December 4, 2009
My dear brothers and sisters,
On behalf of the Southern Cameroons Peoples Organization (SCAPO), it is my pleasure to send you the seasonal greetings of Christmas 2009 and to wish you a Happy New Year in 2010. This year 2009 has been a very eventful year for the people of the former UN Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons because I can finally report to you that our struggle for the self-determination of the Southern Cameroons has achieved a very significant milestone at the African Commission for Human and Peoples Rights.
You will all recall that in 2002, SCAPO and a group of other Southern Cameroonians filed a lawsuit at the Abuja Federal High Court against the Attorney General and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In this lawsuit we prayed the court to compel the Attorney General and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to honor its treaty obligations under African Charter for Human and Peoples Rights by taking the case of the self-determination of the Southern Cameroons to the United Nations, to the International Court of Justice and to the African Union and to ensure diligent prosecution of the case until a final determination is made by all these international bodies. This lawsuit was based on Article 20(3) of the African Charter for Human and Peoples Rights which states that “All peoples shall have the right to the assistance of the States parties to the present Charter in their liberation struggle against foreign domination, be it political, economic or cultural.”
After a careful review of various UN resolutions pertaining to the Southern Cameroons, dating from 1959-1961 and following the presentation of arguments on both sides by some of the most renowned legal luminaries in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Federal High Court ruled that there were indeed many areas of doubt as to the exact relationship between the former British Southern Cameroons and French Cameroun which required the urgent attention of all these international bodies. Most important amongst the issues which required clarification under international law was whether or not the union which was envisaged under UN General Assembly Resolution 1608 (XV) was indeed implemented. The court felt that the competent bodies which could clarify these uncertainties were the United Nations, the African Union and the International Court of Justice.
The Court ruled that the Attorney General and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should honor its treaty obligations under Article 20(3) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights by taking up the matter of the self-determination of the Southern Cameroons to the aforementioned bodies for a final determination of the legal status of the Southern Cameroons. Unfortunately, the Attorney General and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria regrettably decided to ignore the ruling of their own Federal High Court.
However, undeterred by this flagrant disregard for the rule of law by the Nigerian government, SCAPO and a group of Southern Cameroonians decided to file an official complaint (Communication N0 266/2003) to the African Commission for Human and Peoples Rights. The complaint was filed against the government of La République du Cameroun for its prolonged and sustained campaign of abuse of the human rights of Southern Cameroonians and the Peoples rights of the Southern Cameroons as a whole.
The complaint was also based on the African Charter for Human and Peoples Rights which was signed and ratified by the government of La République du Cameroun. As such the government of La République du Cameroun is bound by the provisions of this international treaty.
The complaint was supported by a detailed and photographic catalogue of the arrests, detentions, imprisonment without trial, torture, rape, extrajudicial killings, in short, the campaign of state-sponsored terrorism which the people of the Southern Cameroons have been subjected since October 1, 1961 in flagrant violation of the provisions of the African Charter. The Complaint demanded that the ACHPR should rule that the government of La République du Cameroun has violated the human rights of the people of the Southern Cameroons and had infringed on the right of self-determination of the Southern Cameroons by forcibly occupying the territory since 1961, without the backing of any internationally recognized legal instrument.
In essence we wanted the ACHPR and the AU to recognize that the military occupation of the Southern Cameroons by La République du Cameroun since 1961 is without any legal basis and therefore must be considered as an act of colonization and attempted annexation which gives our people the right to resist in accordance with Article 20(2) of the Charter which states that: “Colonized or oppressed peoples shall have the right to free themselves from the bonds of domination by resorting to any means recognized by the international community”.
At first, the government of La République du Cameroun did not take the case very seriously. But when its representatives failed to convince the ACHPR to dismiss the complaint on the basis of preliminary objections, the government of La République du Cameroun realized that the ACHPR was an AU body which must be taken very seriously on matters concerning African human rights.
After several years of hearings, the ACHPR finally made a ruling in regard to Communication No 266/2003 in 2009. Although the Commission did not see eye-to-eye with us on some issues, we are entirely satisfied with the Commission’s ruling which recognizes that the Southern Cameroonians are a people recognized by international law because they have all the cultural, historical, territorial and political attributes to be considered as a distinct people.
This ruling has far-reaching consequences because it implies that the Southern Cameroonian people are automatically entitled to all the other rights which are built into Article 20 (1-2) of the African Charter, which include the inalienable and unquestionable right to self-determination. We consider that the ACHPR has handed a victory to our struggle for self-determination because the ACHPR is an organ of the African Union. Therefore there is no turning back.
We appeal to all Southern Cameroonians to disregard and discountenance the attempt by the spokesman of the government of La République du Cameroun to characterize us as “secessionists”. This is a pejorative, misleading and inflammatory label which is intended for its own domestic audience in order to deviate attention from the fact that our struggle is based on legal issues whose legitimacy has been upheld by the African Commission, an organ of the African Union. The ruling of ACHPR has placed the issue of the self-determination of the Southern Cameroons squarely before the African Union and the international community and the matter must now be dealt with at that level.
As regards the invitation of the ACHPR to host discussions between the Southern Cameroons and La République du Cameroun on constitutional issues, we would like to appeal to all Southern Cameroonians to be patient until we finalize our position on this question. Once our position is finalized for transmission to the ACHPR, we shall appropriately notify the people of the Southern Cameroons .
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Long Live the People of the Southern Cameroons .
Dr. Kevin Ngwang Gumne
Chairman
SCAPO
