Southern Cameroons Interim Government

Response to Paul Biya's 2006 New Year's Address

I read Paul Biya’s New Year speech and since then have been resisting a response my guts wanted to spill out. I have worked out a compromise to reach a restrained version that I can share with you. It would have been better for me not to have read the speech but then I could not resist to read what someone planted by the French enemy to take care of enemy business among his own people will tell the people at the end of the year when good people and organizations are taking time out to reflect on the past year and refocus to do better in the new year starting. I must tell you that I was not surprised.

Paul Biya in his New Year speech told the people of la République du Cameroun (LRC) that he and his gang of French hired agents representing French colonial interests in that colonial state did well in 2005:
a) They paid salaries and pensions on time. What an accomplishment.
b) They also paid outstanding domestic debts and contained price hikes. Incredible! Does this mean they actually redeemed and stopped paying rents/salaries to people whose houses/labor they have taken for years with fiscal stamps, bonds etc. etc., or does it simply mean they just passed out more pieces of papers, without the consent of the receivers, and with no recourse if they do not like it or ever get paid?
c) They said, “while our growth rate has somewhat dwindled and business has been rather sluggish … our future is secured." Only in Françafrique.
Jacques Chirac once said the only things Africans need to worry about is food and medicine. Well, Dr. Paul Biya must have scored an A+ to him for his performance in the year 2005 and may actually qualify for a bye year in 2006 where he’ll do nothing.
After 24 years, sitting on his high horse, on high ground, watching his own people toil in muddy disease infested fields for the Frenchman, Mr. Biya, a whip in hand and a gun in his holster, declares at the end of 2005 that “we pursued the consolidation of the rule of law.” His field hands must be asking whose law he’s talking about. But the answer is not hard to find. It is the law that allows him to promise “decentralization” for 10 years at the end of which he declares it to be “entering its implementation phase.” Great progress.
“Our domestic system is improving from day to day,” the man boldly declares” Mr. President, the system of colonialism cannot be improved. Paying peoples their earned salaries and pensions is not improvement. Well, except in Françafrique. That is why “security” will “remain a cause for concern” in yours and any other French colonial states for a while. The security concerns of LRC are like the security concerns faced by apartheid South Africa not too long ago and Nazi-occupied France. They will not end until you and your kind are gone for good, forever.

US Resolution Condemns la Republique du Cameroun's Brutal Colonial Actions in the Southern Cameroons

109TH CONGRESS - 1ST SESSION

H. RES. 503

Condemning the actions taken by the Government of Cameroon against Henry
Fossung and others, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 19, 2005

Mr. MCCOTTER submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

RESOLUTION

Condemning the actions taken by the Government of Cameroon against Henry Fossung and others, and for other purposes.

Whereas Henry Fossung is a highly regarded statesman and national chairman of the Southern Cameroons National Council, the motto of which is ‘‘The Force of Argument, Not the Argument of Force’’;

Whereas Henry Fossung served as Cameroon’s ambassador to the Central Africa Republic, Chad Republic, Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone;

Whereas Ambassador Fossung is highly educated, with a masters degree in international law/relations from the American University in Washington, D.C. and degrees from Blackstone School of Law, Johns Hopkins University, and the Institute of Higher Overseas Studies, and has lectured at Brown University, among other notable institutions;

Whereas Ambassador Fossung has served on numerous international committees and conferences, including the United Nations Committee on Disarmament and Law of the Sea, has countless decorations and honors to his credit, and has authored several books and articles;

Whereas on January 15, 2005, under the direction of the Divisional Officer for Buea and the Provincial Delegate for National Security, more than 200 members of the Government of the Republic of Cameroon’s militia and police surrounded, fired their weapons at, and invaded the residence of Ambassador Fossung and arrested Ambassador Fossung and his houseguests, including women who were cooking food at the time, a 2-year-old toddler, and elderly and disabled individuals;

Whereas Ambassador Fossung and his guests were taken into custody and detained in a government facility for up to 2 days;

Whereas the Divisional Officer told Ambassador Fossung that he was arrested for hosting a gathering of more than 2 people without permission from the Government of the Republic of Cameroon;

Whereas there was no warrant of criminal charges issued to Ambassador Fossung or the others arrested;

Whereas 6 members of the militia knocked Ambassador Fossung to the ground, stripped him naked, and dragged and kicked him, causing severe injury, including a permanent injury to his left eye, a fractured ankle, and head and groin injuries;

Whereas several of the other detainees were also beaten or mistreated;

Whereas Ambassador Fossung and his guests were held in 2 small cells with over 50 other prisoners, with no drinking water and no toilet, and were denied medical treatment and food for up to 11⁄2 days;

Whereas Ambassador Fossung’s residence was vandalized and looted by the militia and police and thousands of copies of books and other writings were seized and destroyed, while Ambassador Fossung and his family were held against their will;

Whereas the militia and police confiscated money, jewelry, and ball-point pens belonging to the detainees, and extorted bribes from visitors attempting to bring food to the detainees;

Whereas Ambassador Fossung’s dog also fell victim to the brutality of the militia and police;

Whereas these actions of the Government of the Republic of Cameroon constitute gross and reprehensible violations of international law and basic human rights;

Whereas the Government of the Republic of Cameroon continues to harass and intimidate Ambassador Fossung and members of the Southern Cameroons National Council and to purge the country of all political dissent;

Whereas any citizen of the Republic of Cameroon who dares to speak critically of the reigning government lives in fear of persecution, torture, and assassination; and

Whereas there are numerous documented accounts of citizens of the Republic of Cameroon being imprisoned, beaten, and murdered for political reasons: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives—