THE HISTORY OF AMBAZONIA

PART – I: WESTERN COLONIAL RULE OVER SOUTHERN CAMEROONS

1500 AD

Hanno the Carthaginian sails through Ambas Bay. He espies a mountain rising from near the coast to a majestic height above sea level. The mountain is experiencing a volcanic eruption, flames rising up to the high heavens and lava flowing down to the sea. Hanno is captivated by this awesome fiery spectacle and names the mountain ‘Chariot of the gods’. That mountain has since been called variously as Buea Mountain, Fako Mountain, and Cameroons Mountain. Today, the mountain is 13 370 feet above sea level and now has the definitive name Mount Ambazonia.

1844 -62

Britain concludes treaties with chiefs along Ambas Bay coast from Bimbia to Idenau.

1858

Britain Colonizes Cameroon. British Baptist Missionary Alfred Saker obtain piece of territory from King of Bimbia and establish British settled colony named Victoria after Queen Victoria of England and Britain assumes sovereignty of the colony.

1887

Britain transfers Victoria and surrounding areas to sovereignty of Germany.

1888 -1891

Germans overpower the legendary King Kuva of Buea. They control Buea, Sasse (which the Germans named Einsiedeln), Bojongo (named Engelberg) down to the coast from Tiko, Bimbia, Victoria, Debunscha, Idenau to Bakassi.

1889-1910

Germans wage war against and control various communities in the hinterland from Muyuka to Nkambe: Kumba (which the Germans named Johann Albrechtshole, after the name of the local German district officer), Njila (named Kaiser Wilhemsburg) Ossing (named Ossidinge), Mamfe (a corruption of Manfeld, the name of the district officer Dr Alfred Mansfeld), Bangwa, Bali (named Baliburg), Mankon (known then as Bande), Kumbo (German transliteration of the local ‘Kimbo’) right up to present day Boyo, Ngokitunjia, Menchum and Nkambe areas. The Germans did not only name places here and there as they pushed further inland. As they progressed, each area they took possession of was added to the Schuzgebiet von Kamerun proclaimed in 1884 over the Douala mudflat area known today as Bonaberi and Deido. That is how by an incremental process lasting some twenty years Ambazonia gradually came to be added to German Kamerun.

1902

Buea becomes the capital of the ever expanding German protectorate of Kamerun.

1913

Britain and Germany conclude a boundary treaty settling the frontier between Britain’s Protectorate and Colony of Nigeria and Germany’s Kamerun Protectorate.

1914

At the very beginning of World War I, Britain retakes the Ambas Bay coastal area from Tiko through Bimbia, Victoria, Idenau right up to the Bakassi Peninsula together with its hinterland to present-day Nkambe, and then further inland up to Lake Chad. The whole of that strip of territory is denoted as the British Cameroons. In throes of World War I, the territory is administered as an appendage of Nigeria.

1916

Britain and France sign a boundary treaty known as the Simon-Milne Declaration respecting the frontier between the British Cameroons and French Cameroun.

1919

Germany is defeated in World War I in 1918 and is made to sign the Treaties of Versailles, 1919 renouncing in favour of the Allied and Associated Powers her rights, claims and title to all its colonial territories around the world, including the territory known since 1916 as the British Cameroons. Britain and France make a joint declaration on 10 July 1919 confirming the boundary treaty concluded in 1916. Both undertake to administer their respective new colonial possessions in accordance with Art 22 of the League of Nations Covenant.

1924

The administration of the Southern British Cameroons as though it forms part of Southern Nigeria.

1931

The boundary between the British Cameroons and French Cameroun is more exactly defined in the Declaration by the Governor of Nigeria and the Governor of French Cameroun.

1946

On December 13th 1946 the Southern British Cameroons becomes a United Nations Trust Territory at the same time with French Cameroun, Ruanda- Burundi, Togoland and New Guinea. UN appointed Britain as Administering Authority. Its boundary alignment with French Cameroun is again reaffirmed. An Ordinance in Council of 2 August 1946 clearly defines the line of demarcation between the Southern British Cameroons and the Northern British Cameroons. Provision is made for the Southern British Cameroons to be administered as if it forms part of the Southern Provinces of the Protectorate of Nigeria. The Southern Cameroons then sends thirteen representatives to the Eastern Nigeria Legislature at Enugu.

1960

Westminster Parliament at London enacts a constitution for the Southern Cameroons, The Southern Cameroons (Constitution) Order-in-Council. The Constitution puts in place a full fledged parliamentary and ministerial system of government modeled after that of the United Kingdom. This constitutional measure is taken contemporaneously with the separation of the Southern Cameroons from Nigeria. The Southern Cameroons attains the status of a full self-governing Territory though still a United Nations Trust Territory under Britain. The Southern Cameroons is a territory ‘in status nascendi’ preparatory for sovereign statehood.

