February 2005
Introduction:
“An annexed people is always for a king or an Emperor a matter of complex problems for his own people arealways divided on the annexation like the annexed people themselves: he always has sleepless nights over themuntil the annexed people free themselves by sword or by negotiation, for the ashes of annexation are never com- pletely cold” – Michelo Machiaveli
The problem which has been existing between the Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cam-eroun since 1961 has been given many improper names:i. Marginalization (political, economic, social, cultural, and linguistic);ii. Lack of democracy in the domain of elections;iii. Bad governance;iv. Non-accommodation of Anglo-French bilingualism on the grounds of theFrench domino theory; v. Dictatorship; vi. Lack or imbalance of Affectio societatis between Southern Cameroonians andcamerounais; vii. Annexation
The Legal Argument For Southern CameroonsIndependence
Southern Cameroons Workshop – Bamenda 11 February 2005
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The last name, annexation, is the appropriate name: the first six have been in use since 1972; but an-nexation has been in use only since the peoples of the Southern Cameroons started their struggle forliberation in 1982 with the meetings of elites of the North-West and South-West provinces in Douala .These meetings served as the nucleus of what was to later to become the CAMEROON ANGLO-PHONE MOVEMENT (CAM) in December 1991. CAM later transmuted to the SOUTHERN CAM-EROONS RESTORATION MOVEMENT (SCARM) in July 1996. CAM popularized the name,annexation, in its information bulletin called CAM Forum No. 2. Annexation is the appropriate namebecause it is justified in international law. The other names can be justified only in domestic law, thatis, within the framework of a national constitution.To justify the current struggle for independence for the Southern Cameroons and win the sympathy of the international community, SCARM all along has been focusing on the international status of theSouthern Cameroons by exposing, explaining and upholding the struggle within the framework of international law. This has been done in four sections:Section 1 – The physical and legal birth of the Southern Cameroons under international law;Section 2 – The international legal existence of the Southern Cameroons from 1919 to 1946 under theLeagus of Nations;Section 3 – The international legal existence of the Southern Cameroons from 13 December 1946 to1961 under United Nations Trusteeship;Section 4 – The international legal existence of the Southern Cameroons from its annexation on 1stOctober 1961 to the expected independence.
THE LEGAL ARGUMENT IN INTERNATIONAL LAW FOR INDEPENDENCE FOR THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONS .
SECTION 1.
The Physical and Legal Birth of the Southern Cameroons under International Law.The German colony of KAMERUN was lying between the British colony of NIGERIA and the Frenchcolonies of Tchad, Oubangui-chari , Congo and Gabon . At the outbreak of the First World War in
The Legal Argument for Southern Cameroons Independence
Southern Cameroons Workshop – Bamenda 11 February 20
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1914 the British West African Frontier Forces from The Gambia, Sierra- Leone , Ghana (the GoldCoast) and Nigeria gathered at Ikom in Nigeria under the command of General CHARLES C. DO-BELL. These British colonial troops entered the German colony of Kamerun and fought their firstbattle with German colonial troops commanded by Colonel Zimmermann at SANAKANG. The Frenchcolonial troops from Tchad, Oubangui-Chari , Congo and Gabon , under the command of GeneralJoseph AYMERICH, entered KAMERUN to fight the German troops. The war lasted from 1914 till1918 with the defeat of the German troops in Kamerun.The British troops from the west and the French troops from the east had penetrated right inside thecolony by 1916. The British Secretary for the Colonies, Alfred MILNER and the French Minister forthe Colonies and Navy, Henri SIMON, realizing that their combined troops were about to captureGerman KAMERUN, drew a line in 1916 to partition the German colony between Britain and France. As the war progressed, Alfred MILNER and Henri SIMON signed an agreement to confirm the line in1917: the agreement became known as the SIMON – MILNER AGREEMENT which shared the Ger-man colony of KAMERUN into two sectors for Britain in the West and for France in the East. When the map of the partition was sent from London to General Charles C. Dobell, he unexpectedly rejected the map, sent it back to London in protest on grounds that the partition of the land from thesea – Tiko through Misselele to Muyuka - is the area where he lost many of his men, and that land hadbeen put in the French Sector according to the map; so he could never accept it; that that piece of land must be in the British Sector. London rejected Dobell’s argument and refused to modify themap: Dobell threatened to fight the French troops which were already camping in the disputed area.Realising the seriousness of Dobell’s threat, London gave in and modified the map to include the dis-puted area in the British Sector as requested by Dobell. Dobell was later accused by the British of rebellion and insubordination and sent on punitive transfer to Rawalpindi in India ( Rawalpindi istoday in Pakistan ).The war ended in 1918 with the defeat of Germany and the partition of the German colony of KAMERUN. Britain and France set up administrations in their respective sectors. In 1919 Britain ,France and Germany signed the Versailles Peace Treaty at LE PALAIS DES GALERIES DESGLACES ( Versailles – France ) on 28 July 1919. This treaty confirmed the Simon – Milner Agreementof 1916: and this was the physical and Legal Birth of the Southern Cameroons in international lawbinding Britain, France and Germany, and eye-witnessed by the United States.It should be noted that during the war, the United States which had refused to fight alongside Franceand Britain when contacted, sold war materials to Britain and France according to the “Buy and Carry Act” passed by the US Congress as a diplomatic way of assisting Britain. “Buy and Carry Act” meant you buy them in cash. According to President Woodrow Wilson “we sell arms to you and you carry them away at once in one shipment to where you want and to do what you want”. When contacted tosign the Versailles Peace Treaty as a big power, Woodrow Wilson refused on the grounds that “we have
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Southern Cameroons Workshop – Bamenda 11 February 20
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Legal Status of the Southern Cameroons
Southern Cameroons is one of the United Nation's grossest blunders. It handed a UN territory to a neighbouring country to annex and wantonly exploit. This beauty of a paper explains
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