50th Anniversary Celebrations: President Biya Addresses the Nation

From the website of the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon

On the occasion of the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversaries of the Independence and Reunification of Cameroon, the Head of State, H.E. Paul BIYA, addressed the Nation.

Fellow Cameroonians,

My dear compatriots,

On 31 December last year, I announced to you that this year we would be celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of our independence, as a prelude to that of our reunification, and that the commemorations would culminate in the National Day.

To open the said events, I am addressing the nation this evening to highlight the significance and scope of our country’s accession to sovereignty.

On 1 January 1960, we became INDEPENDENT. This meant that we were taking our destiny into our own hands, that we were becoming responsible for running our affairs by ourselves and that we would be accountable for our actions before History.

What was the situation of our people then? Most of us recognized ourselves more as members of our communities of origin than as citizens of the same nation. And this was no surprise given our almost colonial past. With the demise of colonial empires following the Second World War, young nationalists had however been nurturing the unlikely dream of freedom. Clearly, their struggle, and in some cases their sacrifices, contributed significantly to the accession of our people to self-determination. That is why, I repeat, we should forever remain grateful to them.

How about our country? With arbitrary and poorly demarcated boundaries, it was composed of a mosaic of administrative units and had no major communication facilities; apart from export crops, it had a closed economy and lacked adequate school and health infrastructure. It was more of a hotchpotch of territories with different languages, customs, religions, tribal systems, etc. In addition, there were the idiosyncrasies inherited from three dissimilar colonial systems.

Were we a nation? Not yet, since we had to wait for reunification with our brothers of West Cameroon to bring about the “desire to live together”, that characterizes a nation.

Were we a state? Yes, according to the law, since we were no longer under trusteeship and were recognized by the international community. In reality however, the task ahead was still immense.

Upon our accession to sovereignty, forging nationhood and building a state constituted the dual challenge that faced us.

The first task was not the easiest, as it is not based on voluntarism. It must emanate from the collective consciousness of citizens and can only come about through the slow maturation of a common history. Consider the old European nations; they all took centuries to form, most often after daunting challenges. For our part, the process has been faster and, even if it must be reinforced constantly, it is undeniable that the CAMEROONIAN NATION is now a reality and its unity our most precious asset.

Building a state has been no easy task either. At the outset, we lacked qualified officers and had to make do with the staff available. Enthusiasm and devotedness often made up for the lack of experience and competence. Very quickly however, the opening of ENAM, which itself recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, helped furnish our administration with the human resources required to properly run the State and own development mechanisms. One may say that besides political institutions, Cameroon now has a skilled State administration that meets its needs.

For a people like ours, the concept of independence and thus freedom cannot be dissociated from that of democracy. Although the idea here is not to recount the historical events that preceded or followed our independence, one may say that the conditions prevailing at that time may account for (not to say justify) the authoritarian forms of government. It was however foreseeable that things had to change.

You would remember that as far back as 1982, I stated that progressive liberalization was necessary. After experimenting with multiple candidacies in the one-party system, we restored multi-party politics. Then, in the early Nineties, several laws guaranteeing the civic freedoms of association and the press were passed. Over the years, various elections have been held at different levels under conditions which we have been trying to improve in order to ensure free and fair polls.

Today, I believe I can safely say that with a President of the Republic elected by direct universal suffrage, a National Assembly comprising representatives of the majority and the opposition, a rainbow government answerable to the Assembly and an independent Judiciary, we have established a regime that meets the basic requirements of democracy. This will be supplemented by the institution of the Senate and the effective implementation of decentralization which will enable citizens to participate directly in the running of public affairs, without however jeopardizing national unity. We have also endeavoured to guarantee respect for human rights, both in the instruments in force and in the day-to-day operation of State bodies.

Unfortunately, as we know, political freedom is not sufficient to ensure freedom in general. What indeed does freedom mean to someone who is unable to eat his fill? That is why we have always believed that it cannot be dissociated from economic and social progress. This aspect of our society blueprint has been the most difficult to achieve.

Since the spread of globalization, national economies are even more dependent on global economic changes over which governments have no control. Our task has thus been compounded over the past decades by a series of crises: deterioration of the terms of trade, slowdown of growth in Europe and Asia, erratic oil and commodity price fluctuations, etc. All these phenomena have adversely impacted our economies.

