Southern Cameroons

Geography
Southern Cameroons is the territory bounded to the west and north west by
Nigeria, east by La Republique du Cameroun and south by the Atlantic Ocean.People
Population
The population of Southern Cameroons is above five million inhabitants. It must be
stated that it is difficult to say with certainty the exact population of Southern
Cameroons as the Yaounde annexationist regime has adopted a strategy of erasing
the truth and consistently misrepresenting historical facts about the Southern
Cameroons.

In addition to abolishing the state and political institutions that existed,

finance and economic institutions and infrastructures have also been closed to
emphasize the dependent character of Southern Cameroons on La Republique du
Cameroun.

Brief history

The territory of Southern Cameroon has been subjected to different colonial

experiences - she experienced German domination, British domination, and
domination of La Republique du Cameroun.

Southern Cameroons as part of German Kamerun

Between 1885 and 1916, Southern Cameroons was part of German Cameroon (Kamerun).
German Kamerun ceased to be with the end of the World War I and the Peace Treaty
of Versailles that gave birth to the League of Nations.

British Southern Cameroons

As a result of the First World War, which pitched the Germans against the British
and French in Cameroon, the Germans were defeated and ousted from the territory.
As result of German defeat, the British and French attempted a joint
administration of the territory, which failed. Consequently, the territory was
partitioned by both powers. Hence, the British took one-fifth and the French took
four-fifth of the territory. From the nature of the partition, the seed of the
Southern Cameroons problem began, namely, minority problem.

In order to conveniently administer their own portion of Cameroon as a mandate

territory of the League of Nations, the British administered it as an integral
part of Nigeria. To better do this, they further split the territory into Northern
Cameroons and Southern Cameroons. Since the British did not consider the territory
as viable, they did very little as concerns social and economic development of the
territory. This caused particularly Southern Cameroons to be against British
mandate in the territory.

The British first administered Southern Cameroons as part of Southern Province of

Nigeria, whose headquarters was in Lagos and later; under the Eastern Region of
Nigeria, when Nigeria was divided into three regions, namely, Northern, Western
and Eastern. Therefore, Southern Cameroons was administered from Enugu, which was
the headquarters of the Eastern Region. Under the Eastern Region, she suffered
what was known as the Ibo domination. The Ibo established their hegemony over
Southern Cameroons and caused them to be further frustrated by foreign domination.

However, it was during this period that the first parliamentary elections were
organised in the territory to choose representatives to the Eastern Regional House
of Assembly and Federal House in Lagos.

Following discrimination they faced as a minority group in the assembly, they

walked out in protest and declared Benevolent Neutrality in Nigerian politics.

This led to the holding of the first Southern Cameroons Conference in Mamfe in
1953.
This Conference adopted a petition addressed to the United Kingdom Government that
demanded for a separate regional status in conformity with Southern Cameroons’
status as a UN Trust territory. It was from here that Southern Cameroons
nationalism began. This political action yielded the desired results.

When in 1954 Southern Cameroons achieved self-governing status, with Dr EML

Endeley as first Premier, its nationalism took a multi-facet nature. Some of its
leaders thought that this was a progress that was to lead them to regional
autonomy and therefore opted for integration into Nigeria. Some as a result of the
experience they received as a colony under another colony, namely, Nigeria, opted
for independence. Some as a result of nostalgia and influence from French Cameroun
opted for unification with French Cameroun.

Unable to come to a consensus, the UN, which became the supervisory authority of
the former mandate territories, including British Cameroons imposed two options on
them. The options were: whether they would like to achieve independence by
reunifying with French Cameroon which as a result of their independence on January
1st, 1960 became La Republique du Cameroun or integrating with Nigeria which was
already given independence too. Prior to the plebiscite, 1n 1959 Southern
Cameroons organised democratic elections for a third time and effected the first
peaceful and democratic transfer of power in the 20th Century Africa.

In this election, the incumbent Premier Dr E.M.L. Endeley and his ruling party,
the CPNC were defeated and he became leader of the Opposition in the House of
Assembly.

