Dear ...,
When I wrote in my last email that "Such a prospect of
founding this ‘New Cameroon’ would require honesty, genuineness, and adherence
to historical truths from all the parties.", it was a polite way of saying
that not only do we demand those qualities from the evil establishment, but
equally from those opposing them, even from the Anglophone Cameroonian
nationalists or Southern Cameroons nationalists. However, since we are still
grieving the loss of Anglophone Cameroonian lives, I thought it wasn't
worthwhile exposing the nuances coming from the opposition to the system,
nuances coming from Anglophone Cameroonians in particular.
However, you, brushing aside Sam Esale’s truthful position
stirred me beyond…Well, I am also a slave to historical truths, and I don't
think tolerating historical untruths encourages debates or dialectical
approaches to resolving issues that risk tearing people apart and/or causing
the loss of lives. I am not saying that the untruths were deliberate, though.
Sam is right to say that British Southern Cameroons gained
its independence by reunification(joining) with the former "French Cameroun"
following the 11 February 1961 plebiscite. There was no third option for
independence --- going it alone.
As I said before, Cameroon's case is unique. You mentioned
Quebec, Eritrea, South Sudan, Zanzibar etc., that "Southern Cameroons is
unlike" them. You are right about that, but not "Because of that
plebiscite..." as you also stated. In the case of Quebec and Eritrea, they
were incorporated into British Canada and Ethiopia as "trophies of
war", hence they could or can politely get out (through a plebiscite or
referendum) --- Quebec, or fight their way out---Eritrea. Eritrea did just
that. Britain simply brought South Sudan and Sudan together, two entities that
had no history before as a single entity; and it had to take decades of war and
millions of deaths for the international community to grant a referendum that allowed
South Sudan to go its separate way. And of course, Zanzibar was a British
protectorate (a protectorate which in modern international law, is a dependent
territory that has been granted local autonomy and some independence while
still retaining the sovereignty of a greater sovereign state. The United
Kingdom never granted independence to Zanzibar because it never had sovereignty
over Zanzibar. The UK simply ended the Protectorate and made provision for full
self-government in Zanzibar as an independent country within the Commonwealth.
It was the revolutionary government that came to power a month after Zanzibar's
independence by overthrowing the pro-British monarch that negotiated a union
with Tanganyika, forming a new country called Tanzania. So, Zanzibar could have
stayed independent if it wanted to. Southern Cameroons never had that option.
The case in Africa you could have even compared to British
Southern Cameroon’s was British Somaliland. Somalis, who had never been united
before found their homeland even more divided into three Somali colonial
territories (French Somaliland, Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland.)
during the partition of Africa and the rest as a part of Kenya (North-east
Kenya) and Ethiopia (Ogaden). Italian Somaliland became a British Trust
Territory, like British Cameroons (British Northern Cameroons and British
Southern Cameroons) after World War 2, which Britain administered separately
from its protectorate British Somaliland. The Legislative Council of British
Somaliland passed a resolution in April 1960 requesting independence and union
with the Trust Territory of Somaliland (the former Italian Somaliland), which
was scheduled to gain independence on 1 July 1960. The leaders of British
Somaliland and the former Italian Somaliland met and agreed to form a unitary
state. However, Britain ended its control over British Somaliland five days
before the scheduled unification date, so the territory was briefly independent
as the State of Somaliland before uniting on July 01, 1960, with the Trust
Territory of Somaliland (the former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali
Republic (Somalia).
Curiously enough, following the descent of Somalia into a
failed state following the exit from power of President Siad Barre, the civil
war and the breakdown of the central government, a geopolitical entity emerged
In May 1991, calling itself the “Republic of Somaliland”, and regarding itself as
the successor to the former British Somaliland as well as to the State of
Somaliland (the short-lived independent state of five days). Yet no country or
international organization recognizes it until today. And there are tons of
other nominally independent states that are still unrecognized today who
sacrificed blood to secede from the dominant state they were a part of---Nagorny
Karabakh, Transnistria, Donetsk People’s Republic, Lugansk People’s Republic,
and until 2008 Abkhazia and South Ossetia (That Russia and a few countries
recognized following the Russo-Georgian war) and Kosovo (recognized by many
Western countries), but not by up to half of the world.
