Press Release issued on 16 August 2006 by Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) on the issue of the Bakassi Peninsula and the recent Greentree Agreement.


The struggle for the restoration of the statehood and sovereign independence of Southern Cameroons is a bone in la Republique du Camerouns neck while the Bakassi factor is a diversion. [..]The so-called Greentree Agreement in New York last June 2006 does not, in the least, transform illegality into legality.

Like a mask used to conceal reality and mislead, la Republique du Cameroun is using its so-called victory over Nigeria at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirmed by the Greentree Agreement to divert both national and international attention from the real problem on the ground, namely, her annexation and occupation of the former UN Trust territory of the Southern Cameroons. The Southern Cameroons is a fact of history and law based on international treaties which cannot be wished away [..].

It is of cardinal importance we understand that Southern Cameroons never took la Republique du Cameroun to the ICJ. So la Republique du Cameroun cannot boost that it has won and by that victory sealed Southern Cameroons inalienable right to self-determination. The right to self-determination is central to and inextinguishable in all nations and peoples. It is also the highest principle of international law. This explains why the birth of new nations where annexation prevails is unstoppable. As life is sacred to man, so is sovereignty to a nation.

According to the Memoriam submitted at the ICJ, it is la Republique du Cameroun (French) or Republic of Cameroon (English) that sued Nigeria accusing the latter of occupying the Bakassi Peninsula. As not even an earthquake can blot out truth, la Republique du Cameroun in its submission testifies that Bakassi Peninsula is Southern Cameroons territory. This is an incontrovertible fact of territorial history.

The ICJ in its ruling in October 2002 declares that sovereignty over Bakassi Peninsula is Cameroon. The ruling stands against Nigeria because the Anglo-German treaty of 1913 emphatically says so. Southern Cameroonians ask, why did the ICJ not declare that Bakassi is Southern Cameroons? It could not have done so because it was not Southern Cameroons that sued Nigeria. And Southern Cameroons could not directly do so because the ICJ handles only cases tabled by member nations of the UN.

But the issue here is that the bone of contention was not the colonial Agreements and Treaty that partitioned the German Kamerun into two distinct nations and peoples, but the original boundary that separated Cameroon from Nigeria. And rightly speaking this is the Anglo-German Treaty of 1913.

The effective demarcation of the boundary in conformity with the Anglo-German treaty of 1913 under UN supervision does not dislocate or weaken Southern Cameroons inalienable right to self-determination. It only goes to uphold the Abuja High Court Ruling of March 2002 which ruled in recognition of Southern Cameroons as a distinct nation and called on Nigeria, in conformity with the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) to defend Southern Cameroons right to self exist as a separate nation. Cognizant of the fact that Nigeria cannot win if it went on appeal, the Attorney General of Nigeria never appealed against this ruling. Any judgement once not appealed against awaits only execution. While appeal is time bound, execution, no matter how delayed, must come.

As the UN will embark on the effective demarcation of the Anglo-German boundary, the SCNC and the law-abiding Southern Cameroonian people call on the World Body to complete its mission by equally respecting the Anglo-French treaty which gave birth to French Cameroun and British Southern Cameroons, the rightful owner of Bakassi. It is the Anglo-French treaty that is the bone of contention between Southern Cameroons and la Republique du Cameroun, while Bakassi or Anglo-German treaty is cover up and diversion. According to the Anglo-French Treaty of 19 January 1931, French Cameroun has no maritime boundary with Nigeria. Consequently la Republique du Cameroun, which is the successor state of French Cameroun, cannot own what it never originally owned (namely, Bakassi).

The 1931 Anglo-French Treaty is not dead. Colonial treaties constitute the foundation of all modern African States. This was the basis of the Abuja High Court Ruling. Colonial treaties and the principle of international jurisprudence of uti possedetis juris and the critical date constitute the rock of the ACHPR litigation. This Charter holds that all African states should respect boundaries inherited at independence and that no nation has the right to annex and impose foreign domination on another nation. La Republique du Cameroun is signatory to the African Charter, which underscores the right to self-determination.

Bakassi, by treaty, is Southern Cameroons territory. The inhabitants have been victims of alien rule and brutal oppression because Southern Cameroons, through neo-colonial intrigues, has been a victim of imperfect decolonisation that paved the way for annexation by la Republique du Cameroun. Bakassians are Southern Cameroonians as they were under trusteeship era. Bakassi was a plebiscite district under Victoria Division (Fako County) in the UN sponsored and organised plebiscite of 1961. Let them unite with the SCNC and fight the common enemy international conspiracy and neo-colonialism.

Under a sovereign Southern Cameroons Bakassi inhabitants will enjoy freedom, justice, full rights to the natural resources of their ancestral land. Yaounde is interested in the oil and not in the people of Bakassi. Yaounde talks of Bakassi in relation to the oil wealth.

Equitable development to raise the living standards of all the people and regions of Southern Cameroons will be a right not a privilege for the government and the Southern Cameroonian people will work in partnership and the government will remain answerable to the governed. The mission of the government will be to perfect and enhance the rule of law, human freedom, checks and balance, equitable and balanced development, transparency and accountability, and creating a conducive environment for industrialisation. Human freedom, dignity and the happiness of the Southern Cameroonian people will be central to the policies of the government.

Demonstrating your irrevocable faith in the SCNC and its total commitment to the restoration of the statehood and sovereign independence of Southern Cameroons, we call on ALL SOUTHERN CAMEROONIANS to [..] irrevocably support the SCNC call on the UN to organise a referendum as the UN did, for example, in East Timor in 1999 that was annexed and occupied by Indonesia. From the result of the referendum East Timor became independent becoming the 191st sovereign member of the UN. For this referendum Southern Cameroonians should be asked to vote between: 1) Do you want the statehood and sovereign independence of Southern Cameroons be restored? OR 2) Do you want Southern Cameroons to remain an integral part of la Republique du Cameroun?

The birth of new nations in the world is unstoppable. Thanks to the principle of the right to self-determination. The newest nation, Montenegro, was admitted as the 192nd sovereign member of the UN on June 28, 2006. This was after a democratically conducted referendum.Since the right to self-determination, which is aimed at transforming the ban on annexation, foreign domination, colonial rule, into a reality is working so effectively in other continents of the world, including Europe and Asia, why not in Africa?

Be not deceived and made a slave so that your descendants remain slaves forever. Southern Cameroons will be FREE. Be a crusader for Southern Cameroons FREEDOM. And make your children proud citizens of a sovereign Southern Cameroons, where the sky will be the limit for all the citizens.

We salute President O. Obasanjos declaration that Nigeria by withdrawing from Bakassi, Nigeria was acting as a nation governed by the rule of law.

Having now respected the ruling of the ICJ, if such action confirms that international law takes precedence over municipal or national law, Southern Cameroonians legitimately call on the Nigerian Government to dutifully implement the Abuja Federal High Court Ruling of March 5, 2002. The Ruling called on; The Federal Republic of Nigeria to take necessary measures to place the case of the people of the geographical territory known as of 1st October 1960 as Southern Cameroons for self determination before the United Nations General Assembly and any other relevant International Organisation.

Long Live the Right to SELF-DETERMINATION.
Long Live the struggle for World Democracy and Justice.
Long Live the Southern Cameroons Struggle for FREEDOM."

Done in Bamenda this August 16, 2006

NFOR, NGALA NFOR
National Vice Chairman, and
Chair, Foreign Affairs Commission.