Following the UN organised plebiscite of February 11, 1961, which was organised on
the same day separately for Southern Cameroons and Northern Cameroons, Northern
Cameroons voted for integration into Nigeria and was thus integrated, while
Southern Cameroons voted for unification with French Cameroon and was thus
reunified. This began the story of unification of the two Cameroons united in a
UN-sponsored federation of two states of EQUAL STATUS known as the Federal
Republic of Cameroon in October 1061.

Annexation of Southern Cameroons by La Republique du Cameroun:

The Foumban Constitutional Conference of 1961, which federated Southern Cameroons

with La Republique du Cameroun was not in line with what, the UN had envisaged.
According to the UN such a conference was to involve the governments of Southern
Cameroons, La Republique du Cameroun, United Kingdom as the Administering
Authority, and the UN as the Supervisory Authority. Unfortunately, it was held
without some of these parties like the UN and Britain. Again, there was no accord
signed by the two parties that discussed in Foumban.

However, the Federal Republique of Cameroon that emerged from Foumban Talks, was
made up of two federated states, namely, the State of West Cameroon, made up of
Southern Cameroons, and the State of East Cameroon, made of La Republique du
Cameroun. Thus, the disappearance of Southern Cameroons and La Republique du
Cameroun, which respectively became sub nations of the federation with each
retaining its inherited territory, colonial political and administrative system,
legal, educational, economic and cultural systems.

From 1962 to 1972, the former, the former President of La Republique du Cameroun,
Ahmadou Ahidjo who became the President of the Federal Republic took steps to
annex Southern Cameroons into La Republique du Cameroun. He finally organised on
May 20th, 1972 a referendum, which violated the Talks at Foumban. He abolished the
Federal Constitution and imposed Unitary Constitution. Hence the name of the
country became United Republic of Cameroon. Southern Cameroons lost its autonomous
status it enjoyed under the federal system and became two of the seven provinces
of the Unitary state.

When Paul Biya became President of Cameroon, he completed the annexation by

reverting the name of the country to Republique du Cameroun, the name by which
French Cameroon gained its independence. This led to the emergence of Southern
Cameroon Cameroons liberation movements like the Ambazonia of Fon Gorgi Dinka and
Cameroon Anglophone Movement (CAM) the climax of this was in 1993, when Southern
Cameroons liberation movements and Southern Cameroonians as a whole met in Buea
under the banner of the All Anglophone Conference (AAC I).

Its aim was to come out with Southern Cameroons stand and to press for the
autonomy of Southern Cameroons in a restored federal system. This firm stand is
contained in the Buea Declaration. Another meeting was held in Bamenda (AAC II)
which issued the Bamenda Proclamation. These declarations led to the formation of
the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), which is a political organisation
fighting for the statehood and sovereign independence of Southern Cameroons,
thanks to the intransigence and repressive nature of the Biya regime.

Despite the obstacles placed on the road to the statehood of Southern Cameroons
like, arrest, torture, killings, forcing its nationals into exile, blackmail,
misinformation, counter-acting their action and you can name more, it has been
succeeding. For instance, it has won the admissibility stage of the case deposited
against La Republique du Cameroun in the African Commission on Human and Peoples
Rights in Banjul won a case against Nigeria, which obliged Nigeria to table and
support its bid for independence to the international community and recently, it
has been admitted as anew member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples
Organisation (UNPO) in The Hague.
The Culture

Introduction

Prior to the advent of the white man and colonialism, the territory that today
constitutes Southern Cameroons was not one geo-political entity that could equally
be designated as a cultural entity. It was inhabited by different ethnic groups
with different cultures, traditions and languages. As they differed in origin and
culturally, so did they differ in outlook, aspirations and world view. Nothing
held them together as one people.

The different ethnic groups with different indigenous political systems,

religions, also differed from one another in their occupational activities and
socio-economic development. Thus there was a vast difference between the peoples
of the coastal region and those of the grassland, which difference is not only
visible in art, dance, economic life but also in social organisation and social
relationships.

