Once again, the government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, a former British Southern Cameroons, is crying out for understanding of its predicament and as well as, seeking for Nigeria’s intervention in the ongoing onslaughts by the French Cameroon.
The Southern Cameroons country, which once shared same territory with Nigeria under the British colonial administration, before electing to join the French Cameroons, is calling on Nigeria, as its closest neighbor, to use it intervene in the humanitarian catastrophe, which has degenerated into genocide against her people by the French Cameroons.
Speaking at media parley on zoom with select media across Africa, Sam Sako Ekome, president, Federal Republic of Ambazonia, a self-declared region in Southern Cameroon, decried that since 2017 when Paul Biya, president of French Cameroon (La Republique du Cameroun) declared war on the people of Ambazonia, the death toll keeps increasing as a result of atrocity crimes perpetrated by the military forces of French Cameroon, coupled with the humanitarian catastrophe caused by the war.
Counting his country’s losses, Ekome said that as at late October when the zoom conference held, more than 30,000 civilians have been killed, about 500 villages burnt, over 120,000 refugees in neighbouring countries, especially in Nigeria, and over 1,500,000 refugees/IDPs in French Cameroon and Ambazonian territories respectively.
He stated further that there are about 10,000 enforced disappearances of Ambazonian citizens who are unaccounted for, and who are likely massacred and buried in mass graves across both territories by French Cameroonian genocidal forces, as well as, several massacres that are well-documented at Ngarbuh, Mautu, Santa-Pinyin, Bali, Bafut, Kumba, among other massacres.
Explaining the root cause of the war on Ambazonia, the president of the self-declared region in Southern Cameroon said the present conflict is due to the non-implementation of the procedures outlined in UNGA.
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Resolution 1608(XV) of April 21, 1961 on the future of the UN Trust Territory of British Southern Cameroons, and the consequent annexation by La Republique du Cameroun due to the failed decolonisation process of the territory.
He also decried that French Cameroons has failed to implement all the rulings intended to resolve the issues between the countries, especially the non-implementation of the resolutions of the Standing Committee of the All-Anglophone Conferences AAC I and AAC II held in Buea and Bamenda in May 1993 and December 1993 respectively, leading to the zero-option: Restoration of the Independence of Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).
The non-implementation of the ruling of March 5, 2002, by the Federal High Court of Abuja Nigeria on the case Southern Cameroons vs the Federal Republic of Nigeria, instructing the Federal Republic of Nigeria to institute a case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the non-implementation of UN Resolutions and Articles of the UN Charter pertaining to the decolonisation and termination of the trusteeship mandate with respect to the case of Southern Cameroons; as well as the illegality of French Cameroon’s (La Republique du Cameroun) claims of colonial sovereignty on the territory of the former British Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).
The president also blamed genocide on French Cameroons for the non-implementation of the recommendations of the Africa Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Banjul – The Gambia. According to him, on the case the people of Southern Cameroons represented by SCNC and SCAPO vs La Republique du Cameroun contained in the verdict on May 27, 2009, found La Republique du Cameroun in violation of Articles 2,4,5,6,7,11,19 & 26 of the African Charter of Human Rights and People.
There has been the 2019 Switzerland proposal to mediate between La Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) as a way forward to justice and lasting peace. The initiative, which was endorsed by The US, UN, EU, Canada and other countries, according to the president, was scuttled as the French Cameroon (La Republique du Cameroun) supported by France refused to commit to the Swiss-led Negotiation Process, despite Southern Cameroons’ (Ambazonia) commitment to it.
Part of the interventions Ambazonia is asking from Nigeria is the implementation of the ruling of March 5, 2002, by the Federal High Court of Abuja Nigeria on the case Southern Cameroons vs the Federal Republic of Nigeria, instructing the Federal Republic of Nigeria to institute a case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the non-implementation of UN Resolutions and Articles of the UN Charter pertaining to the decolonisation and termination of the trusteeship mandate with respect to the case of Southern Cameroons; as well as the illegality of French Cameroon’s (La Republique du Cameroun) claims of colonial sovereignty on the territory of the former British Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).
It also commended the Nigerian government for helping to accept her citizens as refugees, but requested that the Nigerian law enforcement agents should see Ambazonia people in Nigeria as people who are running for their lives without anything, who need help and should be treated with little kindness.
He also hopes to extend the call for intervention to other African countries, like Ghana where some Ambazonia refugees are and other parts of the world to help in fast tracking the restoration of Ambazonia’s independence and stopping of the genocide.
He also called on African media to tell the story of the sufferings of Ambazonia people to the world as French Cameroons media are watering down the death tool and the impact of the genocide, hence making the situation less significant and discouraging the world from coming in to help.
