempt to force us gain independence in a way that does not accord with our wishes would tantamount to a breach of the UN Charter and a violation of our fundamental human rights.”

24.  October 6, 1959, the US Permanent Representative to the UN, H.E. Clement J. Zabloiski, contributing to the debate on the political future of the Trust territory of British Southern Cameroons said; “The USA congratulates the people of the Southern Cameroons for their accession to auto determination as it constitutes the will of the population who wants to run its affairs democratically…” Opposed to the idea of unification, he predicted “The results of a hurried choice imposed on the population of the Trust territory would be catastrophic for their political future.”

25.  On October 16, 1959 the UN General Assembly respecting the status and territorial integrity of Southern Cameroons adopted Resolution 1352(XIV) separating the former from Nigeria before the latter attains Independence on October 1, 1960.

26.  On 31 May 1960, the UN Trusteeship Council adopted Resolution 2013(XXV1) by which the UK Government, as the Administering Authority, was requested  “ to take appropriate steps, in consultation with the authorities concerned, to ensure that the people of the territory are fully informed, before the plebiscite, of the constitutional arrangements that would have to be made, at the appropriate time, for the implementation of the decision taken at the plebiscite.”

27.  On October 1, 1960 the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly adopted a new (Constitution) Order in Council, 1960 S./1960.No./1654. This was the instrument to lead Southern Cameroons to independence. Southern Cameroons, as a distinct state existed as a separate political and legal entity, independent of Nigeria and la Republique du Cameroun.

28.  In October 1960, the UK Colonial Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr Iain Macleod, in interpreting  the options before the Southern Cameroonian people as concerns the second plebiscite question, said;

“A vote for attaining independence by joining the Republique would mean that…the Southern Cameroons and the Cameroun Republic would unite in a Federal United Cameroon Republic. The arrangements would be worked out after the plebiscite by a conference consisting of representative delegations of equal status from the Republic and the Southern Cameroons. The United Nations and the United Kingdom would also be associated with this conference.”

The two nations to be partners in the new free association of two independent states respectively endorsed this formula, as it was clear that the UN was to be the sole umpire. By giving a new name, “Federal United Cameroon Republic” emphasis was here being laid on the equality of the two components and that even within the larger nation, each maintained, as it is legally binding in all unions of equals, its inherent identity.

29.  In a Plebiscite Message to the Southern Cameroonian  people, Dr. E.M.L. Endeley, like a prophet of old, predicted the fall of Southern Cameroons  from a status of a distinct people in international politics  and law, respected by the international community, to a colonised and enslaved people if the voted to join la Republique  du Cameroun. Like the predictions of US Representative to the UN, Clement J. Zabloiski and Fon Achirimbi of Bafut, all Endeley’s ten predictions (prophesies), have come to pass.

In his 8^th prediction he declared; “If you vote for Cameroun Republic, you will forever fail to secure independence for the Southern Cameroons because Cameroun Republic is still a COLONY of France.” He reiterated, “it is no use for Southern Cameroons to move from the British COLONY system to the French COLONY system”.

30.  On 11 February 1961 a UN sponsored plebiscite was held in Southern Cameroons, which according to UN plan was to enable Southern Cameroonians choose the nation (Nigeria or La Republique du Cameroun) with which to enjoy independence. The results favoured La Republique du Cameroun.

31.  On April 19, 1961 the powerful (political) 4^th Committee of the UN General Assembly by 50 “YES”, 2 “NO” and 12 Abstentions overwhelmingly voted for the independence of Southern Cameroons.  1^st October 1961 was declared Independence Day.  Some among the 50 nations that voted “YES” are, UK, USA, USSR, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Japan, Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, Cuba, Japan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan, Ethiopia, South Africa, Mali, Tunisia, Libya, among others.

