Editorial

SUBJECT: Some Of The Nigerians Who Abuse Anglophone Cameroonians’ Hospitality Are Canon Remigius Alumona, Arthur Oranu And Chinedu Christian, Having All Saints Anglican Church-Bamenda As Their Base

Having carefully followed the Anglican crises over Radio Hot Cocoa, it is our singular honour most respectfully to write and draw your attention about what your Nigerian subjects have been doing for the past two years with one Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi. He is an Anglophone Cameroonian indigent from Bamessing and the Rev. Priest of All Saint Anglican Church-Bamenda and overall boss of the church for the North West and Western Region Cameroon. This Rev. Father has worked for about 15years in the same parish. The above names mentioned are the people behind his illegal dismissal without any crime, in order to bring their Nigerian brother to replace Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi as parish priest of the church in Bamenda. His rival’s name is Canon Remigius Alumona of Nigerian Nationality. This same Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi constructed the new parish of All Saint Anglican Church in Ntarinkon – Bamenda.

During this conflict, Rev Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi also drew the attention of the traditional authority of the Mankon Fondom after which an injunction order of his Royal highness the Fon of Mankon was served. His Royal Highness did advised the church elders to go back home and settle this matter indoors and then come back to tell him that everything has been put in order so that he can remove his injunction staff put there for arbitration sake. The elders accepted but did not do anything like they promise the Fon of Mankon. The worse situation of the matter is that Canon Remigius Alumona and his group dared to remove the injunction staff of His Royal Highness. What an abuse to the Fon of Mankon that we are his subjects? After the removal of that injunction they began worshiping there at the said Ntarikon Church site where injunction was served.

The Nigerians also hired some professional killers to eliminate Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi which they  stormed  All Saint Anglican Church in search of their target but did not meet him and still proceeded to his residence  and still could not meet him. Our investigations have it too that before the coming of this people, they had thrown some tracks saying leave our church.

This matter was taken to Judicial Police and the Commissioner asked the Nigerians Church elders and executive committee to make peace with Rev. Father Yuh which they accepted but did not do anything. The matter was again taken to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security where the Director said they should pay the salary of Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel. After their return nothing was done by the Nigerian elders or committee. The man Canon Remigius Alumona had made a declaration that he came to Cameroon for war and not for work. This priest and spokesman of the Anglican Nigerian Mafia declared war against Cameroon and is beginning it against an innocent man of God which the Anglophone youths respect so much in this community.

The matter was again taken to the State Counsel where he advised the church elders to pay the salary of Rev. Father Yuh and there, they accepted but did not do anything as they promised the State counsel and today it is about 2 years with his salary being suspended. We are saying that the president of Nigerian Union Bamenda should call his people to order before things get out of hands.

The provocation from Nigerians is unbearable and this will cause the situation which is currently going on now in South Africa to happen in this country, if they will persist in pushing us to the wall. The decision of the executive administration of the Anglophones Youth Higher Council for Action is;

1. That the salary of Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi should be immediately paid to him so that he can care for his Family.
2. That his rents for over two years should be paid.
3. That he should be installed back to his function as he was before.
4. That as per their Anglican protest letter of November 11th2013, the Cameroonian Congregations that Rev. Father Yuh is penalized for fighting for them should be allowed to express their abused rights by the Bishop and this above Nigerian click.
5. That if nothing is done to solve this problem expect the worse from us. 

    

MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND MASS COOPERATION.

 

NGALIM FELIX SAFEH

THE EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT

 

CC: 

H.E THE NW. GOVERNOR, BAMENDA

The Learned State Counsel of Mezam, Bamenda

The HON. MP for Mezam Central

HRH THE FON OF MANKON, BAMENDA

THE NW. REGIONAL DELEGATE OF NATIONAL SECURITY, BAMENDA

H.E PRESIDENT PAUL BIYA, YAOUNDE

H.E PRIME MINISTER PHILEMON YANG, YAOUNDE

H.E CHAIRMAN NI JOHN FRU NDI, BAMENDA

1. REV. BISHOP DIBO THOMAS, DOUALA

H.E THE NIGERIAN CONSULT GENERAL, BUEA

H.E THE S.C.N.C NATIONAL CHAIRMAN

THE MOST REV’D DESMOND TUTU: EMERITUS ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP, SOUTH AFRICA – CAPE TOWN

THE MOST REV’D JONATHAN B. HART: ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF THE CHURCH OF THE PROVINCE OF W. AFRICA, LIBERIA-MONROVIA

