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Interview With Mola Njoh Litumbe
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28 Mar 2009, 5:04 PMInterview With Mola Njoh LitumbeThe Sun: Thank you Mola Litumbe for granting this interview to The SUN newspaper.Of late you have been carrying around what I would call the Southern Cameroonsgospel. What effect is the message having?Mola Njoh: Well, like any evangelist and I can do no more than say I am a politicalevangelist, I preach the sermon in the hope that people who listen to it would changetheir ways and be converted. In the particular case of Southern Cameroons, I have been specific on thefact that when La Republique du Cameroun got its independence on 1st January 1960, I insist that no partof British Cameroons was included in the territorial boundaries of La Republique du Cameroun.This is a known fact. Now La Republique du Cameroun became a member of the United Nations inSeptember 1960. The United Nations has a written constitution called the Charter and that Charterprescribes in Article 102 that any member of the United Nations who wishes to go into a relationshipwith another territory, the terms of that relationship have got to be reduced in writing and a copy of theagreement provided at the secretariat of the United Nations, which is the registry of all independentcountries around the world. Failing to do that, that arrangement cannot be cited before any organ of theUnited Nations.Now, the International Court of Justice is one of such organs, so La Republique du Cameroun citedNigeria over Bakassi which is located in Southern Cameroons and in fact succeeded in having the matterheard by the ICJ, an organ of the UN without first establishing that Bakassi is in a territory which hadlegally been united with La Republique du Cameroun in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter.There is no such treaty of union between Southern Cameroons. So if Nigeria were only to ask LaRepublique du Cameroun that the court has pointed out that the indigenes of Bakassi voted as SouthernCameroonians on 11th February, 1961 to determine where their country should go either to Nigeria or LaRepublique du Cameroun and they in turn explain to Nigeria that clearly you have nothing to do inBakassi because it was not part of your territory then because you had been independent the previous 1stOctober, 1960 when Britain handed you independence.Had Nigeria then turned to La Republique and said you have sued us concerning Bakassi, produce thetreaty of union in accordance with the UN Charter, there is no doubt thatthe ICJ would have dismissedthe matter. But since there was no evidence that Bakassi did not belong to the personwho had sued, theICJ gave judgement in favour of La Republique du Cameroun purely by default. That was not a decisionwhich determined whether or not Southern Cameroon was part of La Republique du Cameroun.No, it was merely to determine the boundary between Nigeria and the territory of Cameroons which hasnever joined to La Republique du Cameroun. Besides when the plebiscite results were known, the UN onthe 21st of April, 1961 said in Resolution 1608 paragraph 5 that before the trusteeship agreement over
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Southern Cameroon was terminated at midnight on 30th September, 1961, there should be a tripartiteconference between Britain the administering authority over Southern Cameroon the non-self governingterritory of Southern Cameroon and the sovereign state of La Republique du Cameroun to draw up atreaty of union embodying the undertakings and understandings made by La Republique du Camerounbefore the UN as to the terms of joining, which Ahidjo had specifically stated that it would be a two-state federation of equal partners. With each partner carrying on in the systems it had been accustomed toand that no time would he use the majority of La Republique du Cameroun to fault the people of Southern Cameroon. This is what was said.The Sun: So what are you after now, a Southern Cameroon state or a federated state of Cameroon?Mola Njoh: Well you know the founding fathers of Southern Cameroons agreed to have theirindependence by joining either Nigeria or La Republique du Cameroun. It seems to me that, that was adefinitive way of getting their self-determination. So I will start from the basis that the founding fathersagreed that they would have their independence by joining. Now independence by joining had beendefined a year before 1961, precisely on the 15th of December, 1960 when the UN a day before said theydid not want colonialism anywhere in the world. Countries like Britain said in some territories we wouldset up an administration, a civil service, a police force and an army.So if the territory is unable to pay for these services and were left abruptly in accordance with theresolution there would be total chaos. The very next day on December 15, 1960 the UN sat again withboth Nigeria and Cameroon as sitting members and said that if a country is unable to stand on its ownfeet, it can attain independence by joining. And in that case it would be deemed to attain independenceand that independence could be achieved in two ways either by association or by integration, but if it isby association the non-self governing territory maintains its constitution, retains its territorial integritybut relates to the sovereign state in areas in which it is deficient like foreign relations, setting of embassies throughout the world, defence or what else have you.But then in accordance with Article 102 of the UN Charter the terms would have been reduced intowriting and filed at the UN secretariat. That is independence by association. In the case of independenceby integration as people casually say, both the non-self governing territory and the sovereign territory itagrees to join share executive, legislative and judicial powers equally. This means to say that if theintegrated unit has one president then that position alternates between the two territories. Similarly if thenumber of delegates to the central legislature is not equal, the small delegates from the non-self governing territory would have a veto power on all legislature.The Sun: Are these assumptions or they were really written down?Mola Njoh: They are recorded. Before I finish this interview, I will give you a copy of resolution 1541of December 15, 1960. When we were still a trust territory and Cameroon had become a member of theUN in September before December and so Cameroon participated and then came the resolution of April21, which the UN said the trust mandate would terminate on September 30. Cameroon infact votedagainst that resolution led by France. So a lot of French territories with the exception of Mali voted thatCameroon should not have independence and join. Probably that is the reason why we are treated assecond class citizens because Cameroon never accepted the decision of the UN. So we were practicallycolonised because when Britain left, Ahidjo moved over his security forces and he has been here eversince.
