Anglophone nationalism in Cameroon

Anglophone nationalism in Cameroon is a nationalist movement in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, which advocates for greater autonomy for those regions, if not outright independence. Anglophone nationalism also seeks to preserve and promote English-speaking Cameroon's specific and distinctive identity and values : its legal, administrative, educational and cultural institutions inherited from British colonialism.
Rise of Anglophone nationalism in Cameroon
On 1 September 1961, the Franco-Cameroonian parliament voted in favour of the new constitution. It was essentially the version for the Foumban conference, drafted beforehand by Ahidjo and his French advisers. To be binding under international law, it should also have been voted on by the parliament of the Southern Cameroons. This did not happen.
The absence of intergovernmental agreement and compromise is cited by pro-independence representatives of Ambazonia as a key feature of the illegality of the union. Another concern mentioned is that the federal constitution gives the impression that former French Cameroon has taken over Southern Cameroons. To achieve this, it chooses the detour of the federation form.
The French president at the time, Georges Pompidou, referred to Southern Cameroons as a small gift from the Queen of England to France. Contrary to the United Nations General Assembly's binding resolution 1514 (XV) of December 14, 1960, on the granting of independence to all colonial peoples and countries, Britain transferred Southern Cameroons to the sovereignty of a foreign country, French Cameroon, and not to the government of Southern Cameroons, as required by international law. On September 30, British administrators left Cameroon and the French government. On September 30, the British administrators left the Southern Cameroons. The next day, the French-Cameroonian army crossed the border. They disarmed the armed police in Southern Cameroons. It is described as a seizure of power by force. A Franco-Cameroonian official was appointed to the position of Governor General of Southern Cameroons. His official title was Federal Inspector of Administration. He reported directly to the President of French Cameroon. A series of other Franco-Cameroonian officials followed, including later his police force, which literally took over Southern Cameroons.
In a memorandum dated March 20, 1985, the Anglophone lawyer and president of the Cameroonian Bar Association, Fongum Gorji Dinka, wrote that Biya's government was unconstitutional and announced that the former Southern Cameroons should become independent as the Republic of Ambazonia. Dinka was imprisoned the following January without trial and thus became a "martyr" to the separatist cause. The name Ambazonia was used to refer to the country's independence. The name Ambazonia was used in 1984 by Fon Gorji-Dinka (leader of the Ambazonia advocacy group), when the parliament and government of the Republic of Cameroon changed the name of the country from the "United Republic of Cameroon" to the "Republic of Cameroon", based on the name of the pre-reunification French-speaking Cameroon, the "Republique du Cameroun". For some, including Gorji-Dinka, Bernard Fonlon and Carlson Anyangwe, especially in the former British Cameroons, this meant the dissolution of the personal union of 1961. It was in this sense that from 1984 onwards, Ambazonia was declared as an intervention by the people of Southern Cameroon to restore the statehood of the former British territory of Southern Cameroon, which Ambazonia saw not as a fait accompli of a single Cameroonian state, but as an opportunity to engage the two states in a "constitutional review" of their relations after 1984. The Gorji-Dinka group believed that "by operation of law" there should be equal participation of the two states that formed the defunct federation in a new vision of relations between their countries (the Republic of Cameroon and Southern Cameroon). In the document, called the "New Social Order", Ambazonia's proposal for the Confederation of Independent Cameroon-Ambazonia Nations (CACIN) was summarily rejected by the Republic of Cameroon. Instead, the leader of the Ambazonia Restoration Council (ARC), Fon Gorji-Dinka, was arrested and tried for treason for demanding the continued sovereignty of "Southern Cameroonians" in the Republic of Ambazonia.
In 1992, Fongum Gorji Dinka, on behalf of the State of the Republic of Ambazonia, filed a lawsuit against the Republic of Cameroon and President Paul Biya on the main charge of illegal and forced occupation of the Republic of Cameroon since the dissolution of the United Republic of Cameroon in 1984 and the declaration of the Republic of Ambazonia. This trial was registered in the High Court of Bamenda, in the northwestern region of Cameroon, under number HCB28/92. There are conflicting reports on the outcome of this case.
In 1994, John Ngu Foncha and Salomon Tandeng Muna, both former prime ministers of Western Cameroon, returned to the United Nations in New York and called for autonomy for English-speaking Cameroon. The mission to the UN preceded the All Anglophone Conference (AAC I) held in Buea, which brought together all the citizens of Anglophone Cameroon who unanimously called for the restoration of statehood to Western Cameroon.11 A second Anglophone Conference (AAC II) was held in Buea in November 2007. A second Anglophone conference (AAC II) was held in Bamenda, where the decisions of AAC I were reiterated and French Cameroon was given "reasonable time" to accept a return to the federation of the two states, failing which the people of English-speaking Cameroon would have no choice but to restore their statehood and independence. However, the implementation of the AAC-I and AAC-II was paralyzed by the brutal arrests and imprisonment of AAC leaders and the flight into exile of several others.
In 2005, the Republic of Ambazonia became a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), which was renewed in 2018.13 In a 2005 ruling by the United Nations Court of Human Rights, the Republic of Ambazonia was declared a member of UNPO. In a 2005 ruling by the UN Court of Human Rights (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), in its communication 1134/2002, the UN Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of compensating Fon Gorji-Dinka for the human rights violations committed against him and for the assurances he received regarding the enjoyment of his civil and political rights.
On August 31, 2006, the Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation (SCAPO) formally proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Ambazonia, which includes the disputed territory of Bakassi.
Related pages
Anglophone Crisis
Ambazonia
Nationalism