THE MOST REV’D I. C. O KATTEY: ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF THE NIGER DELTA – NIGERIA PROVINCE, PORT HARCOURT & ABUJA

THE MASS MEDIA

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Ngwa Bertrand

24.May.2015

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SUBJECT: Some Of The Nigerians Who Abuse Anglophone Cameroonians’ Hospitality Are Canon Remigius Alumona, Arthur Oranu And Chinedu Christian, Having All Saints Anglican Church-Bamenda As Their Base

Having carefully followed the Anglican crises over Radio Hot Cocoa, it is our singular honour most respectfully to write and draw your attention about what your Nigerian subjects have been doing for the past two years with one Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi. He is an Anglophone Cameroonian indigent from Bamessing and the Rev. Priest of All Saint Anglican Church-Bamenda and overall boss of the church for the North West and Western Region Cameroon. This Rev. Father has worked for about 15years in the same parish. The above names mentioned are the people behind his illegal dismissal without any crime, in order to bring their Nigerian brother to replace Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi as parish priest of the church in Bamenda. His rival’s name is Canon Remigius Alumona of Nigerian Nationality. This same Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi constructed the new parish of All Saint Anglican Church in Ntarinkon – Bamenda.

During this conflict, Rev Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi also drew the attention of the traditional authority of the Mankon Fondom after which an injunction order of his Royal highness the Fon of Mankon was served. His Royal Highness did advised the church elders to go back home and settle this matter indoors and then come back to tell him that everything has been put in order so that he can remove his injunction staff put there for arbitration sake. The elders accepted but did not do anything like they promise the Fon of Mankon. The worse situation of the matter is that Canon Remigius Alumona and his group dared to remove the injunction staff of His Royal Highness. What an abuse to the Fon of Mankon that we are his subjects? After the removal of that injunction they began worshiping there at the said Ntarikon Church site where injunction was served.

The Nigerians also hired some professional killers to eliminate Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi which they  stormed  All Saint Anglican Church in search of their target but did not meet him and still proceeded to his residence  and still could not meet him. Our investigations have it too that before the coming of this people, they had thrown some tracks saying leave our church.

This matter was taken to Judicial Police and the Commissioner asked the Nigerians Church elders and executive committee to make peace with Rev. Father Yuh which they accepted but did not do anything. The matter was again taken to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security where the Director said they should pay the salary of Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel. After their return nothing was done by the Nigerian elders or committee. The man Canon Remigius Alumona had made a declaration that he came to Cameroon for war and not for work. This priest and spokesman of the Anglican Nigerian Mafia declared war against Cameroon and is beginning it against an innocent man of God which the Anglophone youths respect so much in this community.

The matter was again taken to the State Counsel where he advised the church elders to pay the salary of Rev. Father Yuh and there, they accepted but did not do anything as they promised the State counsel and today it is about 2 years with his salary being suspended. We are saying that the president of Nigerian Union Bamenda should call his people to order before things get out of hands.

The provocation from Nigerians is unbearable and this will cause the situation which is currently going on now in South Africa to happen in this country, if they will persist in pushing us to the wall. The decision of the executive administration of the Anglophones Youth Higher Council for Action is;

1. That the salary of Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi should be immediately paid to him so that he can care for his Family.
2. That his rents for over two years should be paid.
3. That he should be installed back to his function as he was before.
4. That as per their Anglican protest letter of November 11th2013, the Cameroonian Congregations that Rev. Father Yuh is penalized for fighting for them should be allowed to express their abused rights by the Bishop and this above Nigerian click.
5. That if nothing is done to solve this problem expect the worse from us. 

    

MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND MASS COOPERATION.

 

NGALIM FELIX SAFEH

THE EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT

 

CC: 

H.E THE NW. GOVERNOR, BAMENDA

The Learned State Counsel of Mezam, Bamenda

The HON. MP for Mezam Central

HRH THE FON OF MANKON, BAMENDA

THE NW. REGIONAL DELEGATE OF NATIONAL SECURITY, BAMENDA

H.E PRESIDENT PAUL BIYA, YAOUNDE

H.E PRIME MINISTER PHILEMON YANG, YAOUNDE

H.E CHAIRMAN NI JOHN FRU NDI, BAMENDA

1. REV. BISHOP DIBO THOMAS, DOUALA

H.E THE NIGERIAN CONSULT GENERAL, BUEA

H.E THE S.C.N.C NATIONAL CHAIRMAN

THE MOST REV’D DESMOND TUTU: EMERITUS ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP, SOUTH AFRICA – CAPE TOWN

THE MOST REV’D JONATHAN B. HART: ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF THE CHURCH OF THE PROVINCE OF W. AFRICA, LIBERIA-MONROVIA

