Barrister Fon Gorgi Dinka was the first person to my knowledge who
defied all odds and held himself out publicly in defence of the
Anglophone cause. After publishing his book – The New Social Order – he
called on the “Anglophone soldier” to take up arms against the President
of the Republic whom he described as “going from illegalities to
illegalities”. He spectacularly escaped from detention and fled to
Calabar (Nigeria). Even as he relentlessly fought the Anglophone cause
under the banner AMBAZONIA, the struggle under that banner has remained
moribund internally…
AAC1 and AAC2 ended up submitting a
memorandum (draft constitution”) to the President of the Republic in the
early nineties. Elad, Anyangwe and Munzu subsequently took part in the
Tripartite Talks, most probably in the name of Anglophones. Not only did
the draft constitution end up fatally in the waste basket, but none of
the Anglophones’ grievances as per the memorandum ever received any
attention…
Eventually was the Southern Cameroons’ National
Council – SCNC – born with the sole intent to press the case for
dialogue. It took little time for Yaounde to send soldiers to brutalize
innocent Southern Cameroonian citizen and secure the arrest and
detention of SCNC leaders. Those who did not die in detention did take
out a suit against Cameroun in the African Human Rights Commission at
Banjul for physical injuries from torture and false imprisonment. The
result was the Bunjul Ruling which has been lying in the “Pending tray”
in Yaounde for upwards of two decades now…
At one point in time
during the proceeding at Banjul, the members of SCNC who, it would
appear, had sued Cameroun by themselves and on behalf of Southern
Cameroonians, broke off to call themselves Southern Cameroons’ People
Organization – SCAPO. Another faction later emerged in the Name of
southern Cameroons’ Youth League - SCYL.
Due to leadership crisis
from mistrust and unending bickering, every one of these groupings has
lost steam in the recent past. In the end, there is little coordination
at the national level, even less so at the international level.
Professional and career groupings necessarily sprang up in defence of
group interests. Prominent among them are teachers’ “unions” and
recently Common Law lawyers…
The strategy of Yaounde has been to
pretend to listen to such groups while favouring their multiplication so
that they pose little threat… Yaounde appears to be out of wit now that
a sense of common purpose is permeating the walls Yaounde has erected
between the groups…
But the fear is that the expedient is ever
transient. There is absolute need for coordination both nationally and
internationally. The contemporary two groups, namely, the teachers and
the lawyers, should select representatives, maybe five per group, to
constitute the nucleus. The 10 or so will meet the soonest and co-opt a
few other prominent Anglophones. They may choose a leader among
themselves or operate for the time being in a collegiate manner.
This is most crucial and urgent! Yaounde tricksters could ridicule us
before the world if they were forced by the present circumstances to
invite us to talk very like replaying the scenario of Fumban 1961… Even
if just to get Yaounde to that point, such a team seems to me
indispensable!
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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