The Former Trust Territory of the Cameroons under United Kingdom

21.5.1 The Northern Cameroons and the Southern Cameroons together comprise the

former UN Trust Territory of the Cameroons under British Administration (86,214

sq.km.) for which a Trusteeship Agreement was signed on 13/12/1946 between the

36

General Assembly of the United Nations Organisation and His Majesty’s Government of

Article 1 of the above-mentioned Trusteeship Agreement defines the Territory as

follows, namely:

“The Territory to which this Agreement applies comprises that part of the

Cameroons lying to the west of the boundary defined by the Franco-British

Declaration of 10 July 1919, and more exactly defined in the Declaration made

by the Governor of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria and the Governor of

the Cameroons under French Mandate which was confirmed by the exchange of

Notes between His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and the French

Government of 9 January 1931. This line may, however, be slightly modified by

mutual agreement between His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and

the Government of the French republic where an examination of the localities

shows that it is desirable in the interests of the inhabitants”.

Article 3 of the same Trusteeship Agreement defines the role of the Administering

Authority as follows, namely:

“The Administering Authority undertakes to administer the Territory in such a

Manner as to achieve the basic objectives of the international trusteeship system

Laid down in Article 76 of the United Nations Charter. The Administering

Authority further undertakes to collaborate fully with the General Assembly of

the United Nations and the Trusteeship Council in the discharge of all their

functions as defined in Article 87 of the United nations Charter, and to facilitate

any periodic visits to the Territory which they may deem necessary, at times to be

agreed upon by the Administering Authority”.

22. The Way Forward Today

22.1 The quest for Self-Determination and Independence of the Peoples and Territory of

the former British Cameroons is an incontrovertible and a burning issue. The UN should

ensure that the Self-Determination and Independence of the Peoples and Territory of the

former British Cameroons is Rectified and Regularised in accordance with Article 76,

paragraph b, of the Charter of the United Nations Organisation.

22.2 The recent Nigeria -

problems provided an opportunity for the former British Cameroons’ independence issue

to be raised and regularized. Why? Because since UN Resolution 1608 (XV), paragraph

5, of 21 April 1961 was not implemented in accordance with International Law, both

Nigeria and

Bakassi Peninsula of the UN Territory of the Cameroons formerly under United Kingdom

37

Administration. This is in accordance with Article 102 (2) of the Charter of the United

…”

registered in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article may

22.3 La Republique du Cameroun

illegitimate administrations from the UN Territory of the Cameroons formerly under

United Kingdom administration immediately and progressively. They should also

encourage the peoples of the former British Cameroons to continue to work for their

sovereign self-determination and independence through the United Nations Organisation

to ensure international peace and security. Exiled Southern Cameroonian citizens should

be called back home. And All SCNC prisoners of conscience should be released and

damages be paid to the families of the dead.

22.4 This means that a UN Transitional Administration should takeover the Territory of

the former British Cameroons to ensure that the peoples of the Territory prepare

themselves for their Sovereign Independence and Future Government and Administration

of their Territory. The presence of the UN Administration on the Territory will not only

ensure international peace and security but will also reduce the tensions between the

peoples of the Southern Cameroons and

one hand, and the peoples of the Northern Cameroons and Nigeria on the other.

Legitimacy and legality of the former British Cameroons’ independence will be

endorsed. East Timor became independent recently. A war is not necessary.

22.5 And so the peoples of the former British Cameroons, the Northern Cameroons and

the Southern Cameroons together, have requested the Secretary-General of the United

Nations Organisation, H.E. Kofi Atah ANNAN, and his successor, H.E. Ban Ki Moon, to

make use of their good offices, drawing upon their stature and impartiality, in the

interests of preventive diplomacy, to bring to the attention of the Security Council and the

United Nations General Assembly:

.la Republique du Cameroun Mixed Commission on their borderla Republique du Cameroun had no legal right to claim Sovereignty over theNo party to any such Treaty or International Agreement which has not beenand Nigeria should withdraw their illegal and

la Republique du Cameroun in particular on the

A)

April 1961 on the Future of the Cameroons under United Kingdom

The non-implementation of UN Resolution 1608 (XV), paragraph 5, of 21

B)

Independence of the Territory in application of the UN Resolution 1514 (XV) of

Countries and Peoples.

The urgent Rectification and Regularisation of the Self-Determination and

C)

under United Kingdom Administration after independence to the United Nations

United Nations.

38

22.6 Just as UNO Resolution 1349 (X111), paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of 13 March 1959

Assembly elections were conducted and it (Resolution) recommended that

du Cameroun

of Article 4 of the Charter of he United Nations, and just as the Federation of Nigeria

which became independent on 01/10/1960 was admitted a member of the United Nations

Organisation by UNO Resolution 1402 (XV) of 07/10/1960, so too the Peoples of the

former UN Trust Territory of the Cameroons under United Kingdom Administration

today want a United Nations resolution Granting them Independence and Admission as a

member to the United Nations Organisation in application of Article 4 of the Charter of

the United Nations.