THE MOST REV’D I. C. O KATTEY: ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF THE NIGER DELTA – NIGERIA PROVINCE, PORT HARCOURT & ABUJA

THE MASS MEDIA

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

24.May.2015

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SUBJECT: Some Of The Nigerians Who Abuse Anglophone Cameroonians’ Hospitality Are Canon Remigius Alumona, Arthur Oranu And Chinedu Christian, Having All Saints Anglican Church-Bamenda As Their Base

Having carefully followed the Anglican crises over Radio Hot Cocoa, it is our singular honour most respectfully to write and draw your attention about what your Nigerian subjects have been doing for the past two years with one Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi. He is an Anglophone Cameroonian indigent from Bamessing and the Rev. Priest of All Saint Anglican Church-Bamenda and overall boss of the church for the North West and Western Region Cameroon. This Rev. Father has worked for about 15years in the same parish. The above names mentioned are the people behind his illegal dismissal without any crime, in order to bring their Nigerian brother to replace Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi as parish priest of the church in Bamenda. His rival’s name is Canon Remigius Alumona of Nigerian Nationality. This same Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi constructed the new parish of All Saint Anglican Church in Ntarinkon – Bamenda.

During this conflict, Rev Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi also drew the attention of the traditional authority of the Mankon Fondom after which an injunction order of his Royal highness the Fon of Mankon was served. His Royal Highness did advised the church elders to go back home and settle this matter indoors and then come back to tell him that everything has been put in order so that he can remove his injunction staff put there for arbitration sake. The elders accepted but did not do anything like they promise the Fon of Mankon. The worse situation of the matter is that Canon Remigius Alumona and his group dared to remove the injunction staff of His Royal Highness. What an abuse to the Fon of Mankon that we are his subjects? After the removal of that injunction they began worshiping there at the said Ntarikon Church site where injunction was served.

The Nigerians also hired some professional killers to eliminate Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi which they  stormed  All Saint Anglican Church in search of their target but did not meet him and still proceeded to his residence  and still could not meet him. Our investigations have it too that before the coming of this people, they had thrown some tracks saying leave our church.

This matter was taken to Judicial Police and the Commissioner asked the Nigerians Church elders and executive committee to make peace with Rev. Father Yuh which they accepted but did not do anything. The matter was again taken to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security where the Director said they should pay the salary of Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel. After their return nothing was done by the Nigerian elders or committee. The man Canon Remigius Alumona had made a declaration that he came to Cameroon for war and not for work. This priest and spokesman of the Anglican Nigerian Mafia declared war against Cameroon and is beginning it against an innocent man of God which the Anglophone youths respect so much in this community.

The matter was again taken to the State Counsel where he advised the church elders to pay the salary of Rev. Father Yuh and there, they accepted but did not do anything as they promised the State counsel and today it is about 2 years with his salary being suspended. We are saying that the president of Nigerian Union Bamenda should call his people to order before things get out of hands.

The provocation from Nigerians is unbearable and this will cause the situation which is currently going on now in South Africa to happen in this country, if they will persist in pushing us to the wall. The decision of the executive administration of the Anglophones Youth Higher Council for Action is;

1. That the salary of Rev. Father Yuh Emmanuel Chenyi should be immediately paid to him so that he can care for his Family.
2. That his rents for over two years should be paid.
3. That he should be installed back to his function as he was before.
4. That as per their Anglican protest letter of November 11th2013, the Cameroonian Congregations that Rev. Father Yuh is penalized for fighting for them should be allowed to express their abused rights by the Bishop and this above Nigerian click.
5. That if nothing is done to solve this problem expect the worse from us. 

    

MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND MASS COOPERATION.

