Bamboo Colonialism: How Yaoundé Is Still Selling Ambazonian Land Like It Owns It

The UK partnership is not economic — it is optical. It provides international legitimacy, donor credibility, diplomatic cover, diaspora deception, and development branding. This is foreign legitimacy laundering. The regime does not want UK investment; it wants UK symbolism — a stamp, a logo, a flag, a narrative — so it can say, “The world recognizes us.”

By The Independentistnews Political Desk

Let’s stop pretending.

This so-called “technical and financial visit” to the UK is not development. It is not partnership. It is not cooperation. It is not empowerment. It is not capacity building. It is colonial resource planning in modern packaging.

FEICOM. MINFOF. MINEPDED. MINPMEESA. MINTSS. Yaoundé institutions. British “partners.” Seven million francs per head. Five hundred thousand francs just to register. This is not a project. This is a resource capture operation.

They are mapping value chains. They are pre-structuring control. They are designing extraction systems. They are positioning future ownership. They are preparing post-conflict exploitation frameworks. And they are doing it without Ambazonian consent, authority, or legitimacy. This is economic occupation by paperwork.

“Valorisation des ressources naturelles.” “Développement économique.” “Mobilisation des partenaires.” “Filière bambou.” “Collectivités territoriales.” “Programme de développement.” Colonial language with PowerPoint fonts. They’ve replaced “concession” with “partnership,” “extraction” with “valorisation,” “control” with “development,” and “occupation” with “cooperation.” Same theft. New vocabulary.

Let’s talk about the money. 7,000,000 FCFA per person. 500,000 FCFA just to register. This is not inclusion. This is not empowerment. This is not artisan support. This is not grassroots development. This is elite filtering. Only connected people go. Only regime networks enter. Only political clients participate. Only insiders benefit. This is pay-to-access colonial economics.

The UK partnership is not economic — it is optical. It provides international legitimacy, donor credibility, diplomatic cover, diaspora deception, and development branding. This is foreign legitimacy laundering. The regime does not want UK investment; it wants UK symbolism — a stamp, a logo, a flag, a narrative — so it can say, “The world recognizes us.”

And here is the part that should alarm every Ambazonian: any engagement with Britain is now published entirely in French. Every communiqué. Every partnership notice. Every international cooperation document. French only. That tells you everything about how the Biya regime views Ambazonia. We are not part of their country. We are not part of their political imagination. We are not part of their national future.

After all, when applying for Commonwealth citizenship, they did not even use Southern Cameroons. They used the South Province with its capital in Ebolowa. Britain knew. Of course Britain knew. And they played along. That is the truth people don’t like to say out loud.

Ambazonians must remember this: your real enemies are not always the ones who look different. Sometimes they speak your language. Sometimes they claim shared culture. Sometimes they invoke history. But when it comes to interests, language is secondary. Culture is secondary. History is secondary. What matters is power, control, and advantage.

This is not about bamboo. It is about who owns land, resources, policy, and value chains. Yaoundé is still designing economic frameworks for Ambazonia, mapping natural resources, structuring future extraction, controlling value chains, centralizing regulation, planning post-war exploitation, and preparing economic domination. This is pre-sovereignty sabotage.

This is colonialism 2.0. Not boots. Not flags. Not soldiers. Not annexation. Forms. Programs. Visits. Partnerships. Institutions. Committees. Frameworks. MOUs. Projects. This is administrative colonization.

Message to Ambazonians: if you think this is “development,” you are asleep. If you think this is “opportunity,” you are deceived. If you think this is “progress,” you are being managed. If you think this is “partnership,” you are being harvested. This is how they steal without guns. Occupy without soldiers. Conquer without war. Control without borders — through programs, projects, development language, international optics, and economic planning.

Final truth: Yaoundé does not need to defeat Ambazonia militarily if it can economically pre-design its future. If it controls resources, value chains, regulation, investment channels, development frameworks, and economic legitimacy, then sovereignty becomes symbolic.

They are still selling what they do not own. They are still planning what they do not control. They are still managing what they do not govern. They are still extracting what they did not create. They are still designing futures for a people who did not consent. This is not bamboo development. This is colonial continuity. Different language. Same theft. New logos. Old logic. Modern conferences. Ancient exploitation.

Ambazonia must understand this clearly: there is no development without sovereignty. There is no partnership without consent. There is no cooperation without legitimacy. There is no progress without self-determination. Everything else is management of a colony.

The Independentistnews Political Desk