Letter to President Macron ! Subject: << The Historical Dispute between Cameroon and France >>

                                                                                 To His Excellency,

                                                                                               Mr. Emmanuel MACRON

                                                                                               President of The French Republic

                                                                                               c/o The French Embassy in Cameroon

                                                                                               YAOUNDE.

                                                                                               Yaounde, July 20, 2022

                                                                                 

Your Excellency,

It is with deeply profound and somber feelings that we are obliged to solemnly present to you this ominous and painful glimpse and reminder of our common but strained history with regard to <<The Historical Dispute between Cameroon and France >>. This confidential document, the key topic of which the French Authorities are quite conversant with, encompasses, primarily, the following two main and notable chapters:

• Your nation’s deliberate amnesia as it relates to the sad and tragic events that occurred in Douala in April 27, 1940 and closely linked to the birth of “Free France”, as well as the unfulfilled promises made by both General Charles de Gaulle and Maréchal Philippe Leclerc.
• The numerous abuses, grim atrocities, spoliations and indiscriminate injustices carried out in Cameroon by your nation, the ruins of which have continued to hunt us since 1919.

Mr. President,

These profound and deep chapters that have marked Cameroon’s past and present, are vivid reminders of the “rivers of bloodshed” that were made to flow very profusely, overtly but very selectively by your colonial dark forces and cronies, for the sole benefit of France. And throughout that entire period and ever since, France, together with its successive administrations, has never hesitated, either to nip in the bud or to completely “crush and erase” any form of legitimate and lawful uprising by the Cameroon people, including the members and sympathizers of the nationalist Party UPC, (who France even dubbed “maquisards”). The ensuing and violent hegemony carried out by your predecessors still continues to manifest its ugly head today, either by way of truncated bilateral conventions, or conniving manipulations, or all sorts of indiscriminate tampering, or undue, superfluous and undeserved privileges constantly showered on a select few, as well as on other obscure allies. Unquestionably, this manipulative and vicious machinery, instigated by selective and cooked-up actors, has flourished to the detriment of the vast majority of Cameroonians. These occurrences, most of which have been carefully erased from both history and collective memory, have come at the cost of Cameroon’s own fundamental history and national patrimony. From our stance and relative to all of the above, France has majored out as having played a key and preeminent role.

For a much better degree of relevant clarity, the flowing historical recap might be quite necessary:

In October 27, 2020, at Brazzaville, the “Colloque International” took place… << De Gaulle, shared memory between France, the Congo and Africa >>. During this workshop, organized by the governments of both France and the Congo, it was unanimously acknowledged that:

(translated from French): << without Africa, the call of June 18, would have remained only the eternal plea of a people who do not want to die >>, << and as it related to the saga of World War II, it was imperative that the stark and glaring reality of the importance of Africa’s participation and contribution be fully recognized >>, << that it was inconceivable for the images of soldiers from Chad, from Central Africa, from Congo, from Cameroon, from Gabon…. to be simply erased from our collective memories, as well as from the sad but eventful annals of history. >>

It is of utmost importance to mention that, in no way, are we engaging in a “vengeful claim” to some abstract form of meritorious entitlement. This is simply and merely a fair, honest and logical question of “Equal Justice”, in the face of all the atrocities and abuses that were committed by France, and facilitated by its secret and not so secret collaborators. To be more explicit, the following is a somber extract of an article published in 1956 by ORTF:

(Translated from French): “In Cameroon, the situation is a little bit more complicated. The march to independence has taken a much more violent turn than that of other French dominated territories. There is even a call to arms by certain factions of the population. The creation of l’Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC) in 1948, the uprisings that were met with bloody and deadly force in 1955, the creation of the “maquis independentiste” by Ruben Um Nyobé in 1956, which, in part, was none other than a nationalist call for the reunification of both French and British Cameroons and a boycott of the 1956 elections – are all collaborative factors which have created extremely violent uprisings within the historical framework of the decolonization process. In its disingenuous effort and struggle to water-down international opinion, France is doing all it can to minimize the overall gravity of the prevailing predicament posed by the UPC-Marquis resistance as well as conceal from the international community the deadly tactics that they are using to suppress these Cameroon nationalist forces.” (Release Ref – Le processus de décolonialization des territoires sous mandat de l’ONU : Le cas du Cameroun et du Togo – ORTF, 1956)

However, it is worth mentioning that for the very first time, President Francois Hollande, one of your predecessors, on July 3, 2015 in Yaounde, nonetheless recalled some of the painful Franco-Cameroonian memories of the tragic incidents that occurred from 1950 until 1970. Incidents during which tens of thousands of UPC members and their sympathizers were systematically identified, hunted and massacred, simply because their ultimate call was clamoring for justice and equity. Mr. Francois Holland was courageous enough to admit: (Translated from French): “It is irrefutable that past history truly does encompass all these tragic events. In the Sanaga Maritime area in the Bamiléké region, repressive and deadly measures did occur and it is my wish that all the relevant archives be opened and made available to historians.”

Despite the fact that the repression by the French Army had taken place way beyond the regions cited, Mr. Francois Hollande’s laconic declaration was, however, received at that time by Cameroon patriots, with a heightened degree of enthusiasm, as they figured that such an important and verbal pronouncement meant that France had, at last, come to terms with its past. It was quite a positive break from the opacity that had strained the Franco-Cameroon relationship for some time. Unfortunately, almost a decade later, not much has been undertaken to shed more light on the horrendous abuses and atrocities. Are we then left to conclude that France, the “Nation of Human Rights” has, all of a sudden, become scared of awakening the ghosts of its past and the sinister violations that took place in Cameroon ? We continue to hope that this is not the case, because it’s absolutely vital for the Cameroon people to have full access to the aforementioned historical archives, so that the exact roles of each of the concerned parties, who were involved in this tragedy that occurred in Cameroon for decades, can be definitively established. This is the only way in which Cameroon can rightfully regain its past, and hence rebuild, moving forward.

