SEC. MARTIN MUNGWA: PRESS RELEASE ON PURPORTED CEASE FIRE

Tuesday, December 20th 2022 Ref: DCOMIT/12/20/22-2

Office: SEC. MARTIN MUNGWA PHD, F.ASCE

PURPORTED CEASEFIRE IN THE ONGOING WAR THE LOFTY WISHES OF LRC.

Dear Ambazonians and the International Community:

Once again, on behalf of your Interim Government, we would like to extend a 21-Gun Salute to our great Ambazonia Restoration Forces in the Home Front for their bravery and high sacrifices to earn FREEDOM for the indigenous People of the former British Southern Cameroons, under military occupation by French Cameroon and her protégé France and other conspirators since October 1st, 1961. We praise you – the ARF - for upholding and protecting the Interim Constitution of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. We greatly honor those who are putting their precious lives on the line to protect Ambazonians from LRC state-orchestrated terrorism.

Recently, there are reports of a ceasefire agreement signed by the government of the Genocidal Republic of Cameroun and certain Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia Liberation Movements in Quebec. This comes in the heels of talks earlier this year by low level LRC government officials and certain renegade, Pan-Cameroun cum resistance movements. We, in the Interim Government consider this announcement irrelevant and inconsequential. The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia once more calls on the Biya regime in French Cameroun to formally adopt deliberately transparent procedures to bring legitimacy to its procedures, compliant with international norms.

As LRC accelerates its onslaught on our people burning homes, for example recently in Bai Panya, Mbonge LGA of Meme County and killing innocent people, everyone knows that the current phase of the armed struggle is a self-defensive response to the sustained violence and brutality unleashed on Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia protesters on September 22nd, 2017 and October 1st, 2017.

When Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC) launched the armed struggle on 16 December 1961, it was a direct response to the brutality and violence of the Apartheid South African government towards anti-Apartheid activists and civilians alike. Consequently, in 1960 after the Sharpeville massacre and the banning of liberation organizations, many more ANC and SACP members were convinced that the time had come to rethink the approach towards the struggle and move from ‘passive resistance’ to an ‘armed struggle’.

Fellow Ambazonians, The same thing happened during the September 22nd and October 1st 2017 massacres of hundreds of Ambazonians by Cameroon helicopter gunships purchased from the sale of Ambazonian crude oil. By violently attacking peaceful demonstrators holding peace plants, in spite of the longstanding non-violent position of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), and the subsequent banning of the Consortium like the SCNC, the Biya government in Cameroun has proved to us that non-violent peaceful means are not enough to force an end to the occupation of our country Ambazonia. So those treacherous and non-consequential movements that might have signed the so-called ceasefire are wrong, and we’ll state a number of reasons why we think they’re on the wrong track.

1) Rejection of Peaceful Overtures: For a long time, and since the illegal annexation and occupation of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia by Cameroun forces since 1972, our people have sought out engagement and peaceful measures to make our demands heard, yet up until 2017, all our efforts have been met with a violent response at every point, culminating in the massacres of hundreds of our people on September 22nd and October 1st . As Nelson Mandela said in 1961 just before the launch of the ANC, it will be immoral and wrong for anyone to expect oppressed people facing such a genocidal and brutal occupation to depend on peaceful non-violent means. And as he so clearly stated, at some point, you can only fight fire with fire. It’s therefore inconceivable that some people are advocating for such now when LR Soldiers are still in occupation of our territory and continue to brutalize, murder and humiliate our peoples on a daily basis.

2) Our Fundamental Right to Self-Defense exceeds the power of LRC: Since the annexation, all efforts towards a peaceful end to the occupation of our country only led to a full-blown war being declared on the peoples of the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia by the President Paul Biya of LRC. Tens of thousands of our people have been killed, and hundreds of villages burnt down. The road network in Bamenda has been dug up and destroyed in the same manner that France destroys infrastructure when exiting an African country.

