Part I - Rebirth of the Southern Cameroon Nation

Brief History of the Southern Cameroons (West Cameroon)

In order to understand the current civil unrest in the Southern Cameroons, it is good to set a historical context of how this nation was formed.  This article will not go in full details in to history but will highlight the main dates and events that shaped this country’s history.

European Arrival

As early as 1472, the first European ships landed on the Cameroon coast. This Portuguese expedition was led by Fernado Po. Upon arrival, he discovered that the area was blessed with an abundance of prawns around the Wouri River. Fernando Po named the area “Rio dos Camaroes”, translated as “River of Prawns”. This will later become the name of the country – Cameroon. A lucrative trading partnership then ensued between the European and the coastal chiefs. European traders supplied the chiefs with material products such as cloths, ornaments, mirrors and other cheap but shiny and fancy looking products in exchange for slaves.  Inter-tribal wars between villages were a great source for slaves as prisoners of war were sent to the coast to be exchanged for western goods. European expeditors also encouraged these wars in order to maintain a steady supply of the much needed slaves for their plantations in America and the West Indies.

As time went on, other European countries joined the slave trade business, and the Dutch became the dominating slave traders in Cameroon around the 1600s. Great Britain later joined and was able to cement their presence with the help of Christianity. They set up the London Baptist Missionary Society in Victoria – Limbe in the 1700s. With the abolition of slavery and slave trade in America and Europe, new ways of doing business had to be sought. Alfred Saker, a British missionary was prominent in establishing a British settlement and presence in Cameroon by building schools and churches in the coastal area from 1858. Gradually, the coastal chiefs of Douala felt closer to the British than any other European country and rulers such as Duala Manga Bell wrote letters to the Queen requesting her to annex Cameroon and set up an administration there, but the British were reluctant to do so. Amongst the reasons not to set up a British colony was the economic burden it will have on British tax payers to run a colony in Cameroon, given that they already had one in Lagos, Nigeria.  As a result, the Germans stepped in and colonized the area. 

Kamerun under Germany

Gustav Nachtigal, a key representative of the German government was the one who made the deals and signed most of the treaties with the coastal chiefs (Akwa and Bell), thereby making “Kamerun” an official German protectorate in July 1884. What is funny is that, there were more villages inland who knew nothing about all the activities and treaties happening at the coast. This will set the premise for conflicts later, when the Germans decide to move inland to assert their authority.

The Berlin International Conference

The Berlin International Conference also known as the Congo Conference was held from November 15, 1884 to February 26, 1885. This meeting of major European powers with vested interest in trading in Africa was called by the German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck. This conference was aimed at regulating the race for colonies in Africa in a means to prevent conflicts of interest.  It was at this famous conference that the fate of many African countries was decided.  The 14 countries that attended include:-Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway , Turkey, and the United States of America. However, France, Great Britain, Germany and Portugal were the key players in the trade game in Africa while the rest were merely observers.

Ironically, many of those present at the conference had never set foot on the continent of Africa. With the help of distorted and inaccurate maps, and in total disregard for the cultural, social and linguistic relationships and ties that existed inland among the different tribes and villages inland, they partitioned Africa like pieces of pie into 50 countries. This was the beginning of Africa’s present socio-cultural war.

With Kamerun under German possession, the Germans under the leadership of Baron Von Soden set up a robust administration and an army to crush any form of resistance by inland tribes.  Jesko Von Puttkamer who replaced Von Soden in 1907 was instrumental in developing the new colony by building railway lines inland, schools, churches, hospitals and other administrative structures. This will be met by heavy resistances from inland chiefs such as Duala Manga Bell. The Germans were ruthless in dealing with the resistances and executed most of the leaders. 

World War I and the Anglo-French Rule

The First World War of 1914-1919 had ripple effects on the destiny of Cameroon. With the victory of the allied powers, Germany was forced to relinquish control over all her African territories including Kamerun to Britain and France in 1916. Togo and Cameroon became war booties and were split between the two victorious powers following the Milner-Simon Line or agreement. 

This was further confirmed and made official in the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and referred to the League of Nations.The British took the smaller share which was made of two strips of land that bordered the eastern part of Nigeria. These two regions become the British Southern Cameroons and were ruled mainly from Nigeria. France on the other hand was greedier and took the lion’s share, including a strip of territory which it had lost in 1911. The entire area became known as French Cameroun. With authority from the League, Britain and France started their colonial rule in 1922 with a goal to prepare and lead their respective territories to independence.

Independence

French Cameroun

The wind of change that swept across Africa after the second world war of 1945 was felt in Cameroon in the early 1950s. The two territories of British and French Cameroons became Trust Territories under the United Nations Organization which had replaced the defunct League of Nations.  French Cameroun soon developed very fast and political nationalist groups such as the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC) and its charismatic leader Oum Nyobe waged a brutal resistance against French colonization and demanded immediate independence. The uprising was eventually suppressed at a very heavy human cost, and the French handpicked Ahmadou Ahidjo of the Union Camerounaise (UC) party to become the first president of French Cameroun. France granted independence to French Cameroun on January 1, 1960 under the name La Republique du Cameroun.

British Southern Cameroons

After the independence of French Cameroun, British Cameroon remained a trust territory under the United Nations with well-defined boundaries and a well-functioning government and administration. However, it must be noted here that British Cameroons was not the favorite child of the British. They cherished Nigeria more, reasons why they treated their own portion of the mandate with less vigor.  This might also explain why instead of granting independence to Southern Cameroons as a separate country just like the French did; the British in a move to avoid responsibility decided to opt for a referendum.  Even the referendum questions were proof that Britain never cared about their portion of Cameroon. 

Hence, following the General Assembly resolution 1352 (XIV) of 16 October 1959, it was decided that a plebiscite will be the best way to decide the emancipation path of British Cameroons. The plebiscite questions had two options as seen below: “Do you wish to achieve independence by joining the independent Republic of Cameroun?” or “Do you wish to achieve independence by joining the independent Republic of Nigeria?”  There was no third option to achieve independence as a sovereign nation. 

Faced with this sovereignty deadlock, the people of Southern Cameroons voted on October 1, 1961 to achieve independence by join with La Republique du Cameroun as equal partners and form a federation. The choice of joining Nigeria was down played at the time because Nigeria was considered as “fire” due to its brewing conflicts and French Cameroun was considered as “water”. The two countries then formed a two state federation which became known as the Federal Republic of Cameroon.