STAKING THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONS CASE ON THE OUTPOST (VICTORIA) BOUGHT BY ALFRED SAKER.

I took a fancy to history and make it a point of delving into the nitty-gritty of issues affecting peoples or nations. Our beloved triangle is one of those issues. So, I develop a hiccup whenever I see its history being wrongly or erroneously presented.

Well, Ntemfac Ofege's views on the nature of Britain's relations with the Alfred Saker post of Victoria are subject to dispute as a wrong presentation of historical facts that might be due to a lack of knowledge of the history of the land, or a distorted presentation of our collective history in a doctored manner. The tracts of land bought or controlled by citizens of  Britain at the coast of what became Kamerun (posts in Douala and Victoria), just like there was a post owned by British nationals in Fernando Po (Malabo), a Spanish territory, never became British protectorates or colonies.   The crown never staked a claim on any part of what is today Cameroon and never considered the posts bought by British nationals or given to them as territory under British sovereignty until after World war One, when the Germans were defeated and Kamerun (excluding Neukamerun that got incorporated into Kamerun as an exchange between Germany and France in 1911 following the Agadir crisis in Morocco when Germany relinquished claims to territories in Morocco to France.) got partitioned; and incidentally, one of the two posts or relinquished real estate of Alfred Saker ( a British national) found itself in British Cameroons, while the other became a part of French Cameroun.

Professor Carlson Anyangwe is not a historian and I have observed some of his historical hiccups that badly affect his credibility on Cameroonian history and his analysis of the forces involved in the struggle for the future New Cameroon. The worst thing we can do is pass over a wrong history to our children, which can make them to fight and kill over a false historical narration. All of us haggling about this issue are on the same side against this evil system, but we risk losing the respect of our friends if we fail to be truthful about our common history.  French and British experts versed with Cameroonian history know that in the 1950s, British Cameroonians and French Camerounians appreciated German rule better for the development it brought and the respect it showed to indigenous customs and traditions.  That nostalgia for German Kamerun spun the KNDP, UPC, OK etc.

Basing any argument on British influence in the area constituting colonial control is wrong. The Portuguese had an influence in the area, whence the name Rio dos Camarroes or Cameroon came from. But Cameroon was never a Portuguese colony. Even the Dutch had their stake here. The missionary Alfred Saker's first stake in Cameroon was in what is today Douala in 1845, before he went to Fernando and then  moved back to the mainland and bought  land from the Bimbia chief and founded Victoria. But he failed to convince the British crown to extend its protection and make the area a part of the British Empire.  Britain's first attempt was through Hewitt, hours after the Kaiser's representative Dr. Gustav Nachtigal had already signed a treaty with the Douala chiefs establishing German stake over what would become Kamerun (excluding Neukamerun). The outpost of Victoria passed over to German control in acknowledgement of that; just like the British lease in an area in Fernando Po came to an end in 1855.



The triangle called Cameroon has had a turbulent history and we have shared joys and grief together to know that this territory was treated after WWI as a conquered German territory and not as a coveted territory like some of us would want to make it look like. The British and the French never forgave Cameroonians for wanting to reunite, an ideal that spelled nostalgia of German Kamerun.


Janvier Tchouteu                                                                 November 03, 2011