If the Ukrainian People have a fundamental right to Self-Defense in the face of the Russian invasion, so does the Southern Cameroons People. We must continue fighting to defend our people, our land and property from a belligerent aggressor. The right to Self Defense and ultimately self-determination is enshrined in the United Nations Charter and the African Union Charters, so our people are within their rights to continue and even intensify the armed struggle until the attacks come to a stop, and their lives and properties secured.

3) Maintaining the Pressure on the Occupying Forces: Since the annexation and occupation of our country that started in 1972 following the gradual erosion of the 1961 Federal Constitution that guaranteed a Confederation of two equal states, the peoples of the Southern Cameroons have engaged in various forms of protests and resistance, mostly peaceful as a form of pressure on the occupier state. This armed struggle is just another form of maintaining pressure on the Biya regime until they irrevocably commit to a withdrawal of their forces from our territory. This is the proven mechanism to effect decolonization of our country.

4) Backing up our Diplomatic Efforts: Another reason why the armed struggle for the liberation of the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia must be maintained and even intensified is to support our diplomatic efforts and our advocacy. Only a determined armed resistance on the ground will convince the international community that we’re serious, and ready to fight and die for what we stand for, which is the Unconditional Restoration of our Independence and Sovereignty within secure international boundaries as guaranteed by several international treaties going back to the Anglo-German Treaty of 1913, and the Versailles Treaty of 1919.

No country or the international community for that matter will take us seriously if we’re unwilling to fight for our complete liberation and freedom. That’s why for the past 5 years, the Ambazonia Restoration Forces (ARF) under the able leadership of the Interim Government led by Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako, has engaged the occupation forces non-stop, and is ready to pursue the armed struggle in combination with Diplomacy and other forms of advocacy until our objectives are met.

5) LRC’s attempts to split the Resistance must fail: Infiltrating, dividing and splitting the Ambazonian resistance has been a main goal of LRC in their attempts to defeat us militarily. Rather than engage with the legitimate government of the peoples of the Southern Cameroons led by Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako, as willed by the Internation Community and notably the bipartisan United States Senate Resolution 684, the Cameroun government finds it convenient to create and engage splinter groups with no following on the ground, or even significant fighters to give the international community the impression that the Ambazonian Resistance is split, with a majority in favor of a ceasefire, while insinuating that the struggle is losing popular support and coming to an end. That’s why the Interim Government is standing firm, to let the world know that the majority of Southern Cameroons Ambazonians supports both the Interim Government and the armed resistance. Hence Ambazonians are ready to fight on until there are international guarantees and the proper arrangements for a durable ceasefire that does not contradict our long-term strategic goals.

6) Our Core Objectives must be met before a Ceasefire: Those elements within the Ambazonian resistance pushing for a ceasefire now, must have ulterior motives in mind other than achieving the total and unconditional liberation of our country, or else they’ll not be asking for such, when there’s no clear commitment from occupier LRC towards total withdrawal and ultimate recognition of our Independence and Sovereignty. Such a ceasefire, as a precursor to any meaningful negotiations to end the conflict, must be guaranteed by guarantors from the international community.

We demand, a complete withdrawal of Cameroun forces and administration from our territory, a peace keeping force and a buffer zone created to protect our people from attacks from the genocidal forces of Cameroon. Therefore, we must continue to remember that we knowingly engaged in a resistance war, with clear thinking behind that decision. That’s why we must be very cautious with any spurious offers from the enemy.

All Southern Cameroonians/Ambazonians are reminded to stay focused and resolute, and to continue to stand by the Interim Government led by Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako, and to remember that the armed struggle is being maintained for clear political and strategic objectives, including as a means to maintain ground pressure, and increase the cost of occupation for the enemy while a diplomatic solution is pursued. Only when it’s clear to us that such a ceasefire agreement serves our overall liberation goals, and that it is being implemented with international guarantees for the safety and security of our populations, will the IG seriously consider such a decision, and after due consultations with our people and relevant stakeholders.

Short Live the Revolution

Long Live the Federal Republic of Ambazonia

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