 

NGALIM FELIX SAFEH

THE EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT

 

CC: 

H.E THE NW. GOVERNOR, BAMENDA

The Learned State Counsel of Mezam, Bamenda

The HON. MP for Mezam Central

HRH THE FON OF MANKON, BAMENDA

THE NW. REGIONAL DELEGATE OF NATIONAL SECURITY, BAMENDA

H.E PRESIDENT PAUL BIYA, YAOUNDE

H.E PRIME MINISTER PHILEMON YANG, YAOUNDE

H.E CHAIRMAN NI JOHN FRU NDI, BAMENDA

1. REV. BISHOP DIBO THOMAS, DOUALA

H.E THE NIGERIAN CONSULT GENERAL, BUEA

H.E THE S.C.N.C NATIONAL CHAIRMAN

THE MOST REV’D DESMOND TUTU: EMERITUS ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP, SOUTH AFRICA – CAPE TOWN

THE MOST REV’D JONATHAN B. HART: ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF THE CHURCH OF THE PROVINCE OF W. AFRICA, LIBERIA-MONROVIA

THE MOST REV’D I. C. O KATTEY: ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF THE NIGER DELTA – NIGERIA PROVINCE, PORT HARCOURT & ABUJA

THE MASS MEDIA

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

24.May.2015

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There is a cultural genocide of Southern Cameroonians that is celebrated May 20 of every year.  The All Anglophone Lawyers Conference Common that took place in Bamenda on May 9, 2015 was forthright to add the critical voices of lawyers in alerting and awakening the conscience of the civilized world to this powder keg that may ignited an unprecedented human and material calamity in a volatile sub-region. Hoping to rely on the national and international focus on the war against Boko Haram to deflate attention from the escalation of this policy of cultural genocide, the Government of Cameroon criminalized civil liberties and unleashed an unprecedented assault on the Common Law by deploying civil law Judges to the Common Law Jurisdictions to use the French language in the enforcement of this policy.   To expect Common Law practitioners who are the guarantors of this internationally protected legacy to observe in silent complicity or to do nothing would have given a tacit fig leaf of support to this ongoing crime against the conscience of humanity. The escalation of the cultural genocide that elicited this emergency response by the Common Law Lawyers took a familiar path. Permit me therefore to go down memory lane to trace the oppressive journey that the systemic, asphyxiating and sometime blood targeting of Southern Cameroons on account of their cultural, territorial, economic and demographic specificity has taken.  Between October 29 and December 6, 1958, the last of the UN General Assembly fact-finding missions of four members, Haiti, India, New Zealand and the US) headed by Benjamin Gerig of the U.S to the Cameroons issued a report to the General Assembly of the UN on February 20, 1958. That report like those of the three previous fact-finding missions, ruled out a unification of the British Cameroons and the French Cameroons.  Any talk of a purported unification or re-unification of the Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroon on October 1, 1961 or May 20, 1972 is pure propaganda based on fraud.  However, due to a now widely discredited report submitted by Great Britain, the fate of the Cameroons under British Trusteeship administration was sealed in unprecedented plebiscites, which offered supposed road maps to independence through alternatives that were inconsistent with the peoples expression of their UN Charter protected right to self-determination.

By the results of the plebiscite organized on February 11, 1961 the peoples of the British Southern Cameroons affirmed their right to attain independence first and then entering into a negotiated union of equals with the independent La Republique du Cameroun.   Ignoring the expressed will of the Southern Cameroons, La Republique du Cameroun with the complicity of Great Britain and the conspiracy by default of the UN colonized the Southern Cameroons and purported to impose a unification option that was clearly rejected by the UN General Assembly in 1959.  A policy of cultural genocide was then put in place to stifle any dissent against the annexation and colonization of the Southern Cameroons.  The now familiar tools that were deployed to attain this criminal enterprise included the enactment of a legislative act amending the Constitution of La Republique du Cameroun of March 4, 1960 to annex the Southern Cameroons, the immediate imposition of  emergency laws applicable in La Republique du Cameroun to the Southern Cameroons in 1963, the dismantlingwithin a period of only five years of the institutions of a façade Federation as well as the democratic institutions of the Southern Cameroons inherited from Great Britain.   The use of the law to attain these criminal objectives was again replicated during the so-called referendum establishing a unitary state on May 20, 1972.  By Decree No. 66-DF-133 of the 17 March, 1966 (extending the State of Emergency in certain areas of the Federated State of West Cameroon”,  Bamenda Division, Mamfe Division, Kumba Division and Victoria Division of  the Southern Cameroonians were subjected to unprecedented acts of state terrorism.  Through individual and collective invasion of privacy, so-called Calle Calles, acts of rape,bestiality, murder, theft and all forms of egregious violations were perpetrated on the people of the Southern Cameroons. At the height of these acts of aggression, the multi-party system that existed in the territory was dismantled and the Francophone system of administration took over the administration of the territory.  Between 1969 and 1971 the regime used the arrest, trial and conviction of Bishop Albert Ndongmo and the execution of Ernest Ouandie on January 15, 1971 to tighten the state of emergency and to intensify the egregious violations within the Southern Cameroons. It is while this state of emergency was in place that the so-called referendum was organized in May 1972. 