This means that one can rightly to refer Southern Cameroons as a multi-cultural
and multi-lingual political entity carved by the ambitious colonial masters
without any recourse to the inhabitants. In the carving of their colonial empires
these empire builders mindful of their economic interests fractionalised some
ethnic groups and even families. This greatly contributed to the weakening of
cultural ties and the capacity to resist invasion by the empire builders.

To build up one large political entity the colonial masters had to impose its
political centralising authority from above, undermining the cultural diversity
below. For an understanding of the rich cultural diversity the following ethnic
groups can be identified (from coast to the north).

County Ethnic Groups

Fako Bakweri, Mboko

Meme Bafaw, Bakundo, Balundu, Balong
Kupe Manenguba Bakossi, Mbo, Bassosi
Ndian Ngolo, Batanga, Ekondokondo
Lebialem Banwa, Nweh-Mundam, Wabane
Manyu Banyang, Kenyam, Ejagham, Boki, Ayang, Momo Widikum broken into the Metta,
Menemo, Ngie, Ngwo, Menkas, Mezam Ngemba, Chamba
Menchum Aghem, Jebah,Mnen, Boyo Kom, Bum.
Ngoketunjia Tikar fractionalised into small different language groups.
Bui Nso, Oku, Noni
Donga – Mantung Wimbum, Mfumte, Yamba, Mbembe of Jukunoid.

In summary the Grassland Region is peopled by the Tikar, Widekum Ngemba, Hausa and
Fulani. While the rest are geographically located, the Hausa and Fulani, who are
Moslems by religion, were the late comers into this region and are thus scattered
all over.

Indigenous settings

Like all human societies, irrespective of sophistication and technological

development the different ethnic groups had their manner of organisation, settling
disputes and managing their affairs. All these were greatly influenced by their
backgrounds and environments.

Economic Life:
All without exception, depended on nature and the land to earn a living. In the
coastal region farming, fishing and hunting denominated the life of the
inhabitants. Blessed with abundant fertile soil farm work is not as irksome and
intensive to have a heavy yield. From the forest they had abundant wood to build
their simple houses which were roofed with palm fronts.

In the grassland region with poor fertility the people had to work large expanse
of land to have a reasonable harvest. They also have a large variety of food crops
grown at different times of the year. Primary occupation is farming and hunting
but little fishing for want of large rivers or lakes.

This culture of handwork has been so rewarding to the men and women of the
Grassland region who happen to migrate to the Coastal or Forest region to work in
the plantations. They easily acquired land for food crops production. This has not
only introduced the food dishes of the Grassland or Graffie, this easily made some
of wealthy land owners to the envy of some indigenes.

Social and Political Life:

In the coastal region the ethnic groups established no strong central authority as
is the case in the grassland region. Family elders constituted Council of Elders
that met periodically to resolve matters affecting the inhabitants.

In the Grassland region social and political setting is far more organised. The
Fons and Ta Nfors are the centre of authority. They wield great authority over
their subjects. Before the colonialists they reigned and ruled. The Fon, among his
people, stood as first among equals, and embodiment of the will of his people and
a symbol of unity. As protector of his people, custodian of their customs and
traditions, custodian and ruler over their territory they exercised sort of feudal
and religious power. Though polygamy, which is still practiced, was common, it
was/is mandatory for the Fon to have many wives.

These fashioned a collective psychology of the people and built intimate

solidarity around the traditional ruler of the community. The palace, which
belongs to the entire community was/is a sanctuary to the extent that even in time
of war if an enemy escape into the palace, he automatically regained his freedom,
he could never be pursued, captured and killed.

Religious Life:

The Southern Cameroonian, like the African, is highly religious. He believes and
worships the one supreme being, God, the creator of man, heaven and earth, all the
visible and the invisible. Regarding God to be unreachable directly, so holy, they
worship him through the super natural. They believe in the omnipresence,
omnipotence and omniscience of God so he cannot be confined to catherdrals and
churches.