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The Sun: Yes, they have been here ever since and things have evolved. Some would say that you arecrying over spilled milk because the system is well entrenched that we cannot go backwardsMola Njoh: No! The right to self determination is a continuing right. Every human being the world overhas a right to self-determination. Southern or British Cameroon was a separate territory from LaRepublique du Cameroun. That was the reason why when France granted independence to EastCameroun it did not include us because we were not one country. So, at some point we had to join sothat we could become one country. That joining has never taken place. And La Republic du Camerounrepresented by Mr. Biya is not prepared to talk so as to arrange matters in accordance with theprescriptions of the UN whose territory we were. So either Mr. Biya agrees to talk to negotiate with aterritory that was never part of La Republique du Cameroun which voluntarily agreed to join but on termsput down by the UN. Those terms have not been respected.The Sun: Don’t you think this is like an impossible task asking the president now to come and negotiatewith a territory which you say is a non-self governing territory. If you were in his shoes are you sure youwould do it.Mola Njoh: Well, my answer to that is simply that he is sowing the seeds of discord. You know thatduring the seven-day war, Israel captured not only Jerusalem but also a sizable portion of Palestinianterritory. You see the difficulties which are occurring now. Most of the world has agreed that Israelshould keep its boundaries when it was created, I believe in 1948 or thereabout and surrender theterritory of the Palestinians so that there would be a two-self governing states around.Because of the hesitation of Israel, there has been enormous bloodshed and the ultimate solution wouldbe the setting up of a Palestinian state to live side by side with Israel. This is what is going to happenhere. If Mr Biya is not reading the hand writing on the wall as it is happening elsewhere; if the worldwould not read what is happening in Israel and would only come after Israel has levelled Gaza and toraise money to build Gaza when 1300 Palestinians mainly children and women have been slaughtered, asagainst 13 Israelis because they are armed to the teeth by America; and they can unleash terribleweapons, the world would never accept that at the end. The solution then would be two states.Palestinians would accept to live in their lands and Israel too must respect its boundaries. This is exactlywhat I fear would happen to Cameroon if Mr. Biya does not remedy it. Mr Biya cannot exercise theposition of an imperialist power by annexing a territory which voluntarily accepted to join him on termswhich had been agreed by the world body. It would not work and I say it boldly that the sooner it iscorrected the better.The Sun: Mola you are today like a lone voice in the wilderness. Many of your contemporaries havegone. The few who are around do not seem to embrace your message. Even among the youths of today, Ido not think Southern Cameroons or West Cameroon means anything to them. So this voice might justdisappear in the wilderness soon without having made any significant impact.Mola Njoh: John the Baptist preached in the wilderness. He said come along and be baptised and beconverted from your sins and you know that he was eventually executed. Then came Jesus Christ, he toowas executed but what is happenning today? Church bells never stop ringing early in the morning forprayer meetings. People are dressed up in their best suits going to church. Why? Because althoughchristians were persecuted at the early stage and because the message is true, it has lived through timeand in the end the world has accepted it as being a true message. So, I am not discouraged that mycontemporaries have all gone. It is rather by the grace of God that I have this message to preach that is
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Mola Njoh Litumbe's Interview by The Sun
The Sun: Thank you Mola Litumbe for granting this interview to The SUN newspaper. Of late you have been carrying around what I would call the Southern Cameroons gospel. What effect is the message having?
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