Letter to the Editor
Subject: Remembering the Past: Why Ambazonian Youth Must Not Forget
Sir,
The burning of houses and entire villages in Ambazonia did not begin with our recent interstate conflict. This barbaric practice is rooted in an older colonial habit — a brutal tool used to crush dissent in territories under foreign control. When homes are reduced to ash in our towns and villages, we must understand that we are not simply witnessing isolated incidents; we are seeing the echo of tactics long deployed to intimidate and dispossess African peoples.
Young Ambazonians should know our full history. British Southern Cameroons was once a whole country with airports at Tiko, Mamfe and Bafut. Yet, through arrangements imposed by La République and its partners, our territory was carved and renamed as the “North-West” and “South-West” regions of Cameroon — a subordination that has denied us the political respect and economic justice we deserve. Are we part of mainland Cameroon? Of course. But that fact does not erase the injustices visited upon our land and our people.
Our region is rich in natural wealth: petrol, rubber, palm oil, tea, timber and a coastline and ports that have long generated value for others. Over decades, revenues and resources that should have benefited our communities have been siphoned away; banks emptied, land sold, and profits channelled to distant coffers. These are not accidents — they are the predictable results of a system that treats our resources as open to plunder.
It is no wonder that many across Africa — from Bamako to Ouagadougou and beyond — harbour deep resentment towards powers that used and continue to use influence to control and extract. Ambazonians must not be naive about who benefits from our dispossession.
But remembrance must lead to strategy, not merely to rage. We must teach our young people the history clearly, so that they can channel grief and anger into organised, principled action for freedom, accountability and the restoration of our rights. Our struggle is for self-determination, dignity and the right to manage our own resources. Let that struggle be sustained by conviction, law, and solidarity — and let our people remember, always, what is at stake.
Yours faithfully,
Uchiba Nelson