Ancestors are not worshiped for they do not creat. But since the people fervently
believe in life after death, it is believed the dead, living in the spiritual
realm are closer to the creator so he is called upon to intercede on behalf of the
living. Here ancestors serve as mediators between the Most High and living.
Unfortunately the white missionaries wishing not to learn and understand regard
this as ancestral worship. This is very wrong.
Like modern independent nations each Kingdom was independent and carried out
diplomatic functions with other kingdoms as well as went to war and signed
treaties. Community spirit was very strong and through this, the spirit of
solidarity and loyalty was built.

Individual importance was measured not so much in what he has for himself but in
contribution to the community. Men of valour were recognised as heroes and their
history conserved on music, proverbs and as passed from generation to generation
by word of mouth.

Advent of Colonialism

This territory has passed through the British, the Germans, then the British again
and most unfortunately at independence is now under the yoke of French colonialism
via La Republique du Cameroun.

Through Baptist Missionaries the coastal region came into contact with the whites
before colonial adventurism. British conservatism gave room to the Germans to
establish a protectorate over the area in 1884 and the British had to withdraw
after many years of fruitful contacts. This was at the displeasure of many
inhabitants who had grown to cherish the British ways of life.

Both introduction of Christian religion by the Baptist, the Catholics and Basel
(Presbyterian/Missionaries) and imposition of colonialism was destined to affect
and influence the culture of the inhabitants in all ways possible.

It was British rule, more than that of the Germans, that greatly influenced the
cultural life of the people of Southern Cameroons. Even the name Southern
Cameroons is British. Christian religious values and the introduction of western
education came with values that emphasised individualism as opposed to communalism
(community spirit). While in the traditional setting religious worship is a
community affair with no emphasis on individualism, the Christian religion lays
great emphasis on the individual and his God, his salvation. It also challenges
some values of the indigenous life and religion which were attacked as barbarism
or primitivity, which should be abandoned. While indigenous religion was described
as idol worship, polygamy was condemned. Traditional society abhorred prostitution
and promiscuity.

British colonial administration valued the established indigenous political system

in the grassland. In the coastal region where such established central authority
never existed, they introduced the warrant chiefs. They needed these chiefs to
facilitate cheep labour for construction of roads, public buildings and collection
of taxes. During the struggle for independence the influence of the Traditional
Rulers was very strong and with constitutional evolution the British approved a
House of Chiefs, with consultative powers in 1957 thus like the British House of
Lords, Southern Cameroons had an upper house. This was a clear recognition of the
important role of the Fons and Chiefs.

Within the brief period of self rule Oct. 1954 – Sept. 1961, there was fast
development in all sectors of life. Anglo-Saxon culture flourished as democratic
political institutions took firm roots in national life.

But the treachery of “independence by joining” reversed the clock of progress. The
worst came as from 1972 when French culture, values were imposed with the
abolition of the State Government, House of Assembly and House of Chiefs in Buea.
The traditional rulers are now auxiliaries of the Yaounde administration whose
francophone proconsuls lord it over the traditional rulers. They no longer serve
as the embodiment of the culture and tradition of their people, the Fons and
Chiefs are the agents of the Yaounde dictator against their people.

Conclusion

It is only the restoration of the statehood and sovereign independence of Southern

Cameroons that can reverse the negative situation. French colonialism has badly
affected the Southern Cameroons society both culturally, socially, morally,
economically and politically. Moral bankruptcy, the francophone corrupt culture
implanted by the francophone colonists rigid bureaucracy and the love of leisure,
high consumption of alcohol, copied from the francophone has so negatively ruined
the Southern Cameroons society leaving terrible scars that beg even for a
revolution.

Some of the Fons have become real tyrants and are known to have been responsible
for the death of their subjects simply for opposing the Yaounde regime. But by
tradition a Fon is not supposed to do evil, shed blood, and see a corps. Under the
dispensation of Yaounde annexation and colonial rule and so long as they act to
further the interest of Yaounde annexation and colonial rule they are protected.

