Cameroon’s governments under president Paul Biya is bearing down on separatist movement fighting for the rights of a minority English language region using as its weapon a sweeping new anti-terrorism law introduced in 2014.
The Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) which is demanding an independent southern Cameroons made up of Cameroon’s northwest and Southwest regions has been targeted under the new law, which forbids public meetings, street protests or any action that the government deem to be disturbing the peace.
The draft law also prescribes the death penalty for persons who carry out any activity which can lead to a general revolt of the population or disturb the normal functioning of a country.
The anti-terrorism law has sparked a wave of criticism and many political analyst sees this as a means to silent dissent most especially SCNC activists and opposition parties.
The 2014 anti-terrorism law has been enacted to terrorise the people of Cameroon especially SCNC activists and possibly killing their freedoms.
The law is also against the fundamental liberties and rights of the Cameroon people most important SCNC activists who are clamouring from a complete separation from French Cameroon and with the formation of a new nation now known as Ambazonia.
In effect, the 2014 anti-terrorism law has significant deficiencies .most importantly the offences that constitute ’’act of terrorism’’ are not clearly defined, there is no limitation that a person can be held in custody or its extension is required and no preliminary inquiry is required to submit a person to the military tribunal for trial. Also the offences provided for in this law shall fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of military tribunals.
However the case of barrister Agbor Balla, Dr fontem Neba, Bibixy Mancho, Ngalim felix and other Anglophone activists only serve to illustrate the negative impact of the lack of protection of human rights defenders and the exercise of military jurisdiction over civilian cases.
Over one thousand Anglophones especially SCNC activists are being incarcerated all over french Cameroon and the 2014 anti terrorism law applied on their cases. Many of them have been jailed for 13-17 years in prison using articles from this law. Examples of Anglophone Activists incarcerated using this law include Bibixy Mancho, Penn Terrence etc who have been jailed 15 years respectively by the military court in Yaoundé-Cameroon using the anti –terrorism law. Done by epie Brian Nzalle SCNC activist UK

Southern Cameroons (SC) by 1960 had a functioning government which was ready to drive the state into a bright future. When she asked for independence, the colonial power Britain refused to grant her the right to independence and self-governance instead gave her two terrible choices to either join the Federal Republic of Nigeria or the Republic of Cameroon (RC).

The SC took the perceived better option at the time which was to join Republic of Cameroon and be given a referendum after 30years to decide the fate of the ‘union’.

Joining Republic of Cameroon was not a union to form a single entity as it seems to exist today but to form a Federal state with each half almost autonomous. Hence the referendum after 30years to decide their fate.

Since joining RC, the SC have seen their infrastructures, political and physical eroded and destroyed gradually and progressively.

A union was forged and the country was renamed the RC from the Federal Republic of Cameroon as was on the 1^st October 1961 when both Cameroons came together. In a bid to rectify this fraudulent union, in 1993 there was an All Anglophone Conference one (AAC1) held in Buea and a declaration was made called the ‘Buea declaration’ in which the SC elites called on the government to restore and implement the 1961 constitution agreement which allows the SC to operate as an autonomous state. However, the government did not respond and a second All Anglophone Conference two (AAC2) was convened in Bamenda congress hall in 1994 where the anglophone elites agreed and made a declaration known as ‘Bamenda declaration’ that if the government does not restore the federal state of SC within a reasonable time, SC would declare its independence. After the AAC2, many movements such as Southern Cameroon Peoples Conference (SCPC) which was later changed to Southern Cameroons People Organisation (SCAPO) and Cameroon Anglophone Movement (CAM), Southern Cameroon Youth League (SCYL) were formed. In1995 SCNC was borne and was tasked with reporting the situation of SC to the necessary parties involved such as the UN, UK, AU.

SCNC delegation led by John Ngu Foncha in 1995 went to UN and presented a petition to the UN for them to intervene and resolve the crisis between SC and RC so that another Somalian crisis would not emerge. In 1999, SCNC members took over the radio Buea station and declared their independence read by late Justice Ebong Frederick Alobwede. SCNC has reported the plight of the SC to all the necessary parties that were involved in the union in 1961 which include the UK and the UN. So far little has been done to rectify this union hence reason why there is genocide in the Southern Cameroon today.

