Statement to the Fourth Committee on 23rd February, 1959 by J.N. Foncha, Premier of the Southern Cameroons at the UN

Mr. Chairman, Your Excellencies, on behalf of myself and my honourable colleagues the Members of the Legislature, Chiefs and the people of Southern Cameroons, I thank the General Assembly for having invited us to take part in deciding the destiny of my country.

I wish therefore to assure this most respected Assembly that I will say what my people in the majority want. My party has taken over the Government of the Southern Cameroons because our policy coincides with what the people want. I wish to assure the General Assembly that we will live up to it.

As a result of the process of building the world my people fell to the lot of Germans who began the building of a Cameroons nation. This process was scarcely completed when another force caused the division of the new nation into two, with the people knowing not what was happening to them. We were treated as goods and chattels. However, it was our happy lot that we fell in the care of the British people. For the space of 41 years, British tutelage continued over this portion of the Cameroons but the process of building the nation still goes on. The only difference now is that we refuse to be told were we must belong. We choose to point out where we should be. The world is still in the making and the Cameroons people will dictate where they want to be. I am happy that this privilege is accorded to us.

As I have said, it was our happy lot that we should fall within the tutelage of the British Government. Under the United Kingdom Trusteeship Administration, the people of Southern Cameroons for whom I am most competent to speak have enjoyed freedom of speech, conscience and of movement. Peace had reigned. It is because of this spirit of free thinking and acting within the law that I have been able to head the Government of Southern Cameroons. For all these I wish on my behalf and my people to thank them for the care they have given us, and to say that we will leave them in peace, and afterwards to enjoy their friendship.

Before I say what I come here for, I wish to clear the background of our economic relation with the Federation of Nigeria. The Southern Cameroons is potentially richer than any area of comparative size in the Federation of Nigeria. Tourists say this by comparison. Many tropical crops can grow. Banana is the heaviest cultivated crop. In addition, cocoa, palm produce, coffee, rubber, pepper, castor oil seeds are exported; vegetables both tropical and temperate regions to grow. Our forests are still in the most part virgin, full of valuable trees. Its exploitation has just been started and its wood is proving to command the world market. We produce enough cattle to be able to supple a large part of the Eastern Region of Nigeria with meat.

The incomes of the Southern Cameroons from Custom sources were difficult to calculate accurately before separation from the Eastern Region. From the records available to the Fiscal Commission then only a guess of 1% percent of the Federal incomes from this source was suggested and late on awarded to the Southern Cameroons. This proved to be inadequate and we could not balance our budget. The 1958 Fiscal Commission was able to make use of statistics from new records kept since 1954 and as a result it awarded the Southern Cameroons 2%. Had this been applied from the very onset there should have been no deficit. Accordingly, the 1958 Constitutional Conference took note of this fact and wrote off the advances made to the Territory together with the interests that had accrued. There is every prospect that if given the opportunity to organise the exploitation of its natural resources, the Southern Cameroons can become self-supporting as well as producing a reasonable balance in the years to come.

I therefore wish to dismiss the allegation that the Southern Cameroons is poor and for that reason it should hang on the Federation of Nigeria for support. Events have proved that despite the threats of poverty the course of separation has been pursued with vigour and confidence.

2. The report of the U.N.O Visiting Mission: The report of the UN Visiting Mission as far as the Southern Cameroons is concerned has portrayed opinions that were presented to the Mission. The addendum to the report is a summary of what we said and now stand for. In view of the fact that the Mission kept strictly to its terms of reference, I will proceed to lay out the case of the Southern Cameroons people.

The Case of the Southern Cameroons

3. The basis of mu presentation:

The 4^th U.N Visiting Mission to the Cameroons met two principal opposing political parties in the Southern Cameroons which presented two opposite views about the future of the Trust Territory as a whole. Each made it clear to the Mission that it would undertake to implement the view it expressed should it win the general election which was pending and was later on held on the 24^th January 1959.  The Kamerun National Democratic Party advocated separation from the Federation of Nigeria and the continuation of the Trusteeship Administration for a short time during which contact could be made between the Government of Cameroons under French Administration and the Southern Cameroons as to the best means of effecting the reunification of the two Territories as long desired by the people.

The KNC/KPP Alliance advocated the continuation of the British Cameroons as a permanent part of the Federation of Nigeria, and so must achieve independence with it in 1960.

The KNDP has won the general elections and has formed the Government of Southern Cameroons. I, as the National President of this party and Premier of the new Government, have come to the U.N. General Assembly to reaffirm the views my party had persistently expressed.

4. What we want: Following the above explanation, I wish to say that I am mandated by the House of Assembly and the majority of the people of the Southern Cameroons to place the following before the U.N. General Assembly as what they want.

(a) That we want the separation of the Southern Cameroons from the Federation of Nigeria before the latter attains independence in 1960.

(b) That the Southern Cameroons be constituted into a separate entity and continue for a short time under the United Kingdom Trusteeship. The Trusteeship Agreement should be modified to allow the Southern Cameroons to be administered separately from Nigeria. During this interim period the Southern Cameroons will work towards complete independence.

(Source: National Archives Buea)