32.  On April 21, 1961 the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 1608(XV) prescribing the holding of a post plebiscite conference to adopt modalities for the formation of the Federal United Cameroon Republic by the two former UN Trust territories of Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun.  It was to be a federation of two States of EQUAL STATUS.  The post plebiscite conference was to be attended by the government of Southern Cameroons, the government of La Republique du Cameroun, the United Kingdom government, as the Administering Authority, and the UN.  Though no date was fixed but being a UN agenda, indisputably, the UN was the legal authority to convene and preside at the Conference.  This post plebiscite Conference was never held.

33.  July 17-21, 1961 delegates of Southern Cameroons and those from La Republique du Cameroun met in Foumban.  This was the first official contact of the representatives of the two states to discuss the constitution that should constitute the instrument for the formation of the federal union of two equal states.  This meeting which could only have been preparatory to the UN programmed post plebiscite conference adjourned to be reconvened in August.  It never did.

34.  On August 1, 1961, Hon. G. M. Thomson (MP Dundee East), now Lord Thomson, addressing the British House of Commons on the bungled deconisation process in British Southern Cameroons after reminding the British Government of its legal and moral responsibility, said;

         “The problem these two territories would in any event be difficult. There are two territories of completely different cultures, with different political systems…there are extremely complex problems in bringing these two countries together within one national state.”(emphasis mine)

35.From the British Declasified Documents(DD) it is eloquently stated; “In order that people of Southern Cameroons may achieve independence by joining the Republic of Cameroun it is necessary that the Federation should come into existence at midnight of 1^st October. At one and the same moment there will born the independent State of Southern Cameroons and the Federation of the United  Kamerun Republic. The Federation would be a free association of independent and equal states…”( emphasis mine).    

36.  The annexation, colonisation, foreign occupation and imposition of alien rule of Southern Cameroons by La Republique du Cameroun as from October 1961, is a direct consequence of non-implementation of Art. 76(b) of the UN Charter and Resolution 1514 of 14 December 1960 on the unconditional granting of independence to all dependent territories. This situation was further complicated by the imposition of “independence by joining” and the failure to implement Resolution 1608 by the UN. This failure facilitated annexation and imposition of alien rule by expansionist la Republique du Cameroun.

37.  April 2-3, 1993 the holding of the All Anglophone Conference (AAC I) in Buea to carry out a political autopsy of Southern Cameroonians under La Republique du Cameroun domination and adopt a road map for their destiny.  Among many other things, the Buea Declaration vehemently condemned the subjection of Southern Cameroonians to second class status and called for the building of a genuine federal system of the two states based on UN recommendation as enshrined in Resolution 1608.

38.  May 1994 AAC II was held in Bamenda amidst an imposed military siege, after Yaounde failed in all its diabolic plans to sabotage the AAC II Conference.  The Bamenda Proclamation, unambiguously, called on La Republique du Cameroun to dialogue with Southern Cameroonian leaders within a “reasonable time”. But if this timely and legitimate call was not respected, Southern Cameroonians, within the ambit of their inalienable right to self determination as provided for and protected by international law, will restore the statehood and sovereign independence of Southern Cameroons.

39.  June 1995 the SCNC sent a 9man delegation to the UN to petition against the annexation of Southern Cameroons by La Republique du Cameroun.  While in London, they issued the London Communiqué.

40.  September 1995 the SCNC conducted a signature referendum in which an absolute majority, 99 percent, voted for the peaceful restoration of the statehood and sovereign independence of Southern Cameroons. Many were arrested, tortured and detained but the people’s will triumphed.

41.  On the night of 30^th December 1999, Justice Frederick A. Ebong by tape-recorded broadcast proclaimed the restoration of the statehood and sovereign independence of Southern Cameroons.

42.  On January 8, 2000 Justice Ebong, Chief Ayamba E.O, James Sabum and three others were arrested and after four days detention in Buea they were whisked off to Yaounde where they spent fourteen months in an underground detention cell.  At the end the secession charge against them was dropped and they were released.