Mr. President,

Relative to all of the aforementioned and still within the framework of <<The Historical Dispute between Cameroon and France>>, one other bone of contention remains the non-acknowledgement of the role that Cameroon played with regard to its contribution in terms of human resources, as well as all the material and financial sacrifices it made from the period of “France Libre” (during World War II) all the way up to France’s prestigious positioning within the concert of Nations. The Cameroon people deserve a factual analysis and an exact breakdown of facts, notably, human statistics regarding the use of its sons (number of casualties and deaths between 1919 and 1959) who paid the ultimate price, fighting to implement one preferred, of two fundamental blueprints – two diametrically unaligned and opposing societal projects for the Cameroon nation:

• The Nationalist Societal Project by the UPC and its affiliate organs
• The Project for Integration into the French Empire, the politics of which finally evolved into a so-called “Internal Autonomy”, and which eventually, simply became just a concealed euphemism for catering only for French interest.

During that period, some Cameroonians decided to serve French interests by accepting the “Internal Autonomy” administrative option, whose platform was visibly tailored against the interest of Cameroon and the well-being of the Cameroon people. For way over decades, the vestiges of this choice still continue to plague the Nation till today, as can be seen in the blatant and incestuous signing of all sorts of unfair, absurd and one-sided bilateral accords, at the end of which Cameroon only ends up with the shorter end of the stick each time. Almost a century later, the persistent confrontation between this binary choice has had an extremely devastating effect on Cameroon’s pride and leverage as a “fully independent” Nation.

This <<Historical Dispute between Cameroon and France>> is having a nasty stench to it, to the extent it is fast becoming untenable. And today, no one can pretend to ignore its existence. As wisdom would dictate, and for the interest of both of our nations, it is only but fair that this <<Historical Dispute between Cameroon and France>> be carefully and finally addressed and put to rest, once and for all. The vital and reciprocal interests of both sides are at stake; these interests must take center-stage based on real equity, rather than paternalism and subservience, imbedded in a whole range of sporadic and multiple hand-outs as “aids” surfacing in the form of blurry and vague accords and carefully tailored just to profit a select few, hence, at the detriment of the vast majority of citizens. Any positive change, undeniably, must come by way of our ability to up and maximize our potential so we can eventually engage in a “win-win” relationship. Such an exercise of wisdom will generate a relationship based on the fundamentals of Justice, Equity and Mutual Respect. Needless to say, and very sadly so, we are still quite a way off from any such contemporary benchmark today.

Mr. President,

In view of even your own multiple and recent declarations, it’s only appropriate to assume that the above suggested and working platform translates your new vision for relations within the current context of “France-Afrique”. Most importantly, such a new platform will also help at avoiding certain established contradictions, as well as flagrant injustices, especially as portrayed in the declaration with regard to North Africa, which stated that “colonialism is a matter of crime against humanity” and a “mistake” in the case for Sub-Saharan Africa. To this effect, a perfect illustration is depicted in the press release by our compatriot Achille MBEMBE:

(Translated from French): “as it relates to matters of sovereignty and of self-determination as opposed to foreign induced territorial hold-up, it is essential for these to be substituted by meaningful international cooperation. Matters of sovereignty and territorial autonomy cannot continue to be defined along the same lines of yesterday. To function properly, any such international cooperation would require the establishment of a somewhat equitable axis. Such an effort will go a long way to the creation of a viable Afro-European axis. (Les Nouvelles Relations Afrique-France, October 2021)

As for the bigger picture that goes way beyond the aforementioned strategies, we also welcome your current strategy, which does not only involve the officials of our two-member States, but incorporates the civil society, associations, the private sector and the diaspora etc. as well. So, this is not coming like something foreign to your overall vision. Some recent examples that have produced really good results are Algeria and Rwanda. Fully involving Cameroon in this new model of cooperation will, most certainly, add a brand-new perspective to the French decolonization process for both Africa and France. Beyond any shadow of a doubt, any such move will finally begin to close the last dark chapters of the 1940s-1960s, whose sole and exclusive objectives were only centered around “FrancAfrique”.

Also, The Patriotic Alliance together with The Union des Populations du Cameroun, two integral actors of the Cameroon Civil Society, both fully engaging in the active development of a much more positive, forward-looking and dynamic political vision, reiterate their resolve in drawing your attention to the final resolution of << The Historical Dispute between Cameroon and France >>. The relevant areas of concern have been articulated in a political and historical document which time-lines the sad and tragic events that have marked and soiled both of our common histories since 1919. This document that we are availing to you, constitutes, in part, a workshop blueprint geared towards the final resolution of this << Historical Dispute between Cameroon and France >>, for the good of all, so that each side can finally come to terms with their individual and truncated histories. As tragic as the situation has been, and for the sake of present and future generations, it is incumbent upon us to implore our collective memories, so that, together, we can live and evolve in peace and build forward on a much healthier relationship, rich in co-equal pride, due leverage and long-term prosperity.

While awaiting concrete action on the overall concept of << The Historical Dispute between Cameroon and France >> which, by and large, will constitute a complete paradigm shift towards the ushering in, and the fostering of a renewed and healthier Franco-Cameroon relationship;

While also awaiting you avail us of all the relevant files relative to the aforementioned and tragic periods of both of our histories, that are archived in your historical library;

I avail myself of the opportunity to assure Your Excellency of my highest consideration.

For The Patriotic Alliance and The Union des Populations du Cameroun,

Dr.  Daniel YAGNYE TOM

President,

The Patriotic Alliance and

Field Special Representative of UPC for Central and Southern Africa