Historical/Legal
Background
1.
In 1884, the Germans annexed Kamerun which
included the present North West and South West regions of Cameroon.
2.
After the 1st World War, the League
of Nations was created. On the 10th of July 1919 in London, Viscount
Milner, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies of the British Empire and
M. Henry Simon, the then Minister for the Colonies of the French Republic,
signed and published a Declaration, determining the frontier separating the
German Kamerun placed respectively under the authority of their governments
(The British Cameroons was then administered as mandated territory in
accordance with Article 22 of the Convention of the League of Nations).
3.
On the 09/01/1931, there was the Franco–British
Treaty Boundary properly defining the territory under British mandate which
included the British Cameroons.
4.
In 1945, the United Nations Organization (UNO)
was born with the signing of the Charter on the 26/6/1945 at San Franciso. On
the 13/12/1946, the Trusteeship Agreemnt for the territory of the Cameroons
under British Administration was signed between the General Assembly of the
United Nations and His Majesty’s government of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland, following the provisions of Article 76 of the
Charter of the UNO.
Article 5(a) of the 1946 Trusteeship
Agreement gave the Administering Authority the full powers to legislation,
administration and jurisdiction in the territory and to administer it in
accordance with his own laws as an integral part of his territory.
With the above provision of the
Trusteeship Agreement, the British government introduced the Common Law in the
then British Cameroons.
5.
UNO resolution 1349(XIII) of 13 March 1959
granted independence to the State of La Republique du Cameroun on the
01/01/1960. On the 01/01/1960 therefore La Republique du Cameroun had
independence from their French colonial masters with a well defined map,
currency, language, anthem and flag (of green, red and yellow without a star in
the red colour) as provided in Article 1 of the 04/03/1960 Constitution of La
Republique du Cameroun and which was endorsed by the then Secretary General of
the United Nations, His Excellency Dag Hammarskjold.
6.
Following UNO resolution 1476(XV) of 20
September 1960, La Republique du Cameroun was admitted as member state of the
UNO in application of Article 4 of the UNO Charter. With that, La Republique du
Cameroun subjected herself to the strict respect of the Charter of the UNO and
all its resolutions.
7.
Following UNO resolution 1352(XIV) of 16 October
1959 recommending a plebiscite in the then British Southern Cameroons to be
held between 30 September 1960 and March 1961 on the basis of the two questions
set forth in paragraph 2 of the said resolution, the populations of the then
Southern Cameroons voted on the 11 of February 1961 to achieve independence by
joing the already independent state of La Republique du Cameroun.
8.
On the 21/4/1961 and after the plebiscite
referred to in the preceding paragraph, the General Assembly of the UNO adopted
resolution 1608(XV) on the future of the Trust Territory of the Cameroons under
United Kingdom administration. Paragraph 5 of the said resolution provides
thus:
“Invites the Administering Authority,
the Government of the Southern Cameroons and the Republic of Cameroun to
initiate urgent discussions with a view of finalizing before 1 October 1961,
the arrangements by which the agreed and declared policies of the people
concerned will be implemented”
Without any
such tripartite meeting and agreed and declared policies of the parties
provided in the above paragraph 5 of UNO resolution 1608, late President Amadou
Ahidjo organized a failed Foumban Conference and took over the administration
of the former British Southern Cameroons. Any agreed and declared policies of
the already independent state of La Republique du Cameroun and the then
Southern Cameroons before 01/01/1961 would have been in consonance with the
provisions of Article 102 of the Charter of the UNO.
Article 102
1. “Every treaty and every international
agreement entered into by any member state of the United Nations after the
present Charter comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with
the Secretariat and published by it.
2. No party to any such treaty or
international agreement which has not been registered in accordance with the
provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article may invoke that treaty agreement before
any organ of the United Nations”.
Article 103
“In the event of a conflict between the obligations
of the members of the United Nations under the present Charter and their
obligations under any other international agreement, the obligation under the
present Charter shall prevail.”
The extension by late President
Amadou Ahidjo of the administration of La Republique du Cameroun from
01/10/1961 to the former Southern Cameroons was without any legal justification
in international and local laws and since then till date, there has been a
consistent eradication of the Common Law in Cameroon in favour of the Civil
Law.
Locally, the preamble of the 1996
Constitution of La Republique du Cameroun which by Article 65 is part and
parcel of the Constitution, affirms their attachment to the Charter of the
United Nations.
Internationally, Article 4b of
the Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) of 11/07/2000 adopted in Lome –
Togo provides for African States to respect their borders existing on
achievement of independence. Following the provisions of Law No. 2001–12 of 23
July 2001 wherein the National Assembly of La Republique du Cameroun authorized
the president of the republic to ratify the Constitutive Act of the African
Union (AU), the populations of the North West and South West regions were
technically sent away from La Republique du Cameroun at the level of the
African Union as she had independence on the 01/01/1960 with well defined
borders which did not include the former Southern Cameroons.
The 20/5/1972 referendum in
Cameroon cannot be said to have been the implementation of the UNO resolution
1608 as it took place after 01/10/1961 and the administering Authority of the
former Southern Cameroons was not present during the referendum. In the
celebrated judgment in the case of Macfo and C., delivered on the 27/11/1961, Lord
Denning said inter allia “…You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to
stay there. It will collapse.” La Republique du Cameroun cannot systematically
erode the common law in a territory she has no legal justification to
administer.
Resolution
That except otherwise
established, the government of La Republique du Cameroun has been occupying the
former Southern Cameroons (present North West and South West regions) since
01/10/1961 without legal justification and pending the complete rectification and
regularization of the implementation of the 21 April United nations resolution
1608(XV) on the future of the Trust Territory of the Cameroons under United
Kingdom administration, the civil law in La Republique du Cameroun will not be
acceptd to further erode the Common Law heritage of the North West and South
West regions of Cameroon.
Signed:-
Barrister Robert NSO FON Barrister
AKUM Henry AJIME
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