43.  In May 2000 a Constituent Assembly was held in Bamenda in conformity with Article 6 and 7 of the Bamenda Proclamation of 1994.  At this Constituent Assembly state symbol for the nation, namely; Flag, Anthem, Coat of Arms, Seal were adopted.  It was also resolved that Southern Cameroons was to be a federation, the name, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF SOUTHERN CAMEROONS was adopted. For a genuine federation, effective devolution of powers to the Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Counties, as the lower tiers of government will be known was also approved.

A presidential system of government was adopted for the New Southern Cameroons.  To put a firm foundation for constitutional democracy, after the gruesome dark age of annexation, a 36 months Transitional Period was approved and within this period the Southern Cameroons Constitution of 1960, muta’tis mutan’dis, will be the governing instrument until a new constitution is adopted by the people in a referendum.

44.  May 2000, the UN Secretary General, H. E. Kofi Annan paid his maiden visit to Yaounde, Cameroun and called for “meaningful dialogue” between the stakeholders. The SCNC welcome his call for “meaningful dialogue” but made it clear that for this to be effective the UN should preside and Justice Ebong and all other SCNC leaders incarcerated in torture chambers of La Republique du Cameroun should be released.

45.  October 2001 historic celebration of 40^th Independence Anniversary of the Federal Republic of Southern Cameroons.  The UN Secretary General, the Commonwealth, the AU, the Heads of States of the 50 nations that voted for Southern Cameroons independence in 1961, the Diplomatic Corps in Yaounde, La Republique du Cameroun, as a neighbour, and other important personalities including Lord G.M. Thomson, were invited to witness the historic celebration.  Treating this as an affront, the Yaounde expansionist regime put its troops on red alert and ordered troop reinforcements into Southern Cameroons as from mid September.  Bamenda, the centre of the celebration was exceptionally militarised.  In spite of heavy presence of the repressive forces, the celebrations went ahead.  Many were arrested, brutalised and detained and in Kumbo three were short dead, many wounded and hospitalised of which one died later.

46.  November 2001 the nineteen SCNC leaders who were arrested and detained in Bamenda Central Prison since October 1, Independence Day celebration were forced out of prison at night.  The Yaounde Proconsul in Bamenda had ignored Court judgments and appeals granting bail with impunity.  But with international pressure, Yaounde had to bow.

47.  Twelve Southern Cameroonians in their names and on behalf of the Southern Cameroonian people in February 2002 filed a suit in the Abuja Federal High Court, against the Federal Government of Nigeria for conniving with La Republique du Cameroun to seal its grand design to annex, colonize and occupy Southern Cameroons. 

On March 5, 2002 the Court ruled recognizing Southern Cameroons as existed as of 1^st October 1960 and compelled the Federal Government of Nigeria to table the right of Southern Cameroonians for self-determination at the UN, ICJ and any other international body.

48.  Firmly committed to peaceful resolution of the annexation, colonisation and foreign occupation of Southern Cameroons, these twelve patriots, reinforced by six other Southern Cameroonians, in conformity with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights sued La Republique du Cameroun in the African Commission, Banjul, The Gambia on January 9, 2003. By “Banjul Decision on Admissibility”, issued by the Secretariat of the Commission and signed on its behalf by Commissioner Professor Dankwa dated 30^th March 2005, Southern Cameroonians won on ADMISSIBILITY. Final verdict comes up May/June 2006.

49.  November 2004, Southern Cameroons, under the SCNC was granted membership in the UNPO, at The Hague, The Netherlands. During the UNPO General Assembly of June 2005, the Southern Cameroons National Team SC 13, won Third Prize and National Vice Chairman, Nfor Ngala Nfor was elected into the Ten-Man Presidency (Governing Body) of the UNPO.