The fight for restoration as a result of systemic destruction and marginalisation has been ongoing. This escalated in late 2016 following protest of lawyers as a result of the abolition of common Law in the SC legal system. The protest was met with torture, arrest and imprisonment of the lawyers e.g. Barrister Agbor Balla, Dr Fontem Niba and others who spent over eight months in prison.

The educational system which has also been greatly affected with primarily French speaking instructors to head and teach in primarily English-speaking schools thereby leaving many SC teachers unemployed. The teachers also took to the streets to protest against this and were met with a similar fate as the lawyers.

The general public of SC decided that it was enough and took to the streets with peace plants in their hands. Their protests were met with brute force from the RC armed forces. They fired live bullets at protesters leaving many of them dead, many were tortured, raped, arrested and taken to unknown prison destinations within the country.

Early 2018 leaders of the interim government were arrested in Nigeria and were extradited to Cameroon where they have been imprisoned by the RC government and are languishing there. The killings are not limited to civilians but also extended to men of God such as Ghanaian pastor, catholic priest and a seminarian.

Villages were burnt down with current number of over 180 and in some cases, people were burnt inside especially the sick and elderly who could not escape example is the case of an 86year old woman burnt alive in her house in Kwa-Kwa (Mami Api). Most of the inhabitants who managed to escape the inferno ended up in the forest with the very lucky ones fleeing to neighbouring Nigeria where they are currently seeking refuge. This onslaught has continued until this day under the watchful eyes of the entire African countries, AU, UN, the entire world including the colonial power (UK) that pushed the SC to this tragedy and none has bothered to intervene and stop the genocide.

Despite the plea from those who are fortunate to escape the killings in SC, the international community has turned a blind eye to their plight. Also, many SC who have escaped with their lives to the colonial power that pushed them into the unfortunate situation in the first place, and cried for help are being forced back to face the slaughter, with their death to justify their claim

UK the colonial authority to SC is a strong advocate of human rights laws. The 2002 protocol 13 article 1 abolishes death penalty in all circumstances including crimes committed during a war or when the threat of war is imminent. UK is against the abuse of Article 2 (right to life) and Article 3 (prohibiting torture, inhumane or degrading treatment/ punishment) of the Human right acts of 1998.

Question

1) How many people have to be displaced, killed, refused basic rights of life and living before they are listened to?

2) How can a proof that your life is in danger be your death itself?

3) Are the displaced persons, innocent civilians killed and burnt in their homes on a daily basis high political profile?

4) Does the situation on ground in SC with heavy blood spill and mass graves everywhere not a call for concern and a need for protection of the people of SC?

The Anglophone crisis is a conflict in the Anglophone southern Cameroons region of Cameroon with separatists fighting against the government of Cameroon. It is a long standing Anglophone problem in Cameroon.

Before 1961, southern Cameroons were a British administered territory from Nigeria. They elected to join the republic of Cameroon by UN Plebiscite in 1961 around the time of decolonisation.

A power sharing agreement was reached; the executive branch of the government was meant to be shared by Anglophones and Francophones but the agreement has not been respected and over the years Anglophone political representation has been steadily eroded.

The crisis came to light in October 2016 when lawyers and teachers led protest in towns and cities demanding that the integrity of their professional institutions be protected and minority right be respected.

As a result of these protests, the Cameroon government responded with reprisals, arrest, torture and detention of these Anglophone protesters.

The Paul Biya regime accuses some Anglophones of wanting to secede to create a new state thus making themselves outlaws. All it takes is to look back at the history of Cameroon to understand that it is not a matter of secession. It is about reclaiming a right granted to them by the UN, 57 years ago.  Actually we can only talk of secession when the state we want to separate from was a single bloc at a time of its creation (Independence).

However in Cameroon, when the former east Cameroon under the French mandate acquired her independence on the 1^st of January 1960, the former west Cameroon under the British mandate was still fighting for her own independence. Thus on February 11^th 1961, the UN organised a referendum in the northern part of west Cameroon, which agreed to join Nigeria, and in the southern part (current Anglophone region of Cameroon) which chose to join the republic of Cameroon (former East Cameroon under the French mandate).

On April 21^st 1961, in resolution 1608, the 994^th General assembly of the United Nations, with respect to southern Cameroon stated that; the trusteeship agreement of December 13^th 1946 is terminated. This implies that southern Cameroon acquired her independence then.