There was no valid expression of franchise in this referendum. Apart from the state of emergency, persons of voting age had no real choice but to vote the will of their colonizer in a referendum conducted under terror whose outcome was predetermined. Persons were expected to produce their voting cards at random check points set up in the colonized territory to enforce emergency rule.  Boycotting the façade of a referendum was considered a crime of subversion which could earned the perpetrators jail time at one of the many detention so-called re-education centres notorious among which were Mantoum and Tcholire. This is the atmosphere under which the cultural genocide which is celebrated every May 20 was formalized.  The share magnitude of the crimes perpetrated prior to, during and after May 20 1972 led Paul Biya to attempt to conceal his endorsement and involvement in the crimes.  For this reason, in 1984 he engineered a legislative act reverting La Republique du Cameroun to its identity at independence but maintained the policy of cultural genocide which was put inplace by his predecessor Ahmadou Ahidjo.  This policy of deception intended to mask the criminal nature of May 20 celebrations. This is one reason why May 20 eludes a definition. The ceremony was named the “Peaceful Revolution” by its architects France and its Cameroun vassal Ahmadou Ahidjo.  With the appointment of Paul Biya as President of La Republique du Cameroun, this appellation was abandoned and replaced with the generic name of “national day celebration” without stating which national event it related to.  Thereafter, the appellation anniversary of “reunification” was adopted. This has lately been abandoned from when Paul Biya chose to celebrate the anniversary of the purported reunification on February 20, 2014. What then is May 20 celebration if it is not a day for the celebration of the cultural genocide of Southern Cameroonians?  The resolutions of the Common Law Lawyers detailed this unprecedented assault on the common law falls which fall within the realm of the consistent pattern of systemic violations intended to render the conditions of life unbearable for the people.  The policy if unchecked will further a policy of programmed extermination in whole or in part of a people recognized in international law as such due to their English speaking Southern Cameroons cultural identity. 

 
The lawyers have detailed the egregious violations and suggested solutions which can form a framework for a comprehensive dialogue ordered by the African Commission on Humans and Peoples Rights which the Government of Cameroun, accepted, asked for an extension of time to prepare for, but has so far done nothing further to honour its own engagement.  By this escalation and the impunity with which the Government of Cameroun is prosecuting its policy of cultural genocide, the Government of Cameroon is taunting the resolve of the people of the Southern Cameroons and that of the International Community to confront these acts of impunity and criminality with every legitimate means possible. The Common Law Lawyers who are the guarantors of this heritage, civil liberties and fundamental freedoms on the territory have raised this timely alarm to alert the Government of Cameroon and the International Community that there are clear limits to unrestrained policy of impunity and international criminality.   Although addressed to the Government of Cameroon, the resolutions of the lawyers are clearly intended for the International Community whose duty is to promptly intervene to prevent the humanity calamity that this policy is intended to cause.  Placed within the context of the policy denounced in the lawyers’ resolutions, the celebration of the so-called national day on 20 May can best be described as a celebration of cultural genocide. 
 
·        
 Chief Charles A. Taku is currently lead counsel at the
 International Criminal Court
 (ICC) at The Hague.

 