We have however been able to cope with them by submitting to the stiff discipline of structural adjustment programmes. The sacrifices made by our people have, after a real recession, enabled us to witness return to growth. Unfortunately, the recent crisis has once again thwarted our efforts by reducing our exports and slowing down our investments, resulting in rising unemployment.

The idea here is not to find excuses. Who can gainsay the fact that today almost all countries- including the most powerful – are facing major economic challenges? Pending an uncertain recovery, each of them is trying to find a way out. That, of course, is what we ourselves are trying to do.

We have not however given up trying to roll back poverty. While in the domains of education and health, progress has definitely been made, it must be acknowledged that the plight of the most vulnerable segments of our population, especially in the rural areas, has not improved considerably. Access to water, electricity and health care remains uncertain for many. On the other hand, we can say that the school and university landscape of our country has nothing in common with the situation following independence.

Furthermore, the accelerated urbanization that has taken place in recent decades as a result of high rural-urban migration is posing many new problems: housing, road systems, transport and security. With almost half of its population living in towns, Cameroon is far different from what it was fifty years back.

We have experienced another change which has happened so progressively that it has almost gone unnoticed. With the progress in school attendance and literacy as well as mass media broadcasting, our people have become open to the world. We read newspapers, listen to the radio and watch television. Our attitudes, lifestyles and ways of thinking have changed. Few of us realize how much we have changed. As we become “westernized”, if I may say so, our differences tend to fade away.

Africa is not the only continent undergoing this transformation. Even countries which had a pronounced identity have been unable to resist fully. Let us accept the positive aspects of this evolution, that is, what helps us to progress and to get closer to other peoples. However, that should not prevent us from retaining what is inherent in our true nature: solidarity, fraternity and other African virtues. We should also endeavour to preserve what is part of our distinctive genius: our culture, our national languages as well as those that have become ours. By preserving our heritage, we preserve our identity.
While we were building our country, it was incumbent on us to ensure the protection of its territorial integrity. To secure the vast territory we inherited, it was necessary to have a sufficiently large number of well-trained defence forces. We successfully performed this task and now boast an army that meets our requirements. It is essentially a deterrent force and intervenes only as a last resort.

In fact, our ideal of peace inclines us to prioritize consultation or negotiation. For this reason, we have, over the last few years, endeavoured to maintain the best possible relations with our neighbours. I think we have succeeded in that regard. The only acute problem we faced concerned the Bakassi affair. Fortunately, it was resolved in line with international law, thanks to the spirit of conciliation and the willingness for a rapprochement between the parties concerned.
After gaining international sovereignty, we had the duty to deploy a diplomatic network that meets our expectations. This was done progressively. Today, we have diplomatic missions in many capitals and in major international organizations.

For their part, they have established dozens of foreign diplomatic missions in Yaounde. Thus, we can pull our own weight on the international scene by participating in general diplomatic activity and defending our interests. I am convinced that Cameroon has quite a respectable place in world affairs.

My dear compatriots,

There are few people still alive today who experienced the heady days of independence. Most of them have passed on and with them some of their unfulfilled dreams. However, they experienced the essential thing: no longer being humiliated, holding their heads high, doing as they please and having the right to make mistakes. For most of you, this era belongs to the distant past and is in the nature of things. I am not surprised, but you should understand that I wanted to rapidly take stock of the situation that prevailed in order to measure the ground covered.

Is this a positive or negative track record? Could we have performed better? Maybe. Not so well? Certainly. Without repeating what has been said about our Nation and our State, I want to recall that our political institutions have remained stable, that social tensions have been brought under control, that we are at peace with our neighbours and that human rights and freedoms continue to be respected.

The real snag is poverty which remains an eyesore in our society. While acknowledging our shortcomings, I stated why the successive crises that were beyond our control obliged us for years to make the best of what we had and to fall short of our objectives. As the effects of the crisis are easing off, the first signs of recovery are showing and there seems to be a resumption of investments, I think we should envision the future differently.

In fact, I believe that an era is coming to an end. To be explicit, I feel that the goal we should set ourselves is to make Cameroon an EMERGING COUNTRY within a period of about twenty years. I mentioned this possibility some time ago without imagining that the recent economic and financial crisis would banish such prospect.