22.7 Attached is the September 1960 United Nations map of the former Trust Territory of

the Cameroons under United Kingdom Administration (86,214 sq.km.) – United Nations

Map No. 1269 (1).

The Admission of the State of the UN Territory of the Cameroons formerlyla Republique du Cameroun on 1st January 1960 and an

23. CONCLUSION

23.1 There comes a time in the affairs of men when a long-suffering people must either

stand up and be counted or for ever hold their peace; a time when a people must face the

destiny which they have always known that they would face someday; a time when a man

must take a deep breath and do what he has to do; a time when the faint-hearted can

perform acts of courage beyond expectations; a time when a man must take a bold leap

into the uncertainty of the unknown in order to escape from the certainty of a past best

forgotten; a time when there is nothing to fear but fear itself; a time when a slave must

break out and take the risk of freedom or forever remain in bondage; a time when you

must reach out for that abstract goal for which you must be willing to sacrifice your life;

it is the time to live free or die. (*

23.2 That moment finally came for the people of ex-British Southern Cameroons on

December 30, 1999, when Justice Frederick ALOBWEDE EBONG, a bona fide citizen

of the Southern Cameroons and Chairman of the Strategic Committee of the Southern

Cameroons National Council (SCNC), set up by the Prince Esoka NDOKI MUKETE

leadership of the organisation, on behalf of the annexed and colonised, oppressed and

brutalised, dehumanised and exploited peoples of the Southern Cameroons, in

desperation proclaimed over Radio Buea the Restoration of the Sovereignty and

Independence of the Southern Cameroons, our chosen course for Self-determination, to

forge our destiny and build our own country in Freedom, Justice and Peace. That

proclamation too was misleading in that the Southern Cameroons is but a part of the

former UN Trust Territory of the Cameroons under United Kingdom Administration for

which the United Kingdom signed a Trusteeship Agreement with the United Nations on

13 December 1946, and undertook to lead to self-determination and independence. The

39

Southern Cameroons, therefore, can only become independent together with the Northern

Agreement.

23.3 That proclamation, misleading though it was, prompted the United Nations

Secretary-General, H.E. Kofi Atah ANNAN, to visit the Cameroons on May 1-3, 2000 –

a visit that was heavily state-censured. At the end of the visit Mr. Kofi ANNAN

prescribed dialogue to defuse the potentially explosive situation prevailing in the country.

The peoples of the Southern Cameroons have been knocking on the door of

Republique du Cameroun

dictatorships have responded with all forms of violent intimidations and barefaced

state terrorism. How then do we dialogue with the deaf?

24. The Way to Independence for the Peoples of the UN Territory of the Cameroons

formerly under United Kingdom Administration:

24.1 The way to Independence for the peoples of the former British Cameroons (Northern

Cameroons and the Southern Cameroons together) is in the hands of the UN. The UN

should follow the same path it took to grant independence to other UN territories. It must

be noted that the British Cameroons is a particular UN Territory as it had been annexed

respectively by Nigeria (in the case of the Northern Cameroons), and by

du Cameroun

independence-by-joining that the UN granted the Cameroons under United Kingdom

Administration in 1961.

24.2 The former British Cameroons today is in the same situation as the three Baltic

States (Estonia, Lestonia, Lithuania). It should be recalled that the latter three states were

granted independence by the League of Nations, and the independence was later

suppressed by the Soviet Union which then annexed them on the grounds that as small

neighbouring states, it was their weakness that allowed the German troops to crush them

very easily and then crossed their international boundary with the Soviet Union into St.

Petersburg. But with

regained their lost independence through the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples

Organisation (UNPO) and the UN.

24.3 Another way out for the Northern and Southern Cameroons is that the UN may

simply implement the UNGA Resolution 1514 (XIV) of 14 December 1960 on the

Granting of Independence to Colonial Territories and Peoples.

40

25. Finally, I should like to end this write up with these quotations from Pope John Paul

official visit to the Cameroons, 15 August 1985, the Holy Father said,

“Injustices committed by certain regimes concerning human rights or the

legitimate demands of a section of the population which is refused participation

or common responsibilities beget revolt of regrettable violence but which justice

could have fore-held”.

Addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York on the occasion of

its 50th Anniversary of the Organisation on October 1995, the Holy Father said, inter alia:

“A pre-supposition of a nation’s rights is certainly its right to exist; therefore, no

one – neither a state nor another nation nor an international organisation – is

ever justified in asserting that an individual nation is not worthy of existence”.

It seems to me that on both occasions the Holy Father was addressing the “Anglophone

Problem” in the Cameroons.

- Finis –

Maps of the British Cameroons: