SOUTHERN CAMEROONS DE-COLONISATION STRUGGLE
PETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN & NORTHERN IRELAND BY THE SCYL, THE SCNC AND THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONS INTERIM GOVERNMENT (IG)
11 February, 2006
The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, MP
Prime Minister of Great Britain
No. 10 Downing Street
London
Mr. Prime Minister,
Today, the bruised and tormented people of the former UN trust territory of the Southern Cameroons under UK administration hold a peaceful demonstration at Downing Street. We do so to call attention to the historical wrong that was done to the Southern Cameroons, when the UK transferred the territory to the French-controlled State of Cameroun Republic. As administering authority, the UK's legal obligation under the UN Charter was to lead the Southern Cameroons to self-government/independence, not to hand it over to another State for colonization. We legitimately expect the UK along with her friends and in concert with the concerned parties to take necessary measures, without further delay, to correct the injustice that was done to the Southern Cameroons over forty-six years ago.
Mr. Prime Minister, Sir, we wish to recall the background to this vexed question, show briefly in what ways the UK betrayed the "trust" that was conferred on her, and reiterate what we have said several times before, namely, that we have nothing to gain by remaining a colonized people and that we are fully committed and determined to be a free people, come what may, like all other people of the world.
BACKGROUND
The British connection with the Southern Cameroons goes back to 1858 when the Rev. Alfred Saker settled on the coastal enclave he named Victoria, after Queen Victoria. But British administration of the Southern Cameroons as a territory under international tutelage began with the League of Nations mandates system and later the UN trusteeship system. The territory came under UK administration with its international borders fixed by the League in 1922. This territorial framework remained unchanged when the territory was placed under the trusteeship system in 1946. Article 76 b of the UN Charter imposed an obligation on the UK to so administer the Southern Cameroons as "to promote the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the territory, and their progressive development towards self-government or independence."
The 1957 London Constitutional Conference paved the way for the Southern Cameroons to emerge as an independent sovereign state. Under the new constitutional changes that were introduced in 1958 the Southern Cameroons enjoyed a large measure of regional autonomy, and the parliamentary form of government was entrenched. A Premier of the Southern Cameroons was designated, the Executive Council became the principal instrument of policy in the territory, the legislature was strengthened with the enlargement of the elected membership of the House of Assembly and the setting up of a House of Chiefs as the upper house of the Legislature.
That year the UK informed the UN that the Southern Cameroons was expected to achieve in 1960 the ultimate objectives of the trusteeship system set forth in Article 76 b of the UN Charter. The UN adopted a resolution noting that by the measures already taken or to be taken by the UK, the people of the Southern Cameroons were expected to achieve in 1960 the ultimate objective of the trusteeship system. Further constitutional advances were made in the territory in 1960 when the Southern Cameroons Constitution Order in Council came into force. Under that Constitution the Southern Cameroons became a full self-governing territory. It became fully responsible for its internal affairs, except for defense over which matter, along with foreign affairs, the UK continued to exercise jurisdiction.
By the end of 1960 then, the basic objectives of the trusteeship system as set out in Article 76 b of the UN Charter had, in regard to the Southern Cameroons, been achieved. As required by the UN Charter and the UN Declaration on Granting of Independence the UK should have handed all powers to the people of the Southern Cameroons without any conditions or reservations. But the UK never did. Instead the UK contrived to transfer the Southern Cameroons and its people, slavery-like, to a successor colonialist, that is, the French-controlled State of Cameroun Republic.
THE BETRAYAL
First, the UK manipulated the UN (as evidenced by the sustained wheeling and dealing at the UN by Sir Andrew Cohen, the UK Representative) into imposing on the people of the Southern Cameroons, a snap and unwarranted plebiscite with two dead-end "alternatives": whether to "join" Nigeria (an alternative that had already been rejected by the people) or to "join" Cameroun Republic (a country that even to this day is still steep in violence, corruption, massive and reliably attested human rights abuses, and an autocratic form of government).
Secondly, in October 1960 the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Iain Macleod, in London gave the formal undertaking to the Southern Cameroons Government that should the vote go in favour of "joining" Cameroun Republic "arrangements would be worked out after the plebiscite by a conference consisting of representative delegations of equal status from Cameroun Republic and the Southern Cameroons. The United Nations and the United Kingdom would also be associated with this Conference." As it later turned out the Southern Cameroons detrimentally relied on this undertaking given by the UK. The UK never kept its word. No such conference ever took place. The UK insisted there was no need for such a conference. Lord Perth, Minister of State at the Colonial Office boldly declared that "the Southern Cameroons and its inhabitants are undoubtedly expendable."
Thirdly, UN Resolution 1608 invited the UK, together with the Southern Cameroons and Cameroun Republic "to initiate urgent discussions with a view to finalizing, before 1 October 1961, the arrangements by which the agreed and declared policies of the parties concerned would be implemented." The UK abandoned the Southern Cameroons when there had not been finalized any arrangements by which the agreed and declared policies of the parties concerned were going to be implemented.
Fourthly, on 1 September 1961, when the Southern Cameroons was still under UK administration, the Cameroun Republic passed an annexation law purporting to annex the Southern Cameroons and indicated it would occupy the Southern Cameroons. The UK did not lift a finger and did not draw the attention to this perilous adventure by Cameroun Republic. The UK hurriedly left the Southern Cameroons. A defenseless territory was then occupied by Cameroun Republic, which has since then been exercising a colonial sovereignty over that land. Mr. CB Boothby of the British Foreign Office informed Mr. PM Johnson, the UK Ambassador to Cameroun Republic, of the UK position in these words: "We are not attracted to the idea of an independent Southern Cameroons because it would certainly not be able to pay its way and we are not at all anxious to have to do so on its behalf. We cannot gain any advantage from being foster mother to an independent Southern Cameroons and it is clear that it would have to be fostered by somebody."
Fifthly, on 1 October, the UK Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Hughes Fraser, informed the House of Commons that as he was speaking the UK had already "transferred" the Southern Cameroons to Mr. Ahidjo, President of Cameroun Republic. The French later boasted that the Southern Cameroons was a "little gift from Her Majesty the Queen" to President de Gaulle of France who in turn made a gift of it to France. (One conspiracy theory has it that the UK did this as a bribe to de Gaulle to lift veto on Britain joining the EEC.)
CONCLUSION
The consequences of the UK betrayal are that the Southern Cameroons never achieved independence and that the territory has, since October 1961, been under the brutal colonial rule of Cameroun Republic.
We ask three basics questions. Why and on what legal authority is the French-controlled State of Cameroun Republic occupying the Southern Cameroons? What special interest has the UK in seeing that we remain an eternally colonized people? What advantage do the people of the Southern Cameroons stand to have by being a people under Cameroun Republic subjugation and occupation, or that of any other State?
Finally, we reiterate our inalienable right to exist as a free people and our determination to fight for our emancipation in order to secure a better future for our children. We would rather be exterminated than continue to submit to the inhuman, degrading and humiliating condition of a people under colonial bondage.
We expect the UK, in concert with other powers imbued with a sense of justice, to act with characteristic resolution to ensure the peaceful resolution of this matter, and so avert yet another conflict in Africa. In this regard we expect the proverbial British high sense of justice to prevail over political considerations.
On Behalf of themselves, the SCYL, SCNC, IG and People of the Southern Cameroons
Ayaba, Cho Lucas
Forminyen, Alfred Atsebom
Njoya, Emmanuel
Neba, Emmanuel
Tanyi, Nathan
Che, Julius