In the meantime, we adopted a long-term development vision which provides that by 2035 Cameroon could become (I quote) “an emerging and democratic country united in its diversity”. This implies that we will succeed in reducing poverty to a socially acceptable level, that we will become a middle-income country and that we will attain the status of a newly industrialized country. I am not closing my eyes to the fact that it is a huge challenge. However, I believe that our country has the necessary resources and that our people are capable of taking up that challenge.

A “Growth and Employment Strategy Paper” has been prepared and will serve as a framework for government action for the period 2010-2020. This document outlines the objectives of the first phase of our long-term vision and defines the strategy for attaining them. It identifies structural shortcomings that should be corrected and reviews the major infrastructures to be built as well as the productive sectors to be modernized. Lastly, it lists the projects to be implemented in the domains of health, education and vocational training.

As you can see, this is a veritable ten-year development plan that was lacking in recent years. It mainly aims at revamping our economy and thus stimulating employment and rolling back poverty. I would like you, irrespective of your place in society, to consider the implementation of this strategy as a genuine national cause and to join forces to ensure its success.

As I said a moment ago, we are going to enter a new era. To sum up, I would like to say that during the last fifty years, we built the structure of our independence. Tomorrow, we will give it the economic and social content it deserves.

Our people, who have shown proof of great courage and patience, should reap the rewards of the sacrifices they have made through an equitable redistribution of the fruits of growth.

Long live independence!

Long live Cameroon!

Comments

[Opportunistic Infections]

"On 1 January 1960, we became INDEPENDENT".

I hope no delusional Southern Cameroonian gets this wrong. That's what the puff-jawed buffoon or puff-adder, which way you prefer to see him, announces from Etoudi.

There's no mention that Southern Cameroons was still a mandated territory that eventually had a separate government.

They don't matter. History's erased them.

Not the white man's colonial history, but that of a semi-literate lot,
hewers of wood and water for the French.

In reality what Southern Cameroons joined in the name of La Republique was and has been a French Concession... We are all children of laborers in a French Concession...

Surprising the knock-kneed one of Mvomeka talks of "independance." Ah, Meka's very black and creased up asshole would have looked for a seat in the shade to avoid passing out in his shorts.

[Opportunistic Infections]

We should closely follow the Red Shirts and their relations with the military in the Thai situation.
We've got to closely follow all the Orange and other revolutions and particularly the dynamics of military-civilian relations.

The protests in Thailand did not begin a few months ago. They've been simmering over the years. If anyone says that the situation in La Republique will end peacefully with Biya dying, you only have to think of Zaire and Kabila or Houphouet Bouigny and Cote d'Ivoire.

There will be no easy transition in Cameroun. It's either the country breaks like the Congo, Yugoslavia, Cote d'Ivoire or a successor regime will resort to an ethnic blood bath to stay the course. Cameroonians should by now be preparing how to eventually defend their provinces and cities from Biya's illiterate watermelons. Leaving the situation to fate is to fail to read history... It will happen. It will come. No one must be deceived.

[Chief Ayuk Arrey]

This guy didn't say anything, It just a repetition of the same old song.
Infact this 20th of a thing is a provocation to us the Southern Cameroonians.
What tract are we? The tract of failed policies and stealing.

[marc]

paul biya is talking about cameroon in 2035, i hope he is preparing frank well for the job. i also do not suppose he is insinuating that he shall not answer the call if it was to come now. or worst still that by so saying he is indicating his intentions clearly that he shall die where he is. it surprises me when you talk of nationalism and souvrengty when under your reign camerooon has lost most of its young and educated class to the diaspora. those here are never hoping to get back except to see family. not goig back for country. no single person out here has a positive image of you but you keep singing of what you have done and shall do. please go now. allow cameroonian to come back to their country.

[Sangoh Angoh]

Paul Martin Samba, the buffon and his arrogance. So called "intellectual". This is all what you can offer. You lack the balls to let Cameroonians identify you, lest you will go to jail here in the U.S. for what all what you've stood for regarding Biya's regime.

[Va Boy]

Paul Martin Somebuffoon is just our old friend Alan Deepocko from his hut in Minneapolis. The Camerounese pay the idiot to post identical rubbish all over the web on Southern Cameroonian websites.

[njimaforboy]

Listen to stories of the holocaust.

There were Jews who did not beleive Hitler had a hidden agenda, they ended up in concentration camps.

There were other Jews who made up their mind late to leave Germany,they also perished in concentration camps.

There were also some Jews who saw the light early on that Nazi Germany was up to no good, theyleft Europe with all they had for America years before 1939.