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

22.May.2015

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There is a cultural genocide of Southern Cameroonians that is celebrated May 20 of every year.  The All Anglophone Lawyers Conference Common that took place in Bamenda on May 9, 2015 was forthright to add the critical voices of lawyers in alerting and awakening the conscience of the civilized world to this powder keg that may ignited an unprecedented human and material calamity in a volatile sub-region. Hoping to rely on the national and international focus on the war against Boko Haram to deflate attention from the escalation of this policy of cultural genocide, the Government of Cameroon criminalized civil liberties and unleashed an unprecedented assault on the Common Law by deploying civil law Judges to the Common Law Jurisdictions to use the French language in the enforcement of this policy.   To expect Common Law practitioners who are the guarantors of this internationally protected legacy to observe in silent complicity or to do nothing would have given a tacit fig leaf of support to this ongoing crime against the conscience of humanity. The escalation of the cultural genocide that elicited this emergency response by the Common Law Lawyers took a familiar path. Permit me therefore to go down memory lane to trace the oppressive journey that the systemic, asphyxiating and sometime blood targeting of Southern Cameroons on account of their cultural, territorial, economic and demographic specificity has taken.  Between October 29 and December 6, 1958, the last of the UN General Assembly fact-finding missions of four members, Haiti, India, New Zealand and the US) headed by Benjamin Gerig of the U.S to the Cameroons issued a report to the General Assembly of the UN on February 20, 1958. That report like those of the three previous fact-finding missions, ruled out a unification of the British Cameroons and the French Cameroons.  Any talk of a purported unification or re-unification of the Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroon on October 1, 1961 or May 20, 1972 is pure propaganda based on fraud.  However, due to a now widely discredited report submitted by Great Britain, the fate of the Cameroons under British Trusteeship administration was sealed in unprecedented plebiscites, which offered supposed road maps to independence through alternatives that were inconsistent with the peoples expression of their UN Charter protected right to self-determination.

By the results of the plebiscite organized on February 11, 1961 the peoples of the British Southern Cameroons affirmed their right to attain independence first and then entering into a negotiated union of equals with the independent La Republique du Cameroun.   Ignoring the expressed will of the Southern Cameroons, La Republique du Cameroun with the complicity of Great Britain and the conspiracy by default of the UN colonized the Southern Cameroons and purported to impose a unification option that was clearly rejected by the UN General Assembly in 1959.  A policy of cultural genocide was then put in place to stifle any dissent against the annexation and colonization of the Southern Cameroons.  The now familiar tools that were deployed to attain this criminal enterprise included the enactment of a legislative act amending the Constitution of La Republique du Cameroun of March 4, 1960 to annex the Southern Cameroons, the immediate imposition of  emergency laws applicable in La Republique du Cameroun to the Southern Cameroons in 1963, the dismantlingwithin a period of only five years of the institutions of a façade Federation as well as the democratic institutions of the Southern Cameroons inherited from Great Britain.   The use of the law to attain these criminal objectives was again replicated during the so-called referendum establishing a unitary state on May 20, 1972.  By Decree No. 66-DF-133 of the 17 March, 1966 (extending the State of Emergency in certain areas of the Federated State of West Cameroon”,  Bamenda Division, Mamfe Division, Kumba Division and Victoria Division of  the Southern Cameroonians were subjected to unprecedented acts of state terrorism.  Through individual and collective invasion of privacy, so-called Calle Calles, acts of rape,bestiality, murder, theft and all forms of egregious violations were perpetrated on the people of the Southern Cameroons. At the height of these acts of aggression, the multi-party system that existed in the territory was dismantled and the Francophone system of administration took over the administration of the territory.  Between 1969 and 1971 the regime used the arrest, trial and conviction of Bishop Albert Ndongmo and the execution of Ernest Ouandie on January 15, 1971 to tighten the state of emergency and to intensify the egregious violations within the Southern Cameroons. It is while this state of emergency was in place that the so-called referendum was organized in May 1972. 

There was no valid expression of franchise in this referendum. Apart from the state of emergency, persons of voting age had no real choice but to vote the will of their colonizer in a referendum conducted under terror whose outcome was predetermined. Persons were expected to produce their voting cards at random check points set up in the colonized territory to enforce emergency rule.  Boycotting the façade of a referendum was considered a crime of subversion which could earned the perpetrators jail time at one of the many detention so-called re-education centres notorious among which were Mantoum and Tcholire. This is the atmosphere under which the cultural genocide which is celebrated every May 20 was formalized.  The share magnitude of the crimes perpetrated prior to, during and after May 20 1972 led Paul Biya to attempt to conceal his endorsement and involvement in the crimes.  For this reason, in 1984 he engineered a legislative act reverting La Republique du Cameroun to its identity at independence but maintained the policy of cultural genocide which was put inplace by his predecessor Ahmadou Ahidjo.  This policy of deception intended to mask the criminal nature of May 20 celebrations. This is one reason why May 20 eludes a definition. The ceremony was named the “Peaceful Revolution” by its architects France and its Cameroun vassal Ahmadou Ahidjo.  With the appointment of Paul Biya as President of La Republique du Cameroun, this appellation was abandoned and replaced with the generic name of “national day celebration” without stating which national event it related to.  Thereafter, the appellation anniversary of “reunification” was adopted. This has lately been abandoned from when Paul Biya chose to celebrate the anniversary of the purported reunification on February 20, 2014. What then is May 20 celebration if it is not a day for the celebration of the cultural genocide of Southern Cameroonians?  The resolutions of the Common Law Lawyers detailed this unprecedented assault on the common law falls which fall within the realm of the consistent pattern of systemic violations intended to render the conditions of life unbearable for the people.  The policy if unchecked will further a policy of programmed extermination in whole or in part of a people recognized in international law as such due to their English speaking Southern Cameroons cultural identity. 

