Several delegations, comprising Southern Cameroons activists and representatives from the government of the Republic of Cameroon, are in Abuja, the Nigerian Federal capital, where an important ruling concerning the independence of the Southern Cameroons is expected to be passed.

The delegations are in Nigeria on the occasion of the 44th edition of the African Commission for Human and People's Rights.There are three Southern Cameroons delegations: one is led by Professor Carlson Anyangwe, leader of the "Southern Cameroons Restoration Government".

The second delegation consists of SCNC and SCAPO members led by Augustine Ndangam. The third is headed by Chief Ayamba Ette Otun, SCNC National Chairman.These Southern Cameroons activists were already in Abuja on Wednesday, November 14.

The Government of the Republic of Cameroon is represented by Chief Dr. Dion Ngute, Minister Delegate in the Ministry of External Relations in charge of the Commonwealth.

One of the delegation members who communicated the information to The Post said Professor Anyangwe was already holding consultative talks.

The African Commission is expected to pass an important ruling in connection with the Southern Cameroons case originally tabled at Banjul, The Gambia.

Backdrop

The quest for the Southern Cameroons independence, or emancipation, dates back to the late eighties when Anglophone Cameroonians, who felt marginalised, decided to draw the attention of the government in a 156-page manifesto published by CAMFECO (USA 1990) to "an abusive relationship inflicted upon the minority English-speaking Cameroonians by the majority French-speaking Cameroonians."

They further drew the attention of "Doubting Thomases" to the "historic trend of inaction and misdirected action by the authorities [that] has legitimised a system that disregards the rule of law and the constitution; [that] the psychological and economic gains from the system have reinforced a hegemonic Francophone culture and the retroactive approach inherent in accommodation and integration policies are political experiments designed to institutionalise subservience and dependency within Anglophone cultures..."

The agitation for emancipation gathered steam and coalesced, from 2 April to 3 April 1993, in the All Anglophones Conference, ACC, that held at Mount Mary, Buea.Its aim was to catalogue the complaints of the second class status imposed upon Anglophone Cameroonians.

It was also to prepare for discussions with the Central Government on the handling of the issues enumerated during the AAC.The issue at stake was that if the Central Government failed to address the grievances contained in the Buea Declaration, they would leave the Anglophone Cameroonians with no other alternative but to explore other avenues.

When the government turned a deaf ear to the pleas of the Anglophone Cameroonians, the activists became more strident, not for a review of the grievances, but for a return to the former Southern Cameroons or the Federation.

This culminated in the formation of the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, which has drawn the wrath and ruthless response from the powers that be.From then on, it has been an escalation of pressure groups with some even forming governments in the Diaspora.

It would be recalled that, on December 31, 1999, Justice Frederick Alobwede Ebong declared the Southern Cameroons Independence over CRTV Buea. That audacious declaration earned him a stretch in detention.

Pressure groups such as the Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation, SCAPO, Ambazonia, SCARM, the Southern Cameroons Youth League, SCYL, and others have been on the emancipation trail; buttressed by diplomatic incursions to the United Nations, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation, UNPO, Banjul in the Gambia and now Abuja.