Then there were Jews who decided to stay and fight the Nazi's. Like us, when Cameroon disintergrates like Congo, we will have to defend Southern Cameroons.

To all of u children of Southern Cameroons, you either start leaveing Cameroon, send your children abroad, develop a defense strategy, or start building our own militia to defend Southern Cameroon. You can deny all u want, just as those Jews doubted the intentions of Nazi Germany.

Just look around here in Yaounde, see how frogs treat Southern Cameroonians in time of peace. We will become dispensible. They do not see us as humans, majority of them consider us less Cameroonians.

Brothers and Sisters, you all need to take this very seriously. Do you have an emergency plan for yur loved one's in Cameroon, when chaos breaks up in Cameroon?. If your answer is no, you will be caught with your pants down.

[njimaforboy]

Caution.

Most of the heavy fighting will occur in the Capital, industrial towns like Doualla and Kribi.

You will be safer in the villages of Southern Cameroon.
Stay away from the Capital and major cities, including millitary installations.

[OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS]

Njmaforboy, we cannot assume safety in the villages of Southern Cameroons. Biya has always sent armed robbers and private security companies to rob and kill in Ndu, Nkambe, Bamenda, Bafut, Kumba, Mutegene and Tiko in order to stir up trouble and declare a state of emergency and send soldiers in to rape, murder, and pillage.

Efforts must be coordinated at the level of households, families, neighborhoods, villages, and towns, and provinces to withstand the heavy-handedness and provocations from Etoudi.

And every Southern Cameroonian whether in Cameroun or in the diaspora, owes it to his or her family and neighborhood, village, town, and province - to begin contemplating ways and means of safeguarding his or her people. Only those that have failed to read history will believe that things will come to pass without conflict, without violence, or that they can rely for security on Ewondo, Beti and Bulu forces.

A word to the wise is enough. Think of your family, if you've got any brains or feelings left. Do not live to decry the lessons of history.

[OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS]

And one thing, Njamaforboy, self-defense is all we need. Southern Cameroons does not need to confront Biya. His own demise and that of the regime will come from within. They are not a unified group as we might think. There are dissensions within the government itself, within the Ewondo-Beti-Bulu clique, within the military - between the younger soldiers and the old guard, whose tensions are fostered by ethnic cleavages. These dissensions will explode come election time, and would be fostered by the rivalries of entrenched political parties. There are enough divisive forces alive that will free the country.

What Southern Cameroons simply needs is to prepare to assume their autonomy at every social level (from the family to the 'province' and state level, and to provide the means and facilities for security, judicious administration and social welfare when the house begins to collapse.

The Southern Cameroon diaspora will be irresponsible not to see the need to protect and strengthen their homeland when the chaos and process of transition sets in.

It's time we begin to walk the talk.

[Ma Mary]

There are no more Ivo Yenwos. Southern Cameroonian career soldiers in la republique's army no longer believe that there is anything worth dying for in Cameroun. That is a good thing. The first and foremost thing is not to take sides in any power struggle that would ensue between Cameroun partisans. Let them do their own fighting and dying.

Our main downside is that we are woefully underarmed to undertake a credible self defense, but it is not too late to start preparing.

Njimaforboy and Opportunistic infections, I am glad we see eye to eye on this. Mr Biya is mortal and the Cameroun time bomb scares even France.

[Mallam Shehu]

Amen field marshal Njimafor. Business as usual, l'homme lion will tag you as nothing but an "apprenti sorcier".

History is about to be made, here you are drifting asea, yelping and ducking your tail like a "Ngong" dog.

Njimafor for your info, the center of action 2days to come will be in Y'dé. I'll be glued to my TV set that day, hope I see you and the butcher exploding in the air. Action speaks louder than empty words sir.

[Va Boy]

Mallam it is your turn now to rule your country Cameroun. Make sure the Bamis do not get that power and pull out your bows and arrows to finish those Beti villains and orient them from Rome to Mecca. What are you waiting for? Don't mind us Southern Cameroonians. We do not matter.

[OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS]

CAMEROONIANS READ THIS AND MAKE UP FOR YOURSELVES THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CENTRAL/WEST AFRICAN AFRICAN HEADS OF STATE AND THE THE SOUTH AFRICAN.

ASK YOURSELF WHAT COLONIALISM BEQUEATHED WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICANS WITH.