 
The lawyers have detailed the egregious violations and suggested solutions which can form a framework for a comprehensive dialogue ordered by the African Commission on Humans and Peoples Rights which the Government of Cameroun, accepted, asked for an extension of time to prepare for, but has so far done nothing further to honour its own engagement.  By this escalation and the impunity with which the Government of Cameroun is prosecuting its policy of cultural genocide, the Government of Cameroon is taunting the resolve of the people of the Southern Cameroons and that of the International Community to confront these acts of impunity and criminality with every legitimate means possible. The Common Law Lawyers who are the guarantors of this heritage, civil liberties and fundamental freedoms on the territory have raised this timely alarm to alert the Government of Cameroon and the International Community that there are clear limits to unrestrained policy of impunity and international criminality.   Although addressed to the Government of Cameroon, the resolutions of the lawyers are clearly intended for the International Community whose duty is to promptly intervene to prevent the humanity calamity that this policy is intended to cause.  Placed within the context of the policy denounced in the lawyers’ resolutions, the celebration of the so-called national day on 20 May can best be described as a celebration of cultural genocide. 
 
·        
 Chief Charles A. Taku is currently lead counsel at the
 International Criminal Court
 (ICC) at The Hague.

 

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

22.May.2015

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There is a cultural genocide of Southern Cameroonians that is celebrated May 20 of every year.  The All Anglophone Lawyers Conference Common that took place in Bamenda on May 9, 2015 was forthright to add the critical voices of lawyers in alerting and awakening the conscience of the civilized world to this powder keg that may ignited an unprecedented human and material calamity in a volatile sub-region. Hoping to rely on the national and international focus on the war against Boko Haram to deflate attention from the escalation of this policy of cultural genocide, the Government of Cameroon criminalized civil liberties and unleashed an unprecedented assault on the Common Law by deploying civil law Judges to the Common Law Jurisdictions to use the French language in the enforcement of this policy.   To expect Common Law practitioners who are the guarantors of this internationally protected legacy to observe in silent complicity or to do nothing would have given a tacit fig leaf of support to this ongoing crime against the conscience of humanity. The escalation of the cultural genocide that elicited this emergency response by the Common Law Lawyers took a familiar path. Permit me therefore to go down memory lane to trace the oppressive journey that the systemic, asphyxiating and sometime blood targeting of Southern Cameroons on account of their cultural, territorial, economic and demographic specificity has taken.  Between October 29 and December 6, 1958, the last of the UN General Assembly fact-finding missions of four members, Haiti, India, New Zealand and the US) headed by Benjamin Gerig of the U.S to the Cameroons issued a report to the General Assembly of the UN on February 20, 1958. That report like those of the three previous fact-finding missions, ruled out a unification of the British Cameroons and the French Cameroons.  Any talk of a purported unification or re-unification of the Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroon on October 1, 1961 or May 20, 1972 is pure propaganda based on fraud.  However, due to a now widely discredited report submitted by Great Britain, the fate of the Cameroons under British Trusteeship administration was sealed in unprecedented plebiscites, which offered supposed road maps to independence through alternatives that were inconsistent with the peoples expression of their UN Charter protected right to self-determination.

