Southern Cameroonians all over the world have been reading with great distress reports about our Nigerians neighbors, Nigerian friends, Nigerian family members and Southern Cameroonians of Nigerian descent resident in the Southern Cameroons being brutalized, uprooted and shipped to Nigeria under very difficult circumstances without due process. Some of these people have resided in our country for up to fifty years. If that does not make them Southern Cameroonians, what would? This is not surprising to us as the stories they take along with them to Nigeria are similar to those we have faced, reported and repeated to the world for over 40 years now.
The people of the Southern Cameroons and its Interim Government (IG) in particular, strongly denounce and condemn the French planted government of La Republique du Camerouns' actions in our land. This harassing, uprooting and tearing people apart from their natural homes, families, jobs, livelihood and communities in the Southern Cameroons is against our laws, must be against international law and falls short of any civilized behavior in this day and age. This barbaric policy of driving a part of our population out of our land is in pursuit of an "ethnic" cleansing and tribalization policy that the colonizer has been applying in our country for sometime now. This is illegal, it is unacceptable and is evocative of Hitler's policies upon captive peoples and their territories. We can assure the colonizer that this policy of depopulating our country of its natural people will not stand and will not result in maintaining a brutal colonization in our land. We want to assure Nigerians and all foreign nationals in our country that when we take our country back from the forces of occupation they would be treated as Africans should be treated in Africa and as we expect to be treated in their own countries.
It must be noted that as enterprising "Nigerians" are forced out, a primitive and uneducated French speaking population from La Republique du Camerooun is being shipped into The Southern Cameroons. They are enticed with higher salaries for the same jobs Southern Cameroonians do to settle our land, take the last remaining low paying jobs that were reserved for our people and crowd our schools with their breed. All of this is done in order to maintain a brutal colonial occupation in our country in the 21st century. We have rejected it and will continue to reject and resist it vehemently until the last of them is gone.
This social engineering and dehumanization in the Southern Cameroons has been our fate since 1961 when the UN and Britain imposed the brutality of an alien, uneducated and forsaken people on us. Since then we have lost thousands of our people to gendarmes and police brutality, millions have escaped to foreign countries and those who have not been able to escape the nightmare have continued to endure extortions and robbery on our poorly maintained highways, extra judicial killings, and continuous pressure to change from an English speaking population to a French speaking people in their own country.
The situation in the Southern Cameroons amounts to genocide, as defined by the United Nations' Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It demands international involvement to end it. The Federal Republic of Nigeria has been ordered to table at the UN General Assembly, according to a judgment of The Abuja High Court (FHC/ABJ/CS/30/2002), the issue of the illegal occupation of the Southern Cameroons by La Republique du Cameroun). This must happen now before more serious catastrophes are visited on our peoples by colonizers who have shown that they have the will and way to wipe out entire populations without remorse.
The Nigerian Governments' attempts to work with the French planted government of La Republique du Cameroun, rather than obey the ruling of her Federal High Court, is futile. La Republique du Cameroun cannot be a trusted partner in providing any type of solution to the problems in our country and region. The Africans manning that government, even if they wanted to, cannot contribute to bring lasting peace and prosperity to our part of the world. The French, from whom they owe their right to govern and from whom they take their instructions to act, will not let them do any more than they are instructed to do. Even if they were left alone to act, they still will fall short of what it takes to be a contributing partner for what is needed to bring liberty and justice to our peoples. They lack the heritage: educational, cultural and otherwise to contribute in any meaningful way to our peace and stability.
As the Nigerian government and the Nigerian press have been seeking after the truth and taking the time to consider and deal with all the complexities of legitimate claims that need to be addressed in our region, the government of La Republique du Cameroun and her terrified "press" are totally absent minded about the realities on the ground, preferring instead to distract everyone with claims of "fertile imaginations," and "doubtful motives." These are the games they are specialized in, as their allegiance is to an enemy who thrives in chaos and illegitimate institutions. What is happening to Southern Cameroonians, their friends, relatives, neighbors and guests is real. It is this hash reality that has forced an honest man like Mr. Emmanuel Tataw, who writes for the Camerounese governments' daily mouthpiece, Cameroun Tribune, to lower his own personal misery index by working for an enterprise that peddles lies and cruelty as its commodity to our world.
Mr. Emmanuel Tataw, in the obscurity of the dark world of those he serves, finds it necessary to lay blame for the atrocities of the Camerounese government on the Nigerian press. The crimes of the Nigerian press being the reporting of the truth through documented stories of the victims. "The government refutes allegations of expulsion of Nigerian residents in Cameroon," Mr. Tataw reports, editorializing that the reports were "vehicled by some media outfits in Nigeria recently, it is evident that the stories are unfounded and based on extracts of the fertile imagination of rumour peddlers with doubtful motives."