DOES BEING PRESIDENT MEAN LIVING IN LIMOUSINES, FLYING TO PARIS EVERY NOW AND AGAIN OR COMING AND GOING IN A STATE HOUSE?

EVEN OBAMA WILL SHAKE HIS HEAD IN BEWILDERMENT.

WE'RE SEEING SOMETHING WORSE THAN A SLAVISH MENTALITY... READ ALONG...

JZ 'shocked people still live like this'

Destitute mother tells president she wants to die

May 17, 2010 11:23 PM | By AMUKELANI CHAUKE

<<< Busisiwe Mlotshwa got down on her knees, broke into sobs and clutched President Jacob Zuma's hand when he paid a surprise visit to her home in the Sweetwater informal settlement, south of Johannesburg, yesterday.

Mlotshwa, 50, an unemployed mother of six, struggled for words, eventually telling Zuma: "Nothing is going my way and all I am waiting for is to die."

Mlotshwa and her neighbours in the sprawling settlement about 20km from the Johannesburg CBD, do not have toilets, electricity or an adequate water supply.

There is no sign of low-cost government houses being built in the area.

Mlotshwa told Zuma: "My daughter does not listen to me because an unemployed mother has no voice. One day she came from school, changed her clothes and decided to go to town to sell her body.

"She has turned to prostitution and I am told that taxi drivers are sharing her in town. She told me she would rather be a prostitute than stay at home."

Zuma told the residents of Sweetwater he had decided to visit after receiving repeated complaints on his presidential hotline about the conditions in which they were living...>>

[Dr A A Agbormbai]

"In fact, I believe that an era is coming to an end. To be explicit, I feel that the goal we should set ourselves is to make Cameroon an EMERGING COUNTRY within a period of about twenty years."

A corrupt country, led by a corrupt leader, can never attain such dreams. Especially when those who have shown that they can run a water-tight corruption-free ship are set-up, arrested, and locked up.

Laissez faire in key administrative positions is not the recipe for achieving ambitious dreams.

Yes, Cameroon can attain such a dream if it has the right leader in place come 2011. And we shall do everything to ensure that this will be the case.

And if it is blood that is needed we shall spill it in plenty. It will be deserved sacrifice to ensure that our nation is recovered from the hands of tyrants and satanic blood suckers.

[OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS]

Come the time for Biya's nth election and he will spread his soldiers so thin across La Republique that they will either join protesters or stand by and watch the drama to the end.

The Ghost Towns happened at a wrong time in history and they were too localized in particular regions in the country. Localization of a protest is a generous gift to a tyrant. Come, 2011 or 2012, and they will be generalized. The error is not to give up no matter how long a protest takes. The international media will carp for the first weeks and be reluctant. But as the protest drags on as in the case of Thailand, the details of the emasculation of the masses will come out clearly in the eyes of the global media, until international institutions will be forced to mediate.

But we have to go beyond the case of Kenya - La Republique has to free itself completely of this clique, and Southern Cameroonians have to draw a line once and for all from its naivety federalist adventurism. Southern Cameroons must be ready to assume its destiny.

What is needed in La Republique is a sustained and nation-wide ghost town that will force the occupant of Etoudi to spread his murdering and illiterate forces thin, until he begins to contemplate sharing the kitchen of the King of Morocco... if he's not doing so now.

There is a way of studying democratic revolutions - and ever committed Cameroonian should be reading such literature closely, and contemplating where we went wrong for the past two decades. We cannot afford to miss the train this time.

[OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTIONS]

Sorry for typos in the above --- Read (1) No localization of a protest that would lead a tyrant to focus his forces and unleash a massacre as in Douala (2) Never give up the protest no matter how long it takes once it's engaged (3) Mobilize all possible forces (within and without) for the protest (4) Educate international bodies (5) Carry on until the global media joins in and (6) until international institutions have to mediate. (7) Get third countries to begin canvassing receiving the head-of-state and his loot - for tactical reasons don't worry about the loot (8) Going after him and his clique for human rights abuses and the loot will come later as in the case of Abatcha...

It's time we think constructively.

[Va Boy]

That is strategic thinking. It is very hard to neutralize what you have described, and it can be discussed in open air. The only recourse for the tyrant is to locate and neutralize the coordinators and their communications. That must not be allowed to happen.

[DonHills]

Were we a nation? Not yet, since we had to wait for reunification with our brothers of West Cameroon to bring about the “desire to live together”, that characterizes a nation.

