Urgency of a New Dawn

N. Nfor

Description

Urgency of a New Dawn is the cry of most Southern Cameroonians against those who they experience to be an oppressive, Machiavellian, hostile, parasitising, captor-like, secessionist, assimilationist, discriminatory, and dehumanising la R�publique du Cameroun, to which they were annexed through misleading UN and UK politics and Politics as a condition toward their independence from the UK in 1961. Extrapolating only on these two territories, Urgency of a New Dawn is no less the sweeping story of one too many other peoples across Africa, tormented by the heedless partitioning of the continent by colonisers and the consequential neo-patrimonial and ethnic African Politics and politics of belonging. Forced either into spaces that were never theirs, or pushed out of spaces that they struggle to claim and/or prove theirs, many African peoples today find themselves engaging in endless battles, not against colonisers but against fellow black Africans, for the survival of their essence, their culture, languages, traditions, dignity, modes of being and identification, right to equality, and freedom.

Sujets

• History

Informations

• Publié par: Langaa RPCIG
• Date de parution: 29 janvier 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9789956763030
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

PrisUoRnGTEhoNuCghYtsOaFndARNefEleWctiDonAsWN URGE CY OF A NEW DAWN Prison Thoughts and Reflections

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The Urgency of a New Dawn Prison Thoughts and Reflections

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Langaa Research & Publishing CIG Mankon, Bamenda

Publisher: LangaaRPCIG Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group P.O. Box 902 Mankon Bamenda North West Region Cameroon [e-mail] www.langaa-rpcig.net Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective [e-mail] www.africanbookscollective.com ISBN: 9956-763-73-X ©Nfor N. Nfor 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or be stored in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher

Dedication

Dedicated to my wife, Mary Nan NFOR and the children, for the enormous sacrifices they have had to make, their immeasurable understanding, and the pains they have had to endure due to my total commitment to the struggle for the restoration of the statehood of our Fatherland, British Southern Cameroons. With Almighty God, from above, protecting me, they have been the source of inspiration and the rock of the energy that kept me moving forward without blinking. Without their unflinching support, steadfast love and care, I would not have been able to do even the little. No one but God alone can reward them. And to all freedom fighters of our land, who in pains and sacrifice and with iron determination to contribute to global peace and universal human dignity and equality, have seen their emancipation from political, cultural and economic subjugation and slavery as a first step and in that wise have remained faithful to the cause in defence of TRUTH, LEGALITY, DEMOCRACY and JUSTICE. To those who have died, they died for a noble cause, for a better humanity: they will forever be remembered in honour, for victory is theirs.

Table of Contents Acknowledgements....................................................................vii Preface...........................................................................................xi Part I: Sign Posts........................................................................1 Chapter One When the Gods Spoke......................................... 3 Chapter Two: Conquering the Fear Syndrome......................... 15 Part II: Consequences of Annexation and Colonial Occupation........................................................ 33 Chapter Three: The Development Of Underdevelopment........................................................................35 Chapter Four: Constitutionalisation of Annexation and Alien Rule................................................................................61 Chapter Five: The Two Cameroons and the Bakassi Peninsula Conflict: What Is at Stake?.......................... 95 Part III: In Defence of Identity.............................................127 Chapter Six: Recurrent Fractured Foundation..........................129 Chapter Seven: For National Renascence..................................161 Chapter Eight: The Winning Spirit............................................ 179 Annextures....................................................................................211 Annex (I): Boundary Treaty Between The British Southern Cameroons And French Cameroun.......................................................................................... 211 Annex (II): U.N. General Assembly 4th Committee Vote On Independence Of Southern Cameroons.......................................................................... 217 Annex (III): U.N. General Assembly Vote On Resolution 1608 Of April 21, 1961..........................................223 Bibliography.................................................................................227 v

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Acknowledgements My special thanks go to my numerous detention and prison companions, be it in Buea, where I was first arrested and detained for this noble cause, Mamfe, Menji, Mbort-Nkambe, Kumbo, Bamenda, Mutengene, among others, for their remarkable support, love and measure of dedication to the struggle. This, like fuel, lit, strengthened and sustained the unyielding quest for freedom and justice in me to see and build bridges across artificial barriers for national emancipation and restoration. This made it possible for me to see and appreciate how hungry our people have been for freedom, justice and independence, which they have, for many years, lost due to treachery and the Yaoundé propaganda machine of deceit, falsehood and excessive use of force, trademark of an expansionist colonial regime, to instil perpetual fear in the annexed and colonised. The coloniser, who is always standing on the wrong side of history, and like an embankment built of sand and mud against a ferocious torrent of human progress, has never won a war against a determined people to have the change they most need. However, like armed robbers, the coloniser is always defeated and in his own traps. My gratitude also goes to the Southern Cameroonian patriots of Bamenda and beyond who, in love and kindness, did their best to support us. Their love and sacrifices gave us the stamina to withstand the overbearing nature of the coloniser. You assured us that those of us behind bars were carrying the people’s cross. By your acts, prayers and support you assured us that this is a people’s cause and that we are together, and in solidarity, we will triumph and rebuild our Fatherland for the good of all. As difficult as it is to name all those who helped in one way or the other, on behalf of the many, I am grateful to I. M. Sona,alias ‘International Chief ’, and Pa Stephen Ndi, for their time spared to read and make valid contributions to the manuscript. I equally appreciate the many Pastors and Christians who visited us, vii

preached, prayed and encouraged us, and the many Christians and Muslims who, due to circumstances, could not reach us but prayed day and night for God to protect us and set us free from the hands of the Yaoundé colonial regime. The role of women in supporting us while in solitary confinement, wherever we were in the national territory, has always been exceptional. To them all, I forever remain grateful. An exceptional debt of gratitude must be paid to the wives of the detainees, family members and friends, the many SCNC activists who toiled day and night for our welfare. Finally, I am exceptionally grateful and thankful to my wife, Mrs Mary Nan Nfor, and our children for their steadfast love and immeasurable understanding and devotion to the cause of freedom for our people. I owe my gratitude to Mrs Josephine Fru Tumabang and Divine Yuyun, who under stress of my persistent detentions patiently put my scattered writings in readable manuscript. We are all challenged to irrevocably rise and work for a better world and greater humanity, living, sharing and working for a just and peaceful world. We must stand and work for enduring peace based on justice through dialogue and not peace obtained at great cost and odds on the mass graves of women, innocent children as victims of wars and mass starvation, and the slaying of valiant men and youths in wars that could have been avoided. Man, by nature, does not crave for war. Even the dictator or colonialist who uses weapons to murder others in cold blood will not willingly acquiesce to be eliminated by another. The true nature of the human spirit and the history of humankind teach us that enduring peace can never be maintained by the piling of weapons of mass destruction, either by the superpowers or even by each sovereign nation. On the contrary, this is not only an illusion; weapons threaten even the limited peace we know. The pilling of weapons of mass destruction can never provide the political salvation which Man needs. It will be attained by Man’s total commitment to the golden rule: ‘Do unto others what you

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want done to you.’ I believe it is in this light that US President Bill Clinton in an address to the UN on September 21, 1999, declared, “We believe we can be secured through the force of argument and not through the force of arms.” For a better future for our children, I salute all the valiant Southern Cameroonians at home and abroad, who have come to the firm conviction and hold as an article of faith that, to be a master of your own destiny you must, at all cost, reject foreign domination and alien rule. This is not only an inalienable and inherent right of any people; it is the surest anchor and guarantor for the preservation of their future and that of their descendants. NFOR, N. NFOR

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