Through the culture of brutal repression, the balancoire, the culture of fear has
transformed the people into mere shadows of the indigenous personality. The
clamour for liberation and restoration of statehood and sovereign independence is
to build a vibrant and dynamic culture

Organizations
Political System
As an annexed, colonised and occupied territory, the Southern Cameroons has no
political system that is a true reflection of the legitimate aspirations of the
people. The annexationist Yaounde regime has imposed its rigid centralised system,
which is characteristically insensitive to the feelings of Southern Cameroonians.
To make Southern Cameroons a real colony and an appendage of Yaounde, in 1972 the
Southern Cameroons government was abrogated and the territory was balkanised into
two provinces of La Republique du Cameroun. The two provinces are ruled by two
governors appointed by Presidential Decrees and as representatives of the
President, each is accountable and responsible to him the President. The two
governors, Koumpa Issa, for the North West, and Ejake Mbonda, for the South West,
are all francophone Camerounese.

The imposed administrative system is the Napoleonic Prefectoral system in which

the proconsul wields unlimited powers, is law unto himself. Within his area of
jurisdiction and above his subjects he is an absolute tyrant. He owes his high
position and continuance in that post or rise to a higher post to the absolute
President alone. There is an unwritten but well executed policy in Southern
Cameroons; for the proconsul to demonstrate his loyalty to his mentor and account
for your stewardship brute force must be used to keep the subjects subservient. As
experience has proven it is the most oppressive prefects, governors and uniform
personnels that have earned accelerated promotion and appointments to higher posts
in government.

Southern Cameroons has thus become a land of golden opportunities for the most
oppressive and exploitative francophones; indeed those who slice your throat while
smiling with you. That is what Southern Cameroons has become in the third
millennium.
Although Southern Cameroonians fought hard, lost lives, limbs and enormous
property to bring about multipartism and democracy under which they were nurtured
by the British, with the backing of France, the currently existing two hundred
political parties are not worth more than the paper on which they are registered.
Most of these mushroom political parties are sponsored by the ruling Rassemblement
Democratique du Peuples Camerounaise(RDPC). Southern Cameroonians are fit only for
sinecure posts and this explains why Ni John Fru Ndi, a Cameroonian) of the Social
Democratic Font (SDF) who won the October 1992 Presidential Elections was denied
the right to take over as President of the two Cameroons.

Determined to keep Southern Cameroons a colony of La Republique du Cameroun,

genuine democracy has been blocked by sophisticated rigging mechanism styled
“democratie avancée” to perpetrate Napoleonic dictatorship on a people who
fervently believe in democracy, the rule of law and human freedom. Under the
Yaounde dictatorship, victory for the incumbent President Paul Biya is programmed
and sealed before date of election is announced and voting materials printed. The
duty of the electorate is to confirm the right to remain in power of the
incumbent. The over riding will to protect and reserve supreme French interest by
the francophone political elite who are appointed by Paris to administer the
French oversea territory of French Cameroun has grossly blocked the process of
democratisation. This is a strong evident of incompatibility between the two
Cameroon. While French Cameroun has never known democracy, the Southern Cameroons
developed under constitutional democracy.

Prior to annexation, Southern Cameroons as a trust territory under United Kingdom

administration inherited the Westminster Parliamentary system. Southern Cameroons
became a self-governing trust territory in 1954 under a democratically elected
government led by Dr EML Endeley. With a genuine democratic and constitutional
evolution, in 1957 Southern Cameroons was granted a House of Chiefs, thus like
Britain, Southern Cameroons operated a bicameral legislative system.

In 1959 through free and fair general elections, Premier Endeley led CPNC
government was defeated and he peacefully handed over to the winner, J.N. Foncha
of the KNDP.