This speech is to the "WE" People ,ie La Republique and entirely excludes southern cameroon,Biya is a fool,who are his aides even....they re all oufited,old,mushroom/beer belly weirdos waiting for their final demise..

Fcking homos

[Tumtum]

Comrade Paul samba martin
how do you intend to celebrate this day of worthy to be called a "glorious revolution"?

[millaisgod]

Guys
What are they celebrating; it is the betrayal of a people? Are celebrating wiping out the history of a country? Today is a very sad for me and am sure for so many of our people.
The Anglophones have been marginalised for far too long. If we were told that in being part of this alliance an Anglophone will never be able to attain the highest office of the land, then, I am sure we would never have gone into this union. I believe this union with the French has been rendered none and void by the duplicitous people on the other side of our border. We never signed up to this utter corruption that has destroyed the fabric of the society we knew and were trying to build; until this duplicitous people we once thought as brothers came in to inject these vices in our midst. This regime in collusion with their colonial masters has denied us the possibility of attaining the highest office in the land. How can you call a place our country when our possibilities are limited by the place we were born or the language that we speak? How can we be in a country that we cannot reach for the skies? Every child born in our parts already know their fate and limitation and to them the sky is not a limit; for they cannot see the skies because of an opaque ceiling that has been put over their heads. They live in this cocoon that is limiting their horizon and reducing how far their thought can take them. How can you thrive in such an environment when all you know is that you will always be second? You can only be prime minister, deputy secretary general and deputy ministers. This has gone on for far too long and the time is now.
First and foremost many people do not know the terms of the agreement between the French and la republic before independence was granted. The major condition was for the French to control the treasuries of these countries, effectively, these countries that included La republic will pay their taxes in the French treasury without accorded the same right as a French citizen, by joining with La republic we became part of that agreement by default. It is rather sickening to think of why the French can have a revolution to get rid of their aristocrats and monarchs, but yet, support such malice in Africa.
Look at most of the British colonies within Africa and Asia and tell me what has happen to all of them. They are all thriving countries with vibrant democracy. This is because, the British allowed them to run their affair without micro managing their affairs. It allowed them to control their own currencies, set interest rates and print money if need be. For example take a look at Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, Singapore, Malaysia etc. These are all countries that were handed independence at similar time but today they are thriving by building a stable, vibrant and sustaining democracy and none of the French African countries can boast of the same. We are a basket case with one person imposing himself as king, while the others are building a vibrant and sustaining economy. Why do we have to suffer with Europeans when the euro today is in trouble? Why can’t we control our own monetary policies? Why can’t we devalue our currency to help us out of an economic crisis? This is because France controls our money and sets our interest rates and every thing just to keep an unrelenting grip on the deal that was the basis for the independence that is being celebrated by our neighbours.
When the British handed back Southern Cameroon to us, it had most of the institutions to build a thriving democracy and the infrastructures to build a viable economy able to sustain its people for generations. Systematically, most of these very institutions were closed down and the infrastructures neglected in such a criminal level that, they are virtually in disrepair. For the last twenty eight years nothing in the name of infrastructure development has been undertaken in our area to encourage economic development. The Tiko airport was closed, Limbe with the most naturally gifted deep sea seaport has been neglected, and recently the project that was meant to revive it dumped for Kribi, Tole tea that was sustaining a lot of people thrown away and those our people left in destitute. The Menchum falls dam project that was to be use to build one of the biggest hydroelectric dams in sub-Saharan African able to provide enough electricity to us and the neighbouring countries was pipe dream. No matter who you are or how well-meaning you are in terms of your philosophy of - united we stand and divided we fall, you will feel absolutely cheated by such treachery and betrayal and will try to find solution of parity. The latter was tried but to no avail when some brave men and women convened to form a group that was to articulate our plight (the AAC), but they were largely ignored and most of their leaders were harassed, some are languishing in jail and others paid the ultimate sacrifice for daring to complain.
So we have reach a point where begging for a reason to exist is not an option but to seek a better solution to this malice and Biya has shown by his actions in the recent past that all he understands is violence though we have always advocated that non- violence revolution is what we seek, we will not be afraid by his violence because oueIt is strange that it took the killing of about 200 martyrs for him to realise that the people where being paid peanuts and are going hungry in a country bless with the best nature can provide. There is a saying that goes; if you plant corn on a stone it will grow. How can people go hungry in such a country? It is rather sad indeed.
Some might think we are flip-flopping but as the saying goes; the only thing bad about not flipping is when you know what you have tried has flopped. Boy! Have we tried to make this work? You bet we have. We sign our union with you in good faith but you people took it as a sign of weakness

