CEDED AT DAWN - The Aborted Decolonization of the UN Trust Territory of British Southern Cameroons

Augustine Ndangam

Description

Ceded at Dawn identifies and examines decolonization as the principal source of the smoldering tension that persisted between the two former United Nations Trust Territories in Cameroon which finally exploded into an armed conflict in 2017. French Cameroon (now the Republic of Cameroon) was decolonized while the decolonization of British Cameroons was abandoned unfinished. The international experiment on independence by joining was an exceptional route selected for the decolonization of British Southern Cameroons and was defended with the untenable arguments that British Southern Cameroons was too small and too poor to be granted sovereign independence. Both British Southern Cameroons and French Cameroon rejected independence by joining – the latter registering her objection in a “No” vote at the General Assembly meeting in April 1961. In British Southern Cameroons on the other hand, the suppression of bilateral agreement on confederation of states of equal status, the nullification of their self-governing status and worst of all the wrongful transfer of that self-governing state to the Republic of Cameroon on no known terms became a complete recipe for a disaster awaiting outburst and eruption. Ceded at Dawn documents and methodically analyzes these developments using archival and recently declassified British colonial sources. Historians, diplomats, political scientists, scholars of the UN system and international law as well experts on decolonization will find this volume it very illuminating.

Sujets

• Political Science
• History
• African Studies
• Camerún Meridional
• Organización de las Naciones Unidas
• Ambazonia
• HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
• Decolonization
• United Nations
• Cameroon
• Organisation des Nations unies

Informations

• Publié par: Jude
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781942876533
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 9 Mo

Extrait

CEDED AT DAWN

Ceded at Dawn

he Aborted Decolonization of tHe UN Trust Territory of BritisH SoutHern Cameroons

Augustine Ndangam

Spears Media Press Denver, Colorado

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Dedicated to Gilbert, Julius and Clarence And to their elder sister Ma Marie Tita, star of the family All of whom tided me over



“There can be no justiIcation of injustice”

His Excellency, the High Commissioner of the British Southern Cameroon, Sir James Robertson in his farewell address to the people of the British Southern Cameroons on Wednesday 13th September 1961 in Buea. Published by the Gov- ernment Press Buea in House of Assembly Debates (Oïcial Report).

Chapter 1

PART II: HEADS I WIN, TAILS YOU LOSE

Illustrations Foreword Introduction

ix xi xiii

PART I: IN THE NAME OF DECOLONIZATION

XV

Chapter 2

British Cameroons is Dismembered 1 The Road Map is Changed 6 Dierent Categories of Independence 7 Inconsistencies and Violations of the Charter 8 “Independence by Joining” is Conceived 9 The Red Line which Anglophones in Cameroon Must Never Cross 15 British Southern Cameroons is Obliterated and Extinguished 16 Decolonization is Aborted and Abandoned 17

vîî

Contents

Plebiscite on Independence: A Cosmetic Exercise in Democracy 21 On the Horns of a Dilemma, the UK Discards the Expendable 23 Absence of the UN 24 Clandestine Dealings between Britain and Ahidjo: Transfer of Southern Cameroons 25 The UK and Ex-Service Men of the British Crown 28 Independence by Joining: Cold Shoulder and Veto 31 UN (GA) Resolution 1608 XV 36

19

Chapter 3

Concluding ReLections  God Saw Goodness in Separation  “Is this Los Angeles?” 82  Flowers that Bloom in Paradise 83

PART IV: DETERMINED TO BE FREE

1

8

Chapter 4

The Aftermath of Ceding 71 Perspectives of the Conict 75 Fuel on the Fire: The Church dances Crabwise 76

PART III: VIRTUALLY AT WAR THROUGHOUT

Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4

85 89 97 98

69

vîîî

Truth: The First Casualty of the War 45 The Statehood of the Southern Cameroons UN Trust Territories 45 Independence or Re-uniîcation 46 Two Views on the Annexation of the Southern Cameroons 53 Cameroon’s Odd Revolution: Ahidjo’s Coup 58 The Catapult Revolution60 Strike by Common Law Lawyers and Teachers 66

43

FIGURES

Illustrations

FIGURE 2.1. Dag Hammarskjold, 1905 – 1961, Secretary General of the  United Nations 1953 – 1961 33 FIGURE 3.1. Map of the Southern Cameroons showing the territory’s  international boundaries 47 FIGURE 3.2. The Hon Dr. E.M.L Endeley, OBE, First Prime Minister of  the Southern Cameroons 48 FIGURE 3.3. Parliamentary session in the Southern Cameroons House of  Assembly in Buea 48 FIGURE 3.4. Mr. John Ngu Foncha, Second Prime Minister of the  Southern Cameroons inspecting a Guard of Honour in Buea,  Southern Cameroons 49 FIGURE3.5. Ahmadou Ahidjo, President of Cameroon (1960-1982) 59 FIGURE3.6. Catapult improvised by Southern Cameroons youths 60 FIGURE3.7. Atanga Nji Paul, Cameroon Minister of Territorial Admin  istration 61 FIGURE 3.8. Mancho Bibixy, leader in the coïn revolution 62 FIGURE 3.9. Prime Minister Augustine N. Jua, third from left, was later  replaced by Mr. S.T. Muna, îrst from left. 64 FIGURE673.10. Press coverage of the slaughter on 1st October 2017,

TABLES

Table 1.1. UN Trust Territories and Self–determination 2 Table 2.1. The score board county by county of the 1961 UN plebiscite in  Southern Cameroons 37

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