This was followed by the adoption of a new constitution, Constitution (Order) in

Council 1960, which was meant to lead Southern Cameroons to independence. But
through international colonial conspiracy, instead of granting complete
independence in conformity with Art. 76(b) of UN Charter and UN Resolution 1514 of
1960, the colonial powers misled the UN to impose “independence by joining” either
Nigeria or La Republique du Cameroun. In addition to imposing this, the UN was led
to adopt two obnoxious questions that denied Southern Cameroons their inalienable
right to self-determination and sovereign independence.

By this colonial manipulation, effective and genuine decolonisation in Southern

Cameroons was postponed. The mission of the Southern Cameroons National Council
(SCNC) is to right the wrongs of yesterday, restore Southern Cameroonians to the
dignity, their natural rights as the legitimate owners and masters of the Southern
Cameroons territory, masters of their destiny by peacefully leading Southern
Cameroons to take her deserved seat within the comity of sovereign nations.

Southern Cameroons is currently a colony of La Republique du Cameroun and in

consideration of the fact that the modern world has banned colonialism just like
it before banned slavery, Southern Cameroonians are legitimately entitled to
international support to oust the coloniser, namely, La Republique du Cameroun.

It was in recognition and defence of the enjoyment of this inalienable right of

all peoples that classical colonialism, foreign domination and the abolition of
apartheid took place.

Southern Cameroons the only UN Trust territory abandoned to its fate has been
annexed, colonised and occupied by La Republique du Cameroun. It is a victim of
classical colonialism and foreign domination and should be decolonised under
international law and international support.

Statistics
Area: 43.000
Population: 6 million
Language: English (official)
Religion: Christian

Crisis in the University of Buea

UNREST, VICTIMISATION, AND UNJUST SUSPENSION OF STUDENT LEADERS IN THE UNIVERSITY

OF BUEA

- The students had complained through their elected representatives to Students'

Council a series of worries which upon examination the union council deemed
justified and summed up into twelve points.

- The students had challenged their students' representatives to help the

situation of no classes as a result of the lecturers strike.

- The students' councilors evoked the need to put the excesses and lapses of the
President UBSU (University of Buea Students' Union) to check.

- The President UBSU Paul Shipuh did not end there. The announcement of the
lecturers strike prompted the students' union president to move around students'
vicinity asking students to go to class while distributing hand-bills with part of
it read "Some misguided students are asking others to join lecturers strike…"
Lecturers are intelligent and mature enough to handle their affairs….."

In effect SYNES UB chapter issued another communiqué which read "some students are
spreading rumours that lectures are going on. They are sell outs to the
administration" This made the Union President to issue out another communiqué
calling our lecturers misguided.

As a result of the unanimous call from democratically elected Students'

Representatives to Union Council Central bureau requesting the prompt arrest of
the aforementioned irregularities and discrepancies, the chairman of Council, on
Wednesday 15th April 2009 summoned an urgent extra-ordinary council session to
hold on Thursday 16th April 2009.
We understand the published agenda -"students' position in respect to lecturers
strike'' posed a real threat to university administration; reason why the Vice –
Chancellor in a statement to the Council Chairman denied any meeting holding
on/off campus on the above agenda.

Consequently Students' Council elected bureau had to revise the agenda to read
"The state of affairs of UBSU" so that Council session actually held. In the said
session, solid resolutions were reached as follows:

- Councilors officially presented and overwhelmingly affirmed collective action

towards a firm articulation of the twelve –point's memorandum.

- Council frown at the deliberate misrepresententation of the Students' Union

position vis-à-vis a matter as sensitive as lecturers strike by paul shipu
President..

- As regards the earlier misdeeds of the President UBSU ( which had before then
earned him a warning letter from Union Council), Councilors generally elected the
suspension of the President's Signature for a week, set up an investigation
Committee to probe allegations.

- Finally Union Councilors elected leaders into some vacant offices as instructed
by the VC to drop areas of electoral irregularities

The Vice-Chancellor, once more, had betrayed himself as Shipuh Paul's protégé. On
Monday 20th April, 2009, the Vice Chancellor arbitrarily and unlawfully suspended
the Chairman of Students' Union Representative Council and appointed the Chief of
Judicial Bench as his own chairman.

