THE UNACCEPTABLE FACE OF FEDERATION WITH FRENCH CAMEROUN

Fellow Ambazonians and the International Community,

The indigenes of the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) have endured the bloodshed, repression, deceit and inhumanity of the LRC since 1961. The People of Ambazonia reached their limit of endurance on 30 November 2017 when Mr. Paul Biya declared to crush us militarily in 2 weeks, so he thought.

Yaounde has demonstrated, bragged, and admitted like an unrepentant sinner its efforts to annex the former Southern Cameroons in international forums. French Cameroun destroyed our Federation 1.0 on 20th May 1972 and in that process violated Article 47 of the then federal constitution and several admissions to the UN General Assembly in 1961. The motivation of LRC is threefold:

  1. to destroy the regional autonomy of the Southern Cameroons in order to control us from Yaoundé,
  2. to control all our mineral resources and actually share the revenue on a 50/50 basis with her master France,
  3. to force our proud country to give up her Anglo-Saxon inheritance that our parents snatched from our colonial and trusteeship master Great Britain in exchange for French at gun-point.

These are indisputable facts on the record backed by the actions, deeds and omissions of France and her treaty apprentice LRC.

Your Interim Government led by Dr Samuel Ikome Sako and his cabinet believe in restoring the sovereign and free statehood of Southern Cameroons Ambazonia compliant with the United Nations Charter. Our country Ambazonia is 16,500 square miles before we can even start reclaiming more land area from the bays of the mighty Atlantic Ocean. Our country is bigger than Denmark, Belgium and more than 60 other member countries of the United Nations Organization. Ambazonia by land area is the 131st largest out of 195 members of the United Nations.

Fellow Ambazonians, I want you to understand basic facts and proceed on facts, not bad politics, because only the truth can save us. We are at this juncture because the United Nations enabled process in Resolution 1608 of 1961 to gain independence by joining LRC in a federation of equals has completely failed. Then the leader of LRC Paul Biya declared war on us in November 2017 from an airport in his country in response to our firm demands for administrative reforms, respect for our colonial heritage as a people, greater freedoms, free and fair elections. The dictator sent tanks into our territory to brutalize us and deny by propaganda to the outside world. The action was unforgivable, and the consequences have been death and destruction of property, mostly captured on camera and satellite imagery.

At this juncture, we have two things going for our people. The Ambazonian Restoration Forces are the spear of the nation and your Interim Government champions diplomacy at international level. Ambazonia is part of the western hemisphere under the indisputable leadership of the United States of America. Your Interim Government, the Governments of France and Cameroon Lobby the lawmakers in Washington DC at all times. Yet in the United States bipartisan Senate Resolution 684, lawmakers in the US examined our matter in the fairest manner possible and concluded by calling for a mediated dialogue to end the conflict. This is the only logical path to establish justice and peace.

The Interim Government of Ambazonia and its nationalist colleagues have been waiting for LRC in Geneva for 2 years counting. Our aim is to resolve a sovereignty conflict in a failed federation once and for all times. We of Ambazonia seek no future conflicts in the Gulf of Guinea. Our objective is a peaceful coexistence with our neighbors and to pursue economic development in peace and harmony.

The danger of re-federation with LRC

It has come to our attention that LRC is now attempting to create its own interim government of Ambazonia and to use it to fake a 10-state federation. Let me point out to our people that Ambazonia is not LRC in many respects. Let us look at some of the key unbridgeable differences here.

  1. Language: LRC is French speaking by colonial heritage and Treaty with France. The LRC President addresses English speaking Commonwealth Delegations in French. The Army speaks French. All English language texts in the national currency have been deleted in recent years. LRC does not represent the national and international personalities of Ambazonia.

On the other-hand, Ambazonia is officially English speaking and naturally part of the Commonwealth of Nations. The English language a logical choice in view of our colonial heritage and the importance of the English language in science, engineering, and technology, all of which we must master to build up our country.

  1. Neocolonialism: Under the December 26, 1959, Treaty executed between President Charles de Gaulle for France and President Ahmadu Ahidjo for LRC, LRC ceded her sovereignty in decision making on matters of culture, society, education curriculum, politics, and the economy to France. Furthermore in an annex to the dreadful treaty in November 1961, LRC ceded to the Ambassador of France in Yaoundé, the right to order foreign troops into the country when their president is unavailable to serve. So, in LRC, parliament, the Senate and Cabinet are rated less than the Ambassador of France.

On the other hand, we in Ambazonia believe in a parliamentary democracy and had the first elections in late 1953. These elections led the Colonial Secretary of the British administration Oliver Lyttleton to pick Dr EML Endeley to form a government in Buea in 1954. We also believe in a judiciary that is free of the executive. In LRC, the president is the Chief Magistrate and justice is determined on cellphones and not by the trial of facts in the courtroom!

  1. Economy: This is the heart of the matter. We are mandated to trade as an independent country and to use the profit to improve our society. In LRC, the revenue arising from all exports (be it minerals, petroleum, cocoa, coffee, millet or whatsoever) is shared 50/50 with France according to the 1959 treaty.

Further evidence is in a 2011 World Bank Report on oil revenues. The World Bank said 54% of oil revenue was looted. As you see fellow Ambazonians, the actual amount looted is 4% by LRC politicians. France pocketed 50%. This amounts to trillions of FCFA per year or billions of dollars. It is simply sickening to imagine that France loots money from a poor country lacking in every arena of development and where cholera is rampant.

Ambazonia, under your Interim Government wants nothing but complete restoration of her 1961 Independence and to leave LRC to continue sleeping with France. LRC are a separate people, and we respect their decisions. The limit of the endurance of the People of Southern Cameroons was reached on November 30, 2017, when Dictator Paul Biya declared war on us. Not surprisingly, there has been no mass uprising in Mr. Biya’s country to end this bloodshed. Our losses in Ambazonia are incalculable. Our people say the first fool is not a fool. The second fool is worse than a goat. We of Ambazonia are Lions.

Long live Ambazonian People

Short live the revolution