Federal Reform or Historical Redress? — Why the Anglophone Question Cannot Be Solved Within Cameroon
By Dr. Martin Mungwa
Commissioned Secretary for Communications & Diplomacy Government of the Federal Republic of Southern Cameroons Ambazonia (in exile)
- A Letter from Yaoundé — and Its Significance
Professor Willibroad Dze-Ngwa’s open letter to President Paul Biya is a remarkable document. It captures the voice of conscience long suppressed within the Republic of Cameroon — a professor speaking truth to power, pleading for justice, humanity, and reform. For that courage, he deserves respect. But his proposal — that peace will come through federal reform — rests on a misunderstanding of history itself.
- The Problem Is Not Federalism — It Is Fraud
The 1961 so-called reunification was not a merger of two provinces, but the attempted fusion of two separate United Nations Trust Territories: British Southern Cameroons and French Cameroun. Each had distinct colonial experiences, legal systems, and international status.
No act of union was ever signed between them.
UN Resolution 1608 (XV) required the British and French governments, together with Southern Cameroons and La République du Cameroun, to finalize a treaty of union before independence. That never happened. Therefore, the 1972 referendum that “abolished” the federation was not a constitutional amendment — it was an act of territorial annexation.
- The 1984 Constitutional Breach
When President Biya restored the name La République du Cameroun in 1984 — the name used before 1961 — he legally dissolved the so-called “United Republic.” From that moment, the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) ceased to have any constitutional tie to Yaoundé. What followed — occupation, military repression, and genocide — cannot be corrected by “dialogue within one state.”
- Peace Without Justice Is a Mirage
Professor Dze-Ngwa’s call for dialogue is sincere, but peace without justice is like a roof without pillars. The crimes committed in the North West and South West — burning of villages, extrajudicial killings, forced displacement, and cultural erasure — amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. True reconciliation cannot occur under the same structure that enabled those crimes.
That is why Ambazonians insist on decolonization before reconciliation.
- A Vision Beyond Violence
Ambazonians do not seek endless war. We seek lawful independence, responsible governance, and peaceful coexistence with our neighbors. If Yaoundé desires real peace, it must begin where history went wrong — by recognizing Ambazonia’s right to self-determination and entering into internationally mediated post-colonial negotiations, not internal reforms.
- Conclusion: A Bridge of Truth
Professor Dze-Ngwa’s letter opens a small bridge — the bridge of conscience. But conscience alone cannot rebuild a broken treaty. Only truth, acknowledgment, and lawful redress can. Until then, Ambazonians will continue their non-negotiable pursuit of freedom, not as rebels — but as a people reclaiming their interrupted independence.
Dr. Martin Mungwa
Commissioned Secretary for Communications & Diplomacy
