Here below is the Open Letter by Dr. Kevin Ngwang Gumni
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
His
Excellency, President Paul Biya,
Presidency
of the Republic, Yaoundé
Republic
of Cameroun
Sir,
Open
Letter from the Southern Cameroons People’s Organisation demanding:
(1)
A National Apology from Cameroun Republic to the People and State of Southern
Cameroons and
(2)
The Restoration of Southern Cameroons Statehood.
The
Southern Cameroons People’s Organization (SCAPO) Political Party addresses
their compliments to you, Mr. President, and has the honour to attach hereto
copy of their letter to Prime Minister Philemon Yang on how SCAPO political
party came into lawful existence in Cameroon.
The
copy is for Your Excellency’s information.
Part
A
We draw your attention to the following:
(1) That by the time the United Nations conducted a plebiscite in
the State of Southern Cameroons in February 1961, The Southern Cameroons was a
self- overning State with well demarcated international boundaries, a
Ministerial government headed by a Prime Minister and a bicameral legislature
and an independent Judiciary Department.
(2) That preparatory to the UN plebiscite the agreement which the
State of Southern Cameroons reached with Republic of Cameroon was
to form a Federation of two States both equal in status,
This Agreement was published in The Two Alternatives and widely
circulated to the general public
(3) That on the 21st of April 1961, the General
Assembly of the United Nations by Resolution 1608 XV endorsed the decision of
the people of Southern Cameroons in the UN Plebiscite to achieve independence.
64 friendly Countries voted to support Southern Cameroons’ independence while
23 others voted against.
(4) That having voted in the UN plebiscite in good faith
to join the Republic of Cameroon the people of Southern Cameroons expected Republic
of Cameroon to reciprocate by supporting their independence but
to their utter surprise Republic of Cameroon voted to oppose their independence
and to also oppose the proposal by the United Nations for Southern Cameroons to
join her. This is why the first public action of SCAPO as a legal
political party is to CALL ON YOU AS PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC TO TENDER A
NATIONAL APOLOGY ON BEHALF OF THE REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON TO THE STATE AND PEOPLE
OF SOUTHERN CAMEROONS. FOR this act of bad faith during the
UN General Assembly vote on independence for Southern Cameroons on 21st
April 1961.
We also draw your attention to the following:
(5) That on 1st January 1960 Republic of Cameroon
achieved independence when the British Southern Cameroons was still a UN Trust
Territory and therefore did not constitute part of the territory which the
Republic of Cameroon inherited from the UN Trust Territory of French
Cameroon,
(6) That That if later Southern Cameroons had joined
the Republic of Cameroon in accordance with United Nations
principles and in accordance with international law, a Treaty of Union should
have been signed between the two States, ratified by the respective
Parliaments of both States and registered at the Secretariat of the United
Nations in conformity with Article 102 of the UN Charter in order to give the
Union international validity but because Republic of Cameroon voted
“NO” on UN proposals and preferred instead to annex the Southern
Cameroons the United Nations has nothing registered at its Secretariat to show
that Southern Cameroons and Republic of Cameroon ever came into
union. The presence of the Republic of Cameroon in Southern
Cameroons is consequently an unlawful extension of territorial boundary. This
is unacceptable to the people of Southern Cameroons.
(7) That the unilateral redrawing of international boundaries by a
member State of the African Union, violates Article 4 (b) of the African Union
Constitutive Act concerning boundaries inherited at independence and Republic
of Cameroon’s occupation of the Southern Cameroons since 1961 is in violation
of this important African Union principle. .More than that: this unlawful
occupation of the Southern Cameroons since 1961 has been attended by a
sustained and intolerable human rights violations unleashed on the people of
the Southern Cameroons especially under your rule and this is
why SCAPO political party is CALLING ON YOUR GOVERNMENT
TO STATE PUBLICLY WHETHER IT ACCEPTS OR REJECTS THE PROPOSAL BY THE
AFRICAN COMMISSION IN BANJUL FOR DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE STATE OF SOUTHERN
CAMEROONS AND REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON.
(8) THE STATEMENT SHOULD ALSO TELL THE PUBLIC WHAT YOUR
GOVERNMENT’S POSITION ON SOUTHERN CAMEROONS’ COMMUNICATION 337/2OO7 PENDING
BEFORE THE AFRICAN COMMISSION IN BANJUL FOR EIGHT YEARS NOW HAPPENS TO BE.