Thereafter the government of southern Cameroons and the authorities of la Republique du Cameroun agreed on terms to come together. But ever since they came together, their living together has been that of mistrust as the then president of la republique du Cameroon Ahmadu Ahidjo manipulated over the federal constitution in violation of article 47 of the said constitution which prohibited any revision of the federal form of the state.

Furthermore, his successor Paul Biya modify the constitution and in January 1984 the united republic of Cameroon was changed to the republic of Cameroon .The change has resulted in the objectification of the Anglophones part of the country and the people’s feeling of being marginalised.

Therefore the  Anglophones believe that they are being neglected by the republic of Cameroon and wanted to go back to where they were on April 21 and before 1^st October 1961; An independent state.

The fight for the return of an independent southern Cameroon began in October 2016 before the dictatorial and barbaric regime of Paul Biya began suppressing and pushing the advocates of the Anglophone cause to react just as violently.

The government of Cameroon has been using brute force on these separatists resulting to uncountable deaths on both military and civilian population.

The Role Of The SCNC in The Anglophone Crisis

The Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC) has played a vital role in fighting for the restoration of independence for the British southern Cameroon. The SCNC is a non violent organisation which does not believe on  violence in achieving its goal.

Because the SCNC advocates for separation from Cameroon, it has been declared an illegal organisation by the government of President Paul Biya. Security forces regularly interrupt SCNC meetings, arresting members and detaining them for several days, months or years before released. Some have even died in prison due to poor living conditions.

In 1995, the SCNC rose to political prominence with host of efforts to push for separation of the Anglophone southern Cameroons from the country of Cameroon. The government of Cameroon was finishing its application to join the Commonwealth of Nations and the SCNC organised a number of publicity activities to oppose this inclusion.

In august 1995, the SCNC Petitioned the UN to intervene and mediate between them and the government of Cameroon warning that a lack of intervention would create another Somalia.

Repression of this group increased significantly in 2001 when the organisation was declared illegal and clashes with police at a demonstration resulting in multiple deaths.

As a result of this, multiply branches of SCNC have been created in the Diaspora and a good example is the creation of SCNC UK which has been playing a great role in achieving the restoration of independence of southern Cameroons.

Several demonstrations have been organised by SCNC UK to internationalize its activities and to create awareness of the plight of the people of southern Cameroons.

  BY ROMARICE M TENE SCNC-UK Activist.

It’s been close to two years today that Southern Cameroons is experiencing the greatest form of sadistic murders and gross human rights violations where mass slaughter, torture, rape, arbitrary arrest of innocent civilians and burning of villages by the brutal Cameroon government forces have become institutionalized.

What shocks me most is the magnitude of silence by the UN in particular and International Community as a whole.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. Martin Luther King,Jr

It is devastating, frustrating and painful just to imagine how the International community has remained silent to the mass murder in Southern Cameroons.

     My interpretation of this silence:

*Silence is a form of emotional abuse employed on Southern Cameroonians (Ambazonians) by UN and International Community.

*Their silence is designed as a great weapon to empower the Biya’s regime in their genocidal acts on Southern Cameroons. It is more or less an act of intimidation on Southern Cameroons and empowerment to the Republic of Cameroon.

*Silence to the Anglophone crisis and showing solidarity to similar situations in other countries tells us Southern Cameroonians are an inferior people and our lives do not matter.

*Silence goes a long way to showcase that the UN/International Community value their relationship with French Cameroon over Southern Cameroons.

*Silence means denial.

As the days lace by the situation becomes more frightful leaving Southern Cameroonians with a mix feeling hoping and wandering when they will see light at the end of this darkest tunnel of their revolution.

International Community and UN you can do it.You have gone to sleep for too long.Wake up and condemn the war crimes perpetuated on Southern Cameroonians by the barbican Biya’s forces.it is your responsibility to protect and stamp out genocide in Southern Cameroons.

It is absolutely disgraceful that the International Community,UN and the world at large have turned their backs to such flagrant violation of human rights in Southern Cameroons. Your silence speaks volumes. Being mute or neutral in situations of justice tells us you have indirectly taken sides with the oppressor.

If the International Community/UN implement justice in both the English and French Cameroons there will be peace and there can be no peace without justice.