The people of Southern Cameroon have reach that critical moment and if the French people want to be rule for life by their anointed monarch, they can have you but we did not appoint a king and our system never allowed us to have a king with any executive powers and for that reason alone you can keep your people and give back our country. In a few yrs with the amount of resources and expertise we’ve got, our country will be a beacon in a rather trouble area of the world. We will eradicate this disease that you have imposed upon us call corruption through bribery. There was nothing like it in such endemic proportion in our region, until your people came to us. We had politicians of honour. These men believed in the power of their arguments and through their actions portray a sense of dignity. We had people who took pride in their jobs instead of stealing from the have-nots. We had men of convictions who obeyed the rule of law because that was how our system was build. We had people of great intellect who aspired to lead our nation to a brighter future instead of men with aspiration only for their bellies who seek to enrich themselves to the detriment of the masses.
I went to Buea and saw the house of the first prime minister of Southern Cameroon EML Endeley (may God bless his soul), it was an epitome of modesty, here was a man who had attained the highest status academically and politically but yet he understood the meaning of working for the people. His surroundings portrays a man of conviction, a nationalist who wanted the best for his people and who saw the future and the betrayal that was to befall on us if the course that was being taken at the time wasn’t reversed; the reality is what is in front of us today. This I trust will not go on for too long.
Our time is now and we owe it to the generation after us to liberate ourselves from this barbaric regime and if they use their guns and spill our blood so be it. We will not be the first or last people who have non-violently spilled their blood to bring about a better life for the generation after them. Our blood will clean the rivers of despair that has polluted our land so that our children and their children will breathe again the fresh aroma from the foothills of mount Fako to the lakes of Mwaneguba, to the great spectacles of the Menchum falls and to the luscious landscape of the grass fields of the North West.
Comrades our time is now, we should not be afraid, there is glory and honour in our endeavour, we should grasps it with bravery and commitment and take pride in knowing we were the generation that did what many said was impossible. We should be strong and plot our strategy with sophistication, this time there will be no half-hearted measures because the consequences of failure will be unimaginable, but if we plot a strategy of victory, the prize of success will be invaluable. Our names will be etched into the annals of history and the generation after us will never forget the struggles of the men and women who fought tirelessly to liberate them from the unrelenting grip of a tyrannical regime; as today we will never forget the names of the men who marched out of the Enugu house when they thought their people were getting a raw deal. These men gave us the bases of what we can thrive to achieve, not by violence but through the will of their convictions. We can follow their example and stick together so that our strength of unity will give us the motivation to carry on knowing that the future of our people lies in us challenging the status quo and liberating them from the tyranny that has subject them to live in squalor and abject poverty.
No way are we going to use violence to get what is rightly ours, because that is playing to the hands of the regime. The greatest achievement that mankind has ever achieved was through non – violence civil disobedience; we will use mass action, civil disobedience and rallies to show the strength of our argument. Our existence depends on it and history will vindicate our actions.
And remember the arc of history always bends towards justice.
Long live our land
Long live Southern Cameroon

[njimaforboy]

We are not through with Paul Biya the Baboon yet.

Sony, we hear your cry, and you are absolute right on what you stand for and i agree with your position on this issue. There is always room for negotiations and civil disobedient.

Biya and LA Republique have taken advantage of Southern Cameroon for far too long. Since the days of the other buffoOn called Ahidjo. You guys move on with the peaceful and diplomatic front.

Biya and La Republique must know that the chickens that fled at the dawn of independence have returned to Cameroon to hatch. This new breed are well educated in all areas including the art of 21st. Century warfare.

We will take what belongs to us, either voluntarily or by force. And when that is accomplished, any Southern Cameroonian who brings the Paul Biya mantra to our new Country will be lynched.

[X Colonel ,china]

plz biya step down your brain is tired we need a fresh brain for a modern cameroon.saying same thing every time.just listen to urself.[during the last fifty years, we built the structure of our independence. Tomorrow, we will give it the economic and social content it deserves. saying same thing over n over will it take another 50years to it the economic n social content it deserves?