1961

On 11 February 1961 there is held a plebiscite with dead-end ‘alternatives’ hurriedly imposed on the Southern Cameroons by Britain and the United Nations. The Hobson’s choice presented to the people of the Southern Cameroons is this: to achieve independence “by joining” either French Cameroun or Nigeria. In the circumstances the vote shows a preference for ‘joining’ French Cameroun, the term ‘joining’ being clearly understood by all the parties concerned (the Southern Cameroons, French Cameroun, Britain and the United Nations) to mean a free association in the form of a federation of two states, equal in status.

1961

April 21, 1961 UN Resolution 1608 (XV) sets October 1, 1961 as the independence date for Southern Cameroons following a vote at the UN General Assembly with 64 countries voting in favour of independence for Southern Cameroons while France, French Cameroun and a majority of French former colonies voted against the independence despite the fact that the results of the plebiscite of February 11, 1961 showed that Southern Cameroons favoured attaining independence by establishing a loose federation with French Cameroun.

1961

In July 1961 there is held a bi-partite meeting in Foumban intended to discuss and agree on concrete provisions on the envisaged federation of two states, equal in status. The President of French Cameroun simply produced a copy of the French Cameroun constitution of March 1960 and requests the Southern Cameroons delegation to make proposals which he might take into account in moving for the French Cameroun Assembly to amend the constitution. The Southern Cameroons delegation has come to Foumban thinking that concrete federal constitutional terms were going to be discussed and worked out. French Cameroun has come to Foumban simply to get suggestions that it might perhaps take into account in moving its Assembly to amend its unitary constitution to a federal one. There is no consensus id idem. The two sides go their separate ways with the Southern Cameroons hoping there would be a reconvened meeting to discuss the envisaged federal constitution. None is ever convened.

1961

1st September 1961: French Cameroun, acting unilaterally, tinkers with its 1960 unitary constitution of 1960, re-labelling it a federal constitution. The document recites in its long title that its purpose is to facilitate the annexation of a part of the territory of French Cameroun returning to French Cameroun.

PART –II: FRENCH CAMEROUN COLONIAL RULE OVER SOUTHERN CAMEROONS

1961

1st October 1961: Britain transfers the Southern Cameroons to the sovereignty of French Cameroun rather than to the elected Government of the Southern Cameroons. This is in flagrant violation of binding UNGA Resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960. Britain then indecently leaves the country. French Cameroun immediately imposes the unilaterally framed and enacted annexation document passed by its Parliament on 1st September 1961 on the Southern Cameroons without its ratification by the Southern Cameroons House of Parliament, House of Chiefs and the executive arm headed by Prime Minister John Fonhca. Under the same document the President of French Cameroun gives himself absolute powers to rule and to take exceptional measures as he sees fit for a six months renewable period. The same month more French-led French Cameroun forces and gendarmes move into defenseless Southern Cameroons and occupy the country on the spurious claim that it is part of French Cameroun territory. Quick on the heels of these forces is a French Cameroun official appointed in the position of a governor- general of the Southern Cameroons. His official title is ‘Inspecteur Federal d’ Administration’. This foreign official is accountable directly to the French Cameroun President. Then follows a host of other French Cameroun civil functionaries, including subsequently its police force, who literally took over the place.

1962

J. N. Foncha keeps his position as Prime Minister of Southern Cameroons and in a further plot to dismantle the governance structures of the Southern Cameroons, he is appointed Vice President of the Federal Republic of Cameroon without any constitutional powers and served at the leisure of the French Cameroun President.

1965

Augustine N. Jua becomes Prime Minister of Southern Cameroons

1968

President Ahmadu Ahidjo of French Cameroun surreptitiously removes Augustine Jua as Prime Minister of Southern Cameroons and appoints Solomon T. Muna who was Ahidjo’s stooge to replace Jua.

1970

Foncha falls out of favour with Ahidjo following disagreement surrounding Ahidjo’s gradual assimilation and marginalization of Southern Cameroonians and disregarding the federal autonomy that Ahidjo promised to give the Southern Cameroons at the UN. Muna is appointed to replace Foncha as the Vice President while doubling for Prime Minister of Southern Cameroons.