Part B
Mr. President, in this first SCAPO Party letter to you we want to
place on record the fact that when you came to power in 1982 you
started absolutely well, and gave the people of Southern Cameroons a lot
of hope that you could correct what we saw wrong in the Republic of Cameroon up
to that point in time. Your ideas on rigour and moralization
raised our hopes to see light at the end of a dark tunnel. But you let us down
and did so very badly. First, your government failed to rise to the occasion to
build a lasting federal union with the State of Southern Cameroons. You
transformed the voluntary decision of the people of the Southern Cameroons for
unification into annexation and a Minister in your government
announced in front of CRTV cameras that . Southern Cameroons was a territory
that was ceded to Republic of Cameroon. Since you came to
power in 1982 you, more than anyone else, have destroyed all hopes of a lasting
federal union between the Southern Cameroons and the Republic of
Cameroon. You will go down in history as the main architect of the
dismemberment of The United Republic of Cameroon.
The most damaging contribution which you made to the destruction
of the federal union was Law No 84-1 of 4 February 1984 which you signed
changing the name of the country from the United Republic of Cameroon to
Republic of Cameroon, the same name by which the former UN Trust
Territory of Cameroon under French Administration was known when it obtained
independence on January 1, 1960 and was admitted as a member of the United
Nations. Mr. President, you committed an act of secession
from the informal union which existed between the Southern Cameroons and
Republic of Cameroon. Your lawyers gave you wrong advice.
Your act of secession was a grave mistake. Take Tanzania for
example. Tanganyika and Zanzibar came together to form a union called United
Republic of Tanzania. Is it possible for President Jakaya Kikwete
to wake up one day and unilaterally decide that United Republic of
Tanzania will change its name to Tanganyika? That
would be an act of secession by Tanganyika from the union called Tanzania
and Zanzibar would be forced to assume its previous historical identity.
Similarly, England and Scotland came together to form the union, known as the United
Kingdom when King James IV of Scotland became King James I of
England. Can Queen Elizabeth II of the UK wake up one morning and
unilaterally decide that the United Kingdom will once again be called “England”?
That would be an act of secession by England from the United
Kingdom and Scotland would be forced to assume its previous
legal/historical identity as a separate Kingdom. That is why we have said
that the change of name from the United Republic of Cameroon to Republic
of Cameroon, and the two star flag to one star was an act
of secession, which forced the Southern Cameroons to assume her
previous historical identity as a different state.
Mr. President, SCAPO PARTY DEMANDS THE RESTORATION OF THE
STATEHOOD OF SOUTHERN CAMEROONS AS A MATTER OF PRIORITY THE ELECTION
RE-INSTATING THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONS HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY WILL NOT BE CONDUCTED BY
YOUR GOVERNMENT. IT WILL BE ORGANISED BY A JOINT COMMITTEE OF THE UNITED
NATIONS AND THE AFRICAN UNION. SHOULD YOUR GOVERNMENT TRY TO ORGANISE ELECTIONS
IN SOUTHERN CAMEROONS AGAIN WE WILL START IMPLENTING RELEVANT UNITED NATIONS’
RESOLUTIONS. To this end, SCAPO will be calling on the people of Southern
Cameroons not to participate in any elections in Southern Cameroons unless it
is one organized by the United Nations and/or the African Union in view of
restoring Southern Cameroons’ Statehood and handing the territory of Southern
Cameroons to its elected leaders.
Mr. President, permit us to conclude this letter with our party’s
view on peace and unity since SCAPO fully
subscribes to these concepts. SCAPO believes in peace and that is why
since its creation in 2001SCAPO has pursued Southern Cameroons’ right of
self-determination peacefully through litigations. SCAPO plans to carry out its
political programmes peacefully but we want to be clear that peace, genuine
peace, must be the substitution of right for might, law
for war, and reason for force. SCAPO also believes in
Unity but we have had to reflect soberly on the question, unity at whose
expense? The present African Union Started as The Organisation of
African Unity. Unity is still important today in Africa as it
always has been since the OAU was created but we want to be clear: Unity in
Africa must be based on African Union (AU) principles and instruments. Let
no UN or AU member State violate United Nations Resolutions, ignore AU
instruments, defy international law only to turn round after all these and sing
to us the meaningless song of national unity. It is unacceptable.
For
and on behalf of the SCAPO political party,
National Chairman
Dr. Kevin NGWANG
GUMNE
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
No comments:
Post a Comment