By the results of the plebiscite organized on February 11, 1961 the peoples of the British Southern Cameroons affirmed their right to attain independence first and then entering into a negotiated union of equals with the independent La Republique du Cameroun.   Ignoring the expressed will of the Southern Cameroons, La Republique du Cameroun with the complicity of Great Britain and the conspiracy by default of the UN colonized the Southern Cameroons and purported to impose a unification option that was clearly rejected by the UN General Assembly in 1959.  A policy of cultural genocide was then put in place to stifle any dissent against the annexation and colonization of the Southern Cameroons.  The now familiar tools that were deployed to attain this criminal enterprise included the enactment of a legislative act amending the Constitution of La Republique du Cameroun of March 4, 1960 to annex the Southern Cameroons, the immediate imposition of  emergency laws applicable in La Republique du Cameroun to the Southern Cameroons in 1963, the dismantlingwithin a period of only five years of the institutions of a façade Federation as well as the democratic institutions of the Southern Cameroons inherited from Great Britain.   The use of the law to attain these criminal objectives was again replicated during the so-called referendum establishing a unitary state on May 20, 1972.  By Decree No. 66-DF-133 of the 17 March, 1966 (extending the State of Emergency in certain areas of the Federated State of West Cameroon”,  Bamenda Division, Mamfe Division, Kumba Division and Victoria Division of  the Southern Cameroonians were subjected to unprecedented acts of state terrorism.  Through individual and collective invasion of privacy, so-called Calle Calles, acts of rape,bestiality, murder, theft and all forms of egregious violations were perpetrated on the people of the Southern Cameroons. At the height of these acts of aggression, the multi-party system that existed in the territory was dismantled and the Francophone system of administration took over the administration of the territory.  Between 1969 and 1971 the regime used the arrest, trial and conviction of Bishop Albert Ndongmo and the execution of Ernest Ouandie on January 15, 1971 to tighten the state of emergency and to intensify the egregious violations within the Southern Cameroons. It is while this state of emergency was in place that the so-called referendum was organized in May 1972. 

There was no valid expression of franchise in this referendum. Apart from the state of emergency, persons of voting age had no real choice but to vote the will of their colonizer in a referendum conducted under terror whose outcome was predetermined. Persons were expected to produce their voting cards at random check points set up in the colonized territory to enforce emergency rule.  Boycotting the façade of a referendum was considered a crime of subversion which could earned the perpetrators jail time at one of the many detention so-called re-education centres notorious among which were Mantoum and Tcholire. This is the atmosphere under which the cultural genocide which is celebrated every May 20 was formalized.  The share magnitude of the crimes perpetrated prior to, during and after May 20 1972 led Paul Biya to attempt to conceal his endorsement and involvement in the crimes.  For this reason, in 1984 he engineered a legislative act reverting La Republique du Cameroun to its identity at independence but maintained the policy of cultural genocide which was put inplace by his predecessor Ahmadou Ahidjo.  This policy of deception intended to mask the criminal nature of May 20 celebrations. This is one reason why May 20 eludes a definition. The ceremony was named the “Peaceful Revolution” by its architects France and its Cameroun vassal Ahmadou Ahidjo.  With the appointment of Paul Biya as President of La Republique du Cameroun, this appellation was abandoned and replaced with the generic name of “national day celebration” without stating which national event it related to.  Thereafter, the appellation anniversary of “reunification” was adopted. This has lately been abandoned from when Paul Biya chose to celebrate the anniversary of the purported reunification on February 20, 2014. What then is May 20 celebration if it is not a day for the celebration of the cultural genocide of Southern Cameroonians?  The resolutions of the Common Law Lawyers detailed this unprecedented assault on the common law falls which fall within the realm of the consistent pattern of systemic violations intended to render the conditions of life unbearable for the people.  The policy if unchecked will further a policy of programmed extermination in whole or in part of a people recognized in international law as such due to their English speaking Southern Cameroons cultural identity. 

 
The lawyers have detailed the egregious violations and suggested solutions which can form a framework for a comprehensive dialogue ordered by the African Commission on Humans and Peoples Rights which the Government of Cameroun, accepted, asked for an extension of time to prepare for, but has so far done nothing further to honour its own engagement.  By this escalation and the impunity with which the Government of Cameroun is prosecuting its policy of cultural genocide, the Government of Cameroon is taunting the resolve of the people of the Southern Cameroons and that of the International Community to confront these acts of impunity and criminality with every legitimate means possible. The Common Law Lawyers who are the guarantors of this heritage, civil liberties and fundamental freedoms on the territory have raised this timely alarm to alert the Government of Cameroon and the International Community that there are clear limits to unrestrained policy of impunity and international criminality.   Although addressed to the Government of Cameroon, the resolutions of the lawyers are clearly intended for the International Community whose duty is to promptly intervene to prevent the humanity calamity that this policy is intended to cause.  Placed within the context of the policy denounced in the lawyers’ resolutions, the celebration of the so-called national day on 20 May can best be described as a celebration of cultural genocide. 
 
·        
 Chief Charles A. Taku is currently lead counsel at the
 International Criminal Court
 (ICC) at The Hague.

 

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

22.May.2015

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