It should be noted, the said appointee was co-signatory to the resolution

suspending the signature of the president. We are putting it to the Vice
Chancellor that, there is no precedence to this unconstitutional manipulation;
that the Vice-Chancellor should not be seen to meddle in the management of Union
affairs; that he should never ever be perceived as stepping into the shoes of the
all powerful general assembly of the University of Buea Students' Union. We
therefore reiterate that the suspension of the Chairman of the Union Council is a
non event.

Because Dialogue must prevail before action, On Tuesday 21st April, 2009, SRC
bureau and some councilors went to the VC to seek audience and to dialogue as to
the suspension of the Chairman SRC and to summit the twelve- point's memorandum,
the V C was categorical that he had no ears to listen to the student leaders.

This caused a non-violent strike action, the UBSU President short listed 19
student leaders to the Vice-Chancellor to face disciplinary panel of which one is
a graduate of December 2008 batch and some were not even in town
Due to the militarization of the students campus, the student leaders in a
considerable majority boycotted the said panel.
The disciplinary panel went ahead to indefinitely suspend from the University
Community Students leaders (14) whose crimes was the genuine representation of the
interest of their various constituencies in what has become the twelve-points
memorandum. We take it that this is only a diversion from the students out-cry. It
should be recalled here that according to the University text, a panel will pass a
judgment on students in absentia after it must have held thrice in the student's
absence but it was not the case with the purported suspension of fourteen student
leaders.

It should be recalled that the lecturers Union ( SYNES) whom some lecturers were
part of the panel had written to the University administration to exercise maximum
restraint with regards to all proposed disciplinary sanctions against any group of
students while setting up an independent panel of academic and non academic staff
to probe into the problems and recommend solutions for a lasting peace on campus.

On Wednesday 22nd April, 2009, the Union Council deposited the twelve-point
memorandum at the security post of the central administrative block for the second
time since the Vice-Chancellor had refused to receive the student leaders. The 12
points memorandum includes:

1. The production of draft transcripts, free of charge for students as previously

agreed.

2. The ready provision of Students' answer booklets after exams to ensure

clearance of examinations controversies

3. The enforcement of the prefectoral order for the homologation of rents just as
it is currently done in other universities beginning with the hostel on campus by
the University administration.

4. The address of the so many cases of intimidation and victimization of students

and student's leaders.

5. The timely and defined period for the production of attestations and
certificates.

6. Improvement of security on the university campus most especially in the girls'

hostel.

7.The assistance (financial and material) to students on research work as provided

by the BMP system.

8.That the university administration should re-organize the positioning and

revisit the closure of businesses and photocopiers on campus.

9.Insufficient restaurant tickets and nonfunctioning of campus toilets.

10.The purported decision by the vice chancellor suspending the students' council
chairman and appointing his own chairman is an intrusion into UBSU management and
out of the jurisdiction of the vice chancellor. We therefore call on the VC to
drop such decision. The vote holders are councilors, the chairman only signs on
behalf of council

11.The disciplinary panel put in place to try student leaders who stood for
student's interest be dropped.

12.The university administration should create an avenue for dialogue for students
for total and complete peace to reign on campus.
On Friday the 24th of April 2009, the students went to school to continue their
peaceful strike action but met with about seven trucks of police officers heavily
armed as well as noticed that, they have been suspended indefinitely and banned
from the university campus.

They were chased off and five of the students were arrested right on campus
amongst which one was a student leader, they were beaten, brutalized, masked,
handcuffed and whisked away. One of them Otang Felix, was bleeding profusely as a
result of the beatings. We presently do not know their well about. Currently,
there is a terrible man hunting of the other student leaders. These are a gross
violation of Human rights.

