Close mobile search navigation Article Navigation. Volume Njung George N. Oxford Academic. Google Scholar. Cite Cite George N. Select Format Select format.
Permissions Icon Permissions. Abstract A century after the victorious Allied powers distributed their spoils of victory in , the world still lives with the geopolitical consequences of the mandates system established by the League of Nations. Anglophone minority crisis , Douala , partition , reunification. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals. The Cameroons from Mandate to Independence.
Mortimer, Edward. France and the Africans, A Political History. New York: Walker and Company. UCA dedicates itself to academic vitality, integrity, and diversity. Political Science. Search UCA. Events November I am grateful to the Minister of State for coming to answer me at this late hour.
I would like to put it to him that once Mr. Foncha has achieved the end of trusteeship, surely it is up to him and his Government to decide the future of his country. It may be that he would prefer independence to incorporation.
He may have second thoughts about union with his neighbour. I believe the South Cameroons could be viable, certainly in ten years, once its future is settled.
Let us say openly that, provided Mr. Foncha, should he be urged to independence by his own African friends, decides on that policy, we would help him, especially if he wished to remain a member of the Commonwealth. If need be, let us have another plebiscite. I fully understand how impossible it was to promise further aid last year. But if he decides to break off relations with President Ahidjo, the United Nations cannot force him to unite with his neigh-bour.
The trump cards are in Mr. Foncha's hand, and if he decides to play them let us back him. My hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Wavertree Mr.
Tilney has a considerable advantage over me in this debate, as he clearly knows the country very well. My knowledge of it is entirely second-hand, but I was very much impressed by his description of it, and the idea of a warm summer's day. I found it rather attractive on a cold winter's night in London. We have throughout held these territories in trust and it is for the United Nations to decide when that trusteeship was terminated.
We still have some months at least ahead of us before it can be brought to an end, and I should not like to leave my hon. Friend with the impression that as a result of the plebiscite which has now taken place we shall be handing over our responsibilities tomorrow or in the very near future. As long as our trusteeship continues we shall continue to discharge our responsibilities in the Cameroons to the best of our ability.
I want to make it clear from the start that we shall make every effort in the period left to us before the end of the trusteeship to ensure that the Cameroons are able to face the future in as strong and economically healthy a position as possible. This debate centres round the future of the South Cameroons. In the North, as my hon. Friend said, the people have indicated by a clear majority their wish to be part of the Northern Region of the Federation of Nigeria.
It is, naturally, a matter of satisfaction to us that they should have decided to throw in their lot with the newest member of the Commonwealth. As for the South, I must remind my hon. Friend that there has been for a long time a strong current of opinion in favour of the reunification of the Cameroonian peoples.
These aspirations are embodied in the programme of one of the main political parties of the territory—that led by the present Prime Minister, Mr. Foncha, before and after it came into power. When it was known that Nigeria would shortly become independent, the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations had to consider how to enable the people of the territory to express their wishes about their future status.
The Trusteeship Council took the view, which, I think, was widely accepted at the time and which is widely accepted even today in many quarters, that the South Cameroons would not be viable on its own.
An indefinite continuance of trusteeship could not be expected to commend itself internationally at a time when independence was increasingly becoming the order of the day in West Africa. This left two choices: unification with the French Cameroons, destined for independence as the Cameroun Republic, or unification with the Federation of Nigeria. In October, , the General Assembly of the United Nations recommended that a plebiscite should take place in the South Cameroons before 31st March, , to enable the people to choose between these alternatives.
Anglophones have long complained that their language and culture are marginalised. They feel their judicial, educational and local government systems should be protected. They want an end to annexation and assimilation and more respect from the government for their language and political philosophies. Later that year Nigeria gained its independence from Britain and became a Federal Republic. The British-controlled southern Cameroons was then separated from Nigeria and was due to achieve full independence on October 1 But there was a hitch: the United Nations organised a plebiscite in which southern Cameroonians were asked to chose between joining the Cameroun Republic or Nigeria.
This vote was prompted by a British report that insisted its former territory would not survive economically on its own. Southern Cameroonians wanted nothing more to do with Nigeria.
So they elected to unite in a new federation with Cameroun Republic. It was supposed to be a partnership of equals, a notion reinforced by bilateral negotiations that had started before the vote. These negotiations were concluded at the Foumban Conference in July The general view after the conference was that the delegation from the Cameroun Republic, accompanied by French advisers, got virtually everything they wanted.
0コメント