Mr. Tataw displays his command of the English language, a la Pravda, but the views are conceived in French, a foreign language debased by the thought process and actions of those who speak it. To them the facts of the story do not matter, even if they are the same as reported by the press in Nigeria, as long as their imagination does not sit well with it and the last word does not come from them. Mr. Tataw reports that, "In the [Camerounese] government Press Release, it is observed that the departure of Nigerian citizens has to do with decisions of Consular authorities of Nigeria in Cameroon." This fact is not different from Mr. George Onah's report, in The Vanguard newspaper (November 19, 2005), written from Calabar, Nigeria, where some of the victims from Cameroun arrived. Mr. Onah quotes one of the victims, Mr. Dere Anthony, as saying, "our maltreatment had been reaching our Consul-General (CG) there in Cameroon. The current Consul General there is Harry Briscoe. He is from River State. One is in Duala and another Buea. For some of us, we were lucky because they did not come into our homes to push us as it happened in other places. But action speaks louder than words. Their harassment, beating, intimidation and cheating had become very unbearable. So, we told the CG who organized our leaving. The torture was too much." This report shows no "fertile imagination" at work anywhere except in the minds of French agents ruling Cameroun and following orders to prepare Southern Cameroons for what is coming next. No body is being fooled here by what is going on, which explains why the Camerounese establishment is already guilty and defensive of crimes committed even before they are accused. As This Day (Lagos), writes in its editorial page of November 29, 2005. “In this 21st century, it must be a rare place indeed where death is what illegal immigrants get as was the case of Gokana Friday from River State who was shot dead for non-possession of a resident permit.”
There is a drama that is unfolding between La Republique du Cameroun on our eastern border and The Federal Republic of Nigeria on our western and northern borders. In this drama the Southern Cameroons remains the focal point. The Nigeria government, distant from the mindset and upbringing of those she is forced to deal with in the colonial state of La Republique du Cameroun, must seek a better understanding of their negotiating "partners" from Southern Cameroonians. We are uniquely qualified to inform on these “Frenchmen,” having seen both sides of them and understand their "soul." They are not from the same mold as Nigerians and Southern Cameroonians and must not be fed with the same spoon. They are a people who have been handicapped by their French cultural heritage and education, leaving them with inabilities that must be carefully understood and managed before engaging them in any endeavors where worthwhile outcomes are expected. If this advice is not heeded, this drama is going to end in a tragedy for everyone involved. This will be the case because we, in the Southern Cameroons, are not going to continue under this brutal colonial bondage. We are going to free ourselves one way or another and would rather all die doing it than fail ourselves and our God who very evidently intended a better life for us.
We, as Africans, looking at our standing in the world and the deprivations that our populations are forced to continue to endure in the midst of plenty and in the 21st century, must all agree that we have not reached the final status yet in our continent, our different countries and across our different borders to then go to our different corners and expect the best. Just as we all fought against apartheid and defeated it in South Africa, we must all fight against other evil subsystems that are eating into the fabric of our continent and sapping away the substance of our wealth, our people and our humanity. We in the Southern Cameroons cannot take it anymore. The Nigerian government knows the way forward and must now gather the courage to pursue it, not only as a matter of law but also as a regional leader who must do what is right for herself, the peoples of our region and serve the cause of liberty and justice which are the true guarantors of peace and stability for all. Without the courage to take on the enemies of our liberty we will unjustly remain at the tail end of human achievement on earth, doing disservice to our selves and the God who intended a better life for us all.
Augustine Ambe,
Secretary for Media and Communication,
Southern Cameroons Interim Government.
CAMEROUN TRIBUNE EDITORIAL
Vendredi 25 Novembre 2005
Culture of Hospitality
Emmanuel TATAW
[25/11/2005]
The government of the Republic has reaffirmed its constant attachment to a policy of hospitality and good neighbourliness. In a Press release signed by Professor Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo, Minister of Communication, the government refutes allegations of expulsion of Nigerian residents in Cameroon. Vehicled by some media outfits in Nigeria recently, it is evident that the stories are unfounded and based on extracts of the fertile imagination of rumour peddlers with doubtful motives. In the government Press release, it is observed that the departure of Nigerian citizens has to do with decisions of Consular authorities of Nigeria in Cameroon. The government of the Republic is neither expelling nor envisaging the expulsion of any foreigners from its territory. All aliens who respect the laws and regulations in force within the national territory always enjoy the legendary hospitality that is part and parcel of Cameroon's heritage.
Beyond the contents of the government Press release, it is evident that the facts on the ground clearly reveal the contrary of Nigeria media reports. It is traditional for some Nigerians resident in Cameroon to travel home to spend Christmas and New Year with their kith and kin. This movement to and fro has for decades followed a seasonal pattern pegged on end of year festivities and other specific calendar dates. Added to departures decided by the Nigerian Consular authorities, these movements fuel the scoop instincts of some news organs in Nigeria prone to defying the sacrosanct status of facts in the trade.
After occupying by force of arms and holding tight to Cameroonian territory in the Bakassi Peninsular in gross violation of the ICJ ruling, Nigeria and its media usually slide into trends of bad faith calculated to damage the bricks of confidence carefully erected by Cameroon's diplomacy of peace. As an island of stability and peace, Cameroon is host to millions of foreigners, enjoying this valuable heritage. Even when its territory is invaded and occupied, Cameroon has never strayed from its tradition of hospitality and respect for international law. By seeking redress from the international Court of Justice, Cameroon showed the civilized world its total adhesion to the UN charter and the rule of law. With the ruling in its favour, Cameroon could have opted for a chest-beating procedure of demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the forces of occupation. It's heritage of peace and tradition of brotherly relations guided its decision to accept the idea of a Mixed Commission to implement a decision in its favour. The current unfounded rumours of expulsion peddled by the Nigerian media should be seen in the vein of ongoing twists and turns from a neighbour we already have problems relying on his words. Cameroon remains focused on its option for sterling hospitality and the pursuit of a diplomacy of peace.
