SCNC campaign ‘rock solid’, say activitists

Written by Eugene N. Nforngwa

Monday, 02 November 2009 00:00

BUEA - What appeared to be an effort to counter government’s latest crusade against “Southern Cameroons” separatists after the Banjul decision, was foiled Wednesday October 28, when security forces ordered a Liberal Democratic Alliance (LDA) rally at the Molyko Omnisports Stadium here to stop.

Authorities accused the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) and the Southern Cameroons Peoples’ Organisation (SCAPO) of using Molla Njoh Litumbe’s party (which unlike the SCNC or SCAPO is a legal political movement, as their mouthpiece.

But that apparently did not stop the separatists from remaining upbeat about their cause, which one described as still “rock strong”.

Litumbe told a news conference at his party headquarters at Bokwaongo earlier in the day that the rally’s aim was to let Southern Cameroonians know the implications of the Banjul ruling.

The rulling by an Africa Union commission threw out an SCNC/SCAPO petition for separation of Cameroon’s two Anglophone provinces and asked the groups to engage dialogue with Yaounde authorities.

Yaounde authorities made the ruling public on October 1, in a move viewed as propaganda to weaken the group, whose chief mission is to obtain independence for Cameroon’s two Anglophone provinces.

The leader of the SCNC, Chief Ayamba Otun and vice chair of SCAPO, Augustine Ndangam, attended the press conference. Both men were programmed to speak at the LDA rally.

Though the government only recently flaunted the ruling as a conquest, the Litumbe said the Southern Cameroons’ campaign was not lost; adding that it remained “rock solid”. He described the ruling as a window of opportunity the “Southern Cameroons” should not afford to miss, saying all needed now was dialogue and understanding.

“Southern Cameroonians should continue to assert their fundamental rights of self determination,” said Litumbe, whose party is the only registered political group fighting the so called Anglophone Problem.

“They should do so without bloodshed because when they joined La Republique du Cameroun, it was not an act of bloodshed and, if La Republique insists that Southern Cameroons is part of its territory, let it produce the evidence in accordance with international law to show when the holy matrimony took place.”

The LDA leader said the union between the two Cameroons was not valid because Southern Cameroons “have never been within the village fence of La Republique du Cameroun when that country was constituted on the 1st of January 1960. They were not part of La Republique du Cameroun when La Republique du Cameroun became a member of the United Nations on 20th September 1960.’’

He said, “A member of the United Nations can only enter into a relationship with another territory in accordance with the provisions of the charter of the United Nations, which are overriding to any other international agreement that the member state is obliged to respect.”

Nonetheless, the legal counsel of the Southern Cameroons cause at the African human rights body, Harmony Bobga, cautioned that the recommendations of the body could be a snare since it calls on SCNC and SCAPO to transform into a political party and engage in dialogue with government, something their pride could prevent them from doing.

“Whether we like it or not,” Bobga said, “we are living under the political and legal influence of La Republique and still struggling to liberate ourselves.
“If they tell us that now we can create a platform from which to operate with greater freedom, it is a good thing.

“It would be a change of tactic and not an abandonment of the ultimate objective of liberating Southern Cameroons.”

Chief Ayamba and Ndangam did not have their chance to speak at the Molyko rally, which security forces ordered to stop barely minutes before it began.

Police, armed with guns, canisters of tear gas and truncheons, led by South West delegate for national security, Andre Theophille Tocko, disconnected and seized the public address system and a carton of 600 copies of the book, Et Tu Brute (Even You Brutus) meant to be launched at the rally.

The book, published by the separatist movements, hinges mainly on the point that even so close to home, Africa, the Southern Cameroons cause had been betrayed and a lasting solution to it had not been found, Ndangam said at the press conference.

SCNC, SCAPO illegality

In a faceoff with the DO for Buea, Simon Kwemo, that ensued at the stalled rally, Litumbe insisted he had an official authorisation to carry on with the gathering and asked to be arrested if authorities knew he had violated any laws. The LDA chairman he alone could end the rally because he started it.

But Kwemo said Litumbe could not go ahead with the rally because the agenda of the meeting was not disclosed to authorities as the law requires and that the SCNC and SCAPO were not legal bodies.

The South West regional delegate for national security, Tocko, said the separatist movements were using Litumbe to attain their objective, equating the situation to adults found dancing at a child’s birthday party. He said the separatist movements were using the daughter as a pawn to grab the mother.

After the row, the items in the custody of the security officials, except the copies of Et Tu Brute, were returned, when the rally was deferred to an undisclosed date. The LDA chair said he was not ready to risk the lives of those present at the rally.