We call on the University community especially the students whose stewards we are,
to dissociate themselves from disciples of the divide- and- rule policy. In this
light, we therefore condemned the unfounded utterances of the Vice –Chancellor and
his errand boy, Shipuh Paul (UBSU President under investigation) to decease from
painting their wrong picture of the yellow party/ red party wrangling. We remind
our students that all those leaders stigmatized as ''election losers'' all
occupied (and still do) high offices of responsibilities within the faculties and
council even prior to the executive election (red and yellow party) in February
2009

We call on Cameroonians of good faith and friends of Cameroon to support us as we

promise to remain steadfast to the students cause until justice is done.

Long live University of Buea students,

Long live UBSU

Signatories (those suspended indefinitely)

Name Position UB Number Level/Programme Signature
Mua Atumked Chief of Bench UB027800 400/EPY
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LIMAN OUMATE MALLOUM IN DETENTION

Detained Rebel Leader Vows To Topple Biya Regime

Friday, May 01, 2009

By Kini Nsom
The self-proclaimed leader of a rebel group, the Movement for the Liberation of
the People of Cameroon, MLPC, Liman Oumate Malloum, currently in detention in
Yaounde has vowed that he will seize power from the Biya regime .

Liman Oumate, who hails from Mayo Sava Division in the Far North Region, was
arrested in Marazaine Hotel in Maiduguri on April 22, in a security ruse mounted
by the President of the National Assembly, Hon. Cavaye Yeguie Djibril and Vice
Prime Minister in charge of Justice, Amadou Ali.

''I will topple this government in two years. Nelson Mandela of South Africa and
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria went to prison before taking over power in their
various countries,'' the rebel leader is quoted to have said after his arrest.

Doctors are said to have examined the man and concluded that he is mentally sound

Liman shot into the limelight last January 23 when he distributed tracts in the
villages along the Cameroon-Nigerian borders, notably Kouyate and Kizi Kerawa in
the Kolafata Sub-division of Mayo Sava Division.

Written in English, the tracts called on the Cameroonian authorities to quit

power. The rebel leader declared that the deadline for him and his forces to take
over power and name a new government was April 30.That dream was thwarted when he
fell into the security dragnet last April 22.

According to L'Oeil Du Sahel, a weekly newspaper published in the North, Hon.

Cavaye and Amadou Ali tricked Liman into the dragnet of security agents when he
asked them to give FCFA 300 million to drop the struggle. The duo used two
middlemen, one Brahim Blama and Bakoura who agreed with the rebel that the money
would be delivered to him on April 22 in Maiduguri.

On April 21, Cavaye and Amadou Ali sent the MP for the area, Hon. Abba Malla to
Maiduguri accompanied by an agent of the secret police in Kolafata and one soldier
with a sealed letter to the Governor of Borno State in Nigeria. In reaction, the
Governor, Ali Sherif Modu, put at their disposal elements of State Security
Services, SSS.

Accompanied by the intermediary, Brahim Blama, the rebel leader was in the
Marazaine Hotel sipping a sweet drink. The people in the company of the SSS
presented to the rebel leader a brief case filled with bread, with some FCFA
banknotes spread on top of it. They invited the man to take a look at his money.

As he stepped away leaving his glass of drink, the Cameroon secret police
reportedly doped his drink. When the rebel leader returned and sipped his drink
once more, he slumped asleep. He was later bundled and packed into a car. Reports
say the security men searched him and did not see even a toy gun on him. All they
are said to have seen was a Cameroonian passport and 1,975 naira that is equal to
FCFA 5,750.

It was, however, reported that Nigeria Security Service along the border raised
another problem near the frontier village of Amichide. They argued that the arrest
violated the Geneva Convention because extradition agreement exists within the two
countries. L'Oeil Du Sahel reported that the argument was finally resolved at
about 8 pm. One of Cavaye's aides gave the elements FCFA 2 million. The rebel
leader was brought to Yaounde.

Source: http://www.thepostw ebedition. com

www.scylforfreedom.org /www.scylforfreedom.org/
Labels: liman oumate malloum