THE MYTH OF THE SO-CALLED NORTH WEST/SOUTH WEST DIVIDE
The Southern Cameroons / Ambazonia, owing her existence as an internationally recognized territory to the Ambas Bay Settlement of 1858, and later on as a British Protectorate in 1884, is a territory with a proud and long history. Though under de facto colonial administration, Southern Cameroonians are a proud and unique people, who have maintained their national identity for more than a century now, going back to the division of the defunct German Kamerun into French Cameroon, and the Britsih Cameroons. The devious and incessant attempts therefore to create division between Southern Cameroonians in the coastal areas and those in the hinterlands under the guise of a fictitious NW/SW divide and conquer strategy by genocidal Cameroon is bound to fail. Historically, The Ambas Bay, as well as the inheritor territory of the Cameroons have been a contagious territory with strong affinity between the peoples of the coastal areas and their brothers and sisters in the hinterlands. This affinity is characterized by age old economic, cultural and social links between its peoples. So a little bit of historical perspective as you will see here will debunk the artificial divide and rule tactics attempted by the occupying government of Yaounde, when they initially created the so-called North West and South West Provinces in 1972, following the illegal dissolution of the state of West Cameroon in 1972.
Historically, the Southern Cameroons was administered as a single entity from 1922 by the British, though the territory was administrative run as an unattached area of the Eastern Nigeria region, with its capital at Enugu. This unique history led to a sense of national identity and cohesion, which in turn enabled the preservation of the territory’s political outlook. Initially, the Southern Cameroons was divided into four Divisions: Victoria, Mamfe, Kumba and Bamenda. A subsequent addition was the Bamenda Division, which was further split into three: Bamenda, Wum and Nkambe. The divisions were headed by District Officers (DOs) and were assisted by the Assistant District Officers. Under them were the traditional rulers who served as district heads. It’s therefore evident that there was never a NW/SW concept or split in the polity of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia, as these administrative regions or divisions were in place up to 1972 when French Cameroon illegally dissolved them, and split the territory into two political units based on a devious divide and rule logic.
Throughout her political history, until the illegal abolition of the state of the Southern Cameroons in 1972, our people had always felt, and acted as a single political unit, and we always saw ourselves as one people with the same aspirations. This was also true because culturally, there was no clear divide between the peoples of say the Manyu areas and those of the MOMO areas, who were neither purely coastal nor grass field peoples, but found themselves divided and considered as South West and North West peoples respectively. Meanwhile the first indigenous political party ever formed in the Southern Cameroons, after holding the Mamfe Constitutional Conference in 1953, the Kamerun National Congress (KNC) led by E. M. L. Endeley, was formed based on national considerations and not regional ones, with its main aim to seek a recognised status for Southern Cameroons as separate entity. Again, by 1954, under the Lyttleton Constitution, Southern Cameroons was granted a Quasi Regional Status with a reasonable degree of autonomy as a single political unit with Dr E. M. L. Endeley as the Leader of Government Business. And even when the Southern Cameroons finally gained statehood and independence in 1961, it did so as a single political unit, with six divisions as administrative units.
It must also be noted that as far back as 1940, when Southern Cameroons politicians petitioned the non-representation of the Southern Cameroons in the Legislative Council in Lagos, they did so as a single political unit, and not based on any regional basis. As a result of this petition, the British administration granted the request in principle in 1940, and in 1942 it was formally granted with the appointment of Chief Manga Williams as the Southern Cameroons representative. This act was an unambiguous message to the British/Nigerian authorities that the Southern Cameroonians were politically conscious and united enough to pursue that political goals as a unified people, irrespective of which administrative division they hailed from. Another petition that was done by a unified Southern Cameroons leadership, and as a single cohesive political unit addressed to the British administration came after the Mamfe Constitutional Conference of May 22–24, 1953, one that reiterated the desire of the Southern Cameroons for separation from Nigeria. Again, at the London Constitutional Conference, held in July and August 1953. Dr. Endeley, J. C. Kangsen and S. A. George, hailing from different areas of the territory, assumed the position of “Benevolent Neutrals” as they jointly appealed for self government for the territory as a single coherent political unit, irrespective of their divisions of origin.
Its therefore paramount for us to know that the current political division of the Southern Cameroons – Ambazonia into the North West and South West Provinces, and subsequently into North West and South West regions was a creation of French Cameroun after the territory was recolonized and annexed in 1972, and was done as a deliberate attempt to divide our people so that we could be subjugated, exploited and dominated. It’s no surprise therefore that the occupier government of Cameroon has for the past 50 yrs spared no effort to sow seeds of division, mistrust and strive amongst the great peoples of the Southern Cameroons – Ambazonia who historically have a common history and political outlook, irrespective of the areas of origin. As a further testimony to the political unity and cohesion of the Southern Cameroons polity, all major political movements in Ambazonia, even all through the period of occupation, have been based not national, and not regional considerations. In 1993, when all the major political, intellectual, and cultural leaders met in Buea to review the political situation of our people, they did so as one political unit, coming from all areas of the territory in what was called the All Anglophone Conference I (AAC1). On the heels of this great historical conference, the Southern Cameroons leaders met again in Bamenda in 1994 in the All Anglophone Conference II (AAC2) to demonstrate to the world their political unity, and to prove that when it comes to our common aspirations as a people and our territory, we’re totally United in spirit and in practice, the unholy machination of the enemy to divide, balkanize and frustrate us notwithstanding.
It must also be noted that even when the current phase of our struggle erupted in 2016, all the trade unionist and political movements, from the Lawyers Unions, Teachers Unions, Civil Society organizations, and finally the CONSORTIUM were all founded on National lines, and not on regional line. We therefore call on all Southern Cameroonians/Ambazonians to remember their history, and to recognize that we started off in 1858 as a single political unit, and have evolved through the period of colonial subjugation, our struggles for independence under UN/British Trusteeship, the period of political domination by Nigeria, and now the period under occupation by French Cameroun as a proud and unified people. All attempts therefore by French Cameroun to try to divide and pit us against one another based on the artificial division of our state into so-called North West and South West entities are bound to fail. Based on our long and proud history, we’ll continue to fight for the liberation and freedom of our homeland as a single political entity, conscious of our history, and shunning all attempts by the enemy to divide us along artificial lines they created when they annexed and occupied our country in 1972.