50.  March/April 2005 the Southern Cameroons Question for the first time, after 44 years, was eloquently raised on the floor of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on the platform of the IFPERLM by Nfor Ngala Nfor.  The response of La Republique du Cameroun’s Ambassador, the following day, March31, 2005 only confirmed the fact that in Africa there are two distinct Cameroons, namely, Southern Cameroons (Anglo-Saxon) and La Republique du Cameroun (Francophonie) and that the latter has annexed, colonised and occupied the former in violation of international law. The Written Statement submitted earlier on the annexation of Southern Cameroons by La Republique du Cameroun and calling for urgent effective decolonisation to avoid a blood bath was approved and forwarded to the UN Secretary General. This is the first time, since April 1961, that an organ of the UN System officially handled the Southern Cameroons matter.

51.  Following the arrest and their detention incommunicado of Nfor, Ngala Nfor, Stephen Kongnso and a foreign journalist, Mr. Andrew Mueller,(latter released after two days to avoid a diplomatic row) in November 2005, the UNPO on December 1, 2005, organised a massive demonstration at The Hague, The Netherlands, calling on the Yaounde regime to release the detainees and all other Southern Cameroonian prisoners of conscience. Above all, they pledged their SOLIDARITY with the Southern Cameroonian in their legitimate and pacific struggle for FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE. 

On behalf of all Southern Cameroonians I take this opportunity to CONGRATULATE the Management of RFSC staff and all patriots who through this instrument have held high the torch of the legitimate struggle of the Southern Cameroonian people for FREEDOM and JUSTICE.

While regretting the lack of means to increase its frequency of broadcast as it is the cry of the Southern Cameroonian masses, we sincerely salute the effort and assure you never to be disheartened for those who assail great heights are those of humble beginnings.  With courage and determination the story of tomorrow will be sweeter. 

The issue of an instrument to reach the masses had preoccupied me right form 2000.  The birth of RFSC to me was therefore Manner from heaven.  Until the masses are liberated psychologically to believe in their self worth, the colonizer will be here for too long.  Let RFSC grow from strength to strength.

Long live the right to Self-Determination.

Nfor, N. Nfor

National Vice Chairman.

SCNC

Reports reaching our office confirmed the arrest of 9 Southern Cameroonians in Mamfe on Monday the 27th of March 2006.

Amongst the 9 arrested and detained, 7 are students of the Government High School Mamfe, Manyu Division Cameroon.

The confirmation of the arrest and detention of the afore-mentioned 9 Southern Cameroonians was corroborated by Maxwell Oben, SCYL Southern Zone Assistant Coordinator in a telephone conversation with the Executive Director of CHRDA.

Upon further investigation by CHRDA, we can confirm that 7 of the 9 detained were released on Wednesday the 29th of March at 5.30 PM. They were Mpame Egbe, Ayuk H Ayuk, Besong keneth, Opkari Enow, Arrey Taku Divine, Eyong John Tambe, Etah Obi.

However, Enow William Tabot and Etando Comrad Etah are still detained at the Mamfe Central Prison and the Gendermarie respectively.

We call on all human rights organisations, civil society, leaders of political parties, clergy, diplomatic community and the international community to put pressure on the Biya Government to release both Etando Comrad and Enow Tabot.

Felix Nkongho Agbor Balla

Executive Director

CHRDA

www.chrda.org

By Joe Bisingi reporting from Bamenda

There are always huge family festivities and parties whenever one of theirs returns from aboard after living there for several years. This was the case with Madam Clara Bih of Ntarikum, Bamenda who organised a family house party for her cousin Emmanuel Bobga who had just returned from Norway after ten years.

On the night of Saturday 18 – 19 March 2006, a group of nine armed GMI plain cloths police officers from the Bamenda brigade stormed  the resident of one Clara Bih and arrested 19 people who were celeberating the home coming of their son abd friend. The said Clara Bih was seriously beating and secured broken ribs and several factures. Emmanuel Bobga from Norway was admitted in the Bamenda provincial hospital with serious head injuries. As of press time, some nurses contacted by this reporter described their conditions as being life threatening.