1972

20th May 1972: French Cameroun’s quest to rapidly finalize its total assimilation of Southern Cameroons and strengthen its colonization agenda came by way of the most fraudulent ballot box exercises ever witnessed by Southern Cameroonians who were already used to organizing free and fair elections with multiples candidates. A referendum was organized on 20th May 1972 asking for the voters to approve the amendment of the federal constitution to a unitary constitution dissolving the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly, House of Chiefs, abolishing the post of Prime Minister and centralizing administration in Yaounde, the French Cameroun Capital. To everyone’s surprise, there was only 1 ballot paper with two answers to the ballot question “OUI”, “YES”. This was absolutely a sham of a referendum as the two options meant the same thing since “OUI” in French is “YES” in English. This is despite the fact the referendum violated Article 47 of French Cameroun constitution which barred any attempts to ever change the federal form of the state. The gang that conspired to dismantle the federation in 1972 was made up of President Ahmadu Ahidjo and his top French Cameroun cabinet members including Moussa Yaya, Sengat Kuo, Paul Biya, Charles Onana Awana, Usman Mey and an adviser from France Jacques Rousseau who was also the chief architect of the French Cameroun Constitution.

1982

6th November 1982: President Ahmadu Ahidjo of French Cameroun resign as president and hands power to his French Cameroun Prime Minister Paul Biya.

1984

Paul Biya continued with the policies of his predecessor and taking the assimilation a step further, Paul Biya by a presidential decree, changed the name of the country from United Republic of Cameroon to the name that French Cameroun held at independence in 1960 – La Republique du Cameroun.

1993

J. N. Foncha & S. T. Muna, the only surviving former Prime Ministers of Southern Cameroons who “negotiated” against their will and that of the people of Southern Cameroons the terms of a federated union between Southern Cameroons and French Cameroun return to the United Nations in New York to request full independence for Southern Cameroons as the envisaged federal structure with French Cameroon had collapsed. All the structures that would have guaranteed the existence of two federations of equal status had been systematically dismantled by the authorities of French Cameroun and replaced with a centralized authoritarian rule. The mission to the UN Head Quarters at New York was preceded by the famous All Anglophone Conference (AAC-I) that held at Buea bringing together a cross section of all Southern Cameroonians which unanimous called for the government of French Cameroun to organize constitutional talks to determine the future of the two countries.

1994

All Anglophone Conference II: Following the return from the UN by the elderly statesmen, another conference was held at Bamenda called AAC-II and re- affirmed the decisions of AAC-I and went further to make the following proclamation -the last portion of which is reproduced here:

Articles 6-9 of the AAC-II Bamenda Proclamation

Article 6. Should the Government either persist in its refusal to engage in meaningful Constitutional Talks or fail to engage in such talks within a reasonable time, the Anglophone Council shall so inform the Anglophone People by all suitable means. It shall, thereupon, proclaim the revival of the Independence and Sovereignty of the Anglophone territory of the Southern Cameroons and take all measures necessary to secure, defend and preserve the Independence, Sovereignty and Integrity of the said Territory.

Article 7. Following the Proclamation of the Revival of the Independence and Sovereignty of Southern Cameroons as provided for here above, the Anglophone Council shall, without having to convene another session of the All Anglophone Conference, transform itself into the Southern Cameroons Constituent Assembly for the purpose of drafting, debating and adopting a Constitution for the Independent and Sovereign State of Southern Cameroons.

Article 8. For the purposes of paragraph (7) above, the Anglophone Council shall enlarge itself to such other organs or individuals as shall appear expedient, beneficial or necessary and in the interest of Southern Cameroons.

Article 9. In the event of the situation contemplated at paragraph (7) above, the Independent and Sovereign Southern Cameroons and the Independent and Sovereign Republique du Cameroun shall negotiate their peaceful separation on the basis of the Buea Peace Initiative and on such other terms as shall be mutually beneficial.

We make this proclamation in the name of the Almighty God for whose protection of Anglophone Cameroon we pray.

For the pursuit of the goals set out in this proclamation, we once again pledge to each other our lives, well-being, property, careers and freedom.

God Bless Anglophone Cameroon!
God Bless Cameroon
Done at Bamenda this First Day of May in the year of Our Lord, One Thousand, Nine hundred and Ninety-four.
For and on behalf of the Second All Anglophone Conference,

Sam Ekontang Elad Chairman of the Conference All Anglophone Conference

The implementation of the above articles of AAC-II were however stalled through the brutal arrests and incarceration of the leaders of the AAC with several others escaping into exile.

PART –III: RESTORATION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF SOUTHERN CAMEROONS

2017

Following 56 years of forceful recolonization and abuse of the rights of Southern Cameroonians by French Cameroun, Southern Cameroons declares the restoration of its independence and the new country is named, Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

2017

H. E. Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe becomes first President of the interim government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia on October 1st, 2017