In a nutshell, the retarding establishment can only address
the grievances of Cameroonians West of
the Mungo piecemeal. But a true, fundamental, genuine and overall resolution of
Cameroon’s No 1, minority problem is possible only in a New Cameroon, a New
Cameroon that is possible after all the peoples of Cameroon, irrespective of
religion, region, ethnicity or linguistic affiliation join hands and with all
seriousness dismantle this French-imposed system that has kept all Cameroonians
in a cesspool for close to six decades. And truth be told, I think the
Northwest region is the least conscious of that reality as its politicians
confuse the population into continuing the embrace of conflicting forces that
divide the ranks of exponents of change there, making them strike blindly most
of the time so that the formidable energy that the region generates gets
scattered instead of being fully galvanized and channeled to effect cooperation
with other forces of change in Cameroon and in building the broader energy that
can sweep this monstrous system out of power and realize the New Cameroon. We
need to be critical and self-critical; we need to listen to the points of view
of others, be open-minded, start calling a spade a spade and turn our backs
away even from our family members and tribesmen who are helping to sustain the
system in a symbiosis that is leading Cameroon to the abyss. “Long Sense” is
not the way forward. It is anachronistic in the cause to found the “New
Cameroon” because it smells of deception that a rational mind finds
intolerable.
All the best,
Janvier Chouteu
November 28, 2016
Janvier Tchouteu is the author of Triple Agent, Double Cross
Comment from
Re: In Response To The Yang Gang
https://www.postnewsline.com/2005/11/re_in_response_.html
Simonia wrote well until the end of Emergence Of The "Immortal Soul". Beyond that, he got lost from incomprehension, which is a common plague for those who haggle over the kamerunian problem with blinding emotions and a one-track mind over our history.
It is difficult to be a kamerunian union nationalist, someone who cherishes the kamerunian soul, the best component of the land, which is its people(their heart, hopes and dreams) and its physical beauty, without becoming despondent over the divisive actions and or utterances of the confused and one-sided who are the custodians of the anachronistic French-imposed system or who unconsciously act as agents for its survival through actions and utterances that divide the true exponents of change.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3373255.stm
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/075411967X/ref=sib_dp_bod_ex/104-4447576-0005520?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S00A#reader-page
A union nationalist sees the inherent beauty of kamerun-its strengths, opportunities, hopes, dreams and uses those to confront its weaknesses and threats that are haunting the nation through the politics fostered by the outdated system.
http://www.icicemac.com/nouvelle/index.php3?nid=3350
http://www.postnewsline.com/2005/04/strongun_body_p_1.html
It is an insight into kamerun's inherent beauty that is going to save our potentially great nation and not excuses over its deplorable past and present. It is that insight which will liberate us and not the myths that only stand to suffocate and paralyze us each time the true exponents of change confront the system.
Simonia initially appeared as a union nationalist, but later posed as a politically confused and one-sided individual who basically sides with the system that has been in control since 1958.
http://www.postnewsline.com/2004/11/strongscyl_invi.html
In my extensive travel through kamerun, it is the kamerun soul that nourishes my aspirations for the land, the beauty of the entire land, the different people I met, the twinkles of the eyes even before the mentioning of politics. Still, understanding their fears, pains and anguish; hopes and dreams made a genuine soul to understand them further. The vast majority of our people cannot afford hating. Despite their plight from the consequences of this system, the vast majority musters anger and not hatred.
It is anger from a wrong that gives the zeal to make corrections and implement a right (the reflection of their hearts, hopes, dreams. That is the future for kamerun and that is how the leaders of the post-independence generations should start thinking if we want change for our potentially great land.
I decided to take a long break from the public, but it is difficult to do so when agonizing and grappling everyday with the task of the struggle for the future kamerun has been the major preoccupation of my mind for more than half of my life.
The comments of those who object to Simonia are equally not credible because they distort the kamerunian reality and nurture hatred instead of anger that we need, in order to change the system so that our people can have an optimally better tomorrow.