This reporter gathered that Emmanuel Bobga, an active member of the radical Southern Cameroons Youth League in Norway as well as Wagiri Bibiana Bih who is resident in Belgium are all relatives of the said Clara Bih. It should be noted that sometimes last year; Clara Bih was arrested, interrogated about her sister’s (Wagiri Bibiana Bih) involvement in both the Southern Cameroons National Council and SCYL activities in Europe. She was tortured and released after several days without charge or trial. For this reason, the said Bibiana Wagiri is scared to visit Cameroon.

A female police inspector close to Clara Bih who opted to talk to this reporter in anonymity for security reasons, informed the reporter that, the GMI unit raided her home because they were informed that she was welcoming a family member from abroad and that they were to use the party to discussed SCYL/SCNC plan of action.  Another  victim whose injuries were not life threatening is  Mrs  Ziwou,  mother  to one Elodie Laure Nankeng, a Southern Cameroons activist in Europe.

Talking to the SCYL coordinator in Bamenda on Wednesday March 22, he reiterated that not long from now, the SCYL will be able to match action with action. He said, the time of speeches and demonstrations is over until Southern Cameroons independent is restored. We want answers to how and why Southern Cameroonians must be Camerounians he retorted. I can assure Southern Cameroonians that we are in for real hell, soon enough! Biya's exit or no exit does not make my day, as long as German Farm (WADA), West Cameroon Bank, CDC Plantations, Yoke POWERCAM, Santa Coffee Estates, Marketing Board, PWD, and all the good of the then West Cameroon (Southern Cameroons) Government have not been accounted for and restored; the SCYL coordinator he added.

Furthermore, he said, “I don't give a damn if Biya is chopped off in tiny little bits and pieces and fed to the dogs of war or vultures like Liberians did Samuel Doe; whether he dies and ferments and or is abandoned on some street corners or whether he actually exits and is spared by the Human Rights Court so he can enjoy his loot of Cameroun, especially Southern Cameroons - until Southern Cameroons is free, we are in for HELL! Hold me/us to that”

In his concluding statement, he said given our dedication to securing that which is ours, knowing we would, come what may, SCYL honestly look forward to how upon attaining that freedom, those wasting precious resources, time and brains will educate us as to how we ought not become another peoples/country altogether by continuously drumming their Pan-Cameroun agenda! There are no freedoms, no good governments unless actions and words of those who serve in that capacity are matched with truths, dedication and servitude whose outcomes can be measured as productive.

On the SCNC, he advised the leadership to reverse their motto from ‘the Force of argument to the argument of force’

Copyright © Independent-Gazette
March 22, 2006

Nigeria–Cameroun bridge collapses

"THE 42-year-old Idundu bridge on Oban-Ekan road in Cross River State linking Otu-end of the Republic of Cameroun has collapsed, crippling economic activities in the area.

The collapsed bridge has also affected work at the ongoing construction site of the multimillion dollar Orascom/Unicem cement factory at Mfemosin, Akamkpa Local Government Area of the state, as well as cut off Obasanjo Farms at Ekong Anaku in the same local government area from the other part of the state.

The bridge, with a capacity for 20 tonne weight, collapsed at the weekend when a trailer low bed conveying an earth moving vehicle to the Oracom project site plunged into the Idundu River and crushing in the process, a tipper truck that was loading sand under the bridge at the time.

Though no life was lost, the impact of the accident prompted the state governor, Mr. Donald Duke, to visit the scene where he mandated the commissioner for works, Mr. Julius Okpotu, to assess the level of damage and work out temporary alternative for the people in the area.

Okpotu, who addressed the community in Akansoko, condoled with them for the accident and promised to provide a boat to ferry the people as a temporary measure to the problem.

The commissioner commended the villagers for their calm and understanding in the wake of the accident and sued for cooperation as well as support while the state government would liaise with the Federal Government and Orascom Company to rebuild the bridge.

He implored them not to blame the company for the accident since it was not de