Winifred Nenkaa Ndomo. SCNC UK-Activist

The Foumban Constitutional Conference of 1961 was not properly coordinated because the Southern Cameroons delegation had no constitutional powers to adequately discuss about relations with a third party. At this time, the Southern Cameroons had a constitution passed by the British Parliament on 1^st October 1960 known as ‘Southern Cameroons Order-in-Council’ which was a British Colonial Law. This led to the creation of a Ministerial Government in Southern Cameroons with Capital in Buea and John Ngu Foncha as Prime Minister taking effect on the 1^st October 1960 which is a day Southern Cameroons consider as Independence Day. On this day the British also ceased to govern the territory through the British Governor General of Nigeria.

The 1960 ‘Southern Cameroon’s Order in Council’ could not continue to administer Southern Cameroons as it was no longer effective. Hence, powers were given back to the British Government in London who assigned an expatriate Colonial Officer known as Commissioner for Cameroons representing the British government in Buea. The British then governed Southern Cameroons as a Trust Territory until September 1961 when the British Trust mandate over the territory expired.

The Foumban Constitutional Conference of 1961 brought no gains to the people of Southern Cameroons. The conference failed to achieve its objectives which were to establish a unique Federation of two states equal in status on the continent of Africa and secondly to evolve a bicultural society in which the distinct heritage of each of the parties to the union would flourish. The Foumban Conference was therefore the beginning of the untold misery of the People of Southern Cameroons Ambazonia. In fact, instead of containing a unique federation in the two Cameroons, the Southern Cameroons has become a People with numerous problems. The destruction of the Federal system of 1961 in 1972 by the then President Amadou Ahidjo was a gross violation of the 1961 constitution.

The negotiations at the Foumban Conference were false and just for the benefit of one party present since there was no proper preparation for the discussions at the conference to have a positive effect on Southern Cameroons. Secondly British Southern Cameroons engaged in the discussions at the conference without any intention of reaching any agreement. But French Cameroon came in with an already prepared constitution for self-governance.

Perhaps, the British Southern Cameroons since the Foumban conference has been largely silenced by the power of the present Nation-state of Cameroon. As a result, there will always be conflict until Southern Cameroons gets its Independence restored as voted for in UNGA Resolution 1608 (XV) of 21^st April 1961. The symbolic restoration of the Independence of Southern Cameroons Ambazonia was announced on 1^st October 2017 by our interim President Ayuk Julius Tabe. It’s the duty of the UN to admit Ambazonia as its newest member and call on negotiations to begin between La Republique du Cameroun and Ambazonia for a peaceful separation. Ambazonia must be free.

By Anumboh Eveline Mafor

SCNC-UK ACTIVIST

Vincent Kushine ANUMBOH EVELINE MAFOR
Facing risk of deportation and being sent to Cameroon where they are likely to face persecution from Cameroon authorities because of their continues SCNC activism in the UK and their fight to see that Southern Cameroons regains its statehood.
In view of the current civil war in the Country, we are calling on the UK government to adhere to its international humanitarian obligations by preventing their deportation to imminent death.

By SCNC CHAIRMAN

The current crisis is a particularly worrying resurgence of an old problem. Never before has tension around the Anglophone issue been so acute. The mobilisation of lawyers, teachers and students starting in October 2016, ignored then put down by the government, has revived identity-based movements which date back to the 1970s. These movements are demanding a return to the federal model that existed from 1961 to 1972. Trust between Anglophone activists and the government has been undermined by the arrest of the movement’s leading figures and the cutting of the internet, both in January. Since then, the two Anglophone regions have lived through general strikes, school boycotts and sporadic violence. Small groups have emerged since January. They are taking advantage of the situation to educate the population with support from part of the Anglophone diaspora. While the risk of partition of the country is low, the risk of a resurgence of the problem in the form of armed violence is high, as some groups are now advocating that approach.

The government has taken several cosmetic measures since March – creating a National Commission for Bilingualism and Multiculturalism; creating new benches for Common Law at the Supreme Court and new departments at the National School of Administration and Magistracy; recruiting Anglophone magistrates and 1,000 bilingual teachers; and turning the internet back on after a 92-day cut even though the internet was later taken off again. But the leaders of the Anglophone movement have seen these measures as too little too late.

International reaction has been muted, but has nevertheless pushed the government to adopt the measures described above. The regime in Yaoundé seems more sensitive to international than to national pressure. Without firm, persistent and coordinated pressure from its international partners, it is unlikely that the government will seek lasting solutions.

Doralice Carole

Activist