...The Immediate Aftermath of the February 11 1961 Plebiscite...
(Source: The Times of June 19, 1961)
From The Times Africa Correspondent
As one
looks westwards from Douala, the busy port and commercial outlet of the
Republic of Cameroon, the view is filled by the rising hulk of the
Cameroons Mountain, an active volcano 13,350ft. high, the spreading
slopes of which cover an area of some 400 square miles. Wooded
mountains stretch northwards in a crenellated chain along the frontier
between the Republic and the British trusteeship territory of the
Southern Cameroons, frowning on Douala with an air which at this time
of year, when the clouds hang low, is heavy with menace. The hills are
the invulnerable fortress of terrorists who for six years have
carried on a sporadic rebellion.
The French portion of what was once the German colony of Kamerun became an independent republic at the beginning of last year. As a result of the plebiscite held in the British Cameroons last February, the Southern Cameroons will federate with the Republic on October 1, while on June 1 the Northern Cameroons was absorbed into Nigeria. Lying across the hinge of Africa, the new federation will occupy a strategically important position. The One Kamerun Party in the Southern Cameroons and the extreme wing of the Union des Populations Camerounaises in the Republic, allied in a war of terror aimed at creating a unified state, are finding dwindling support among their own people, but they appear to be receiving considerable help from outside. Letters have been intercepted in which the two parties were instructed to lie low for the time being, while British troops are still in the area, but on October 1 they are expected to make their last, all-out effort.
LOOSE FEDERATION
When the onslaught
comes, the terrorists are likely to find all too easy a prey, for the
federation will begin its life after only a minimum of preparation.
Discussion was for a long time held up by the Republic's insistence
that the plebiscite in the Northern Cameroons had been dishonestly conducted, and only at the end of April, when the United Nations confirmed
the plebiscite result, was the Republic's case tacitly
abandoned, leaving the way open for more serious discussion.
It is clear that the federation will be a loose one, but the exact form it will take, or the way in which the many problems that it poses are to be resolved, remains largely undecided. Indeed, almost every factor seems likely to keep the two territories apart-the only cohesion being the vague concept of national unity, based on a few tribal affiliations and the memory of a short- lived German colony.
Mr. J. N. Foncha. the premier of the Southern Cameroons, would hardly want to see his own ambitions swallowed up by assimilation into the more powerful Republic. President Ahidjo of Cameroon, who draws most of his support from the Muslim North of his country, hoped to win over the Muslims of the Northern Cameroons, but he sees no reason why he should encourage closer association with the South, where the people's ties are almost entirely with the tribes which form the backbone of the U.P.C.
HAZARDOUS JOURNEY
There are a host of other barriers which it will take
years to dismantle. The two currencies have never circulated freely in both territories, and will continue to be kept apart by the very
high cost of living in the Republic. Communications between the two
territories are almost non-existent. Cables from Douala to Buea have
to make a hazardous journey halfway round Africa although the two
places are in sight of each other, a circumstance which has already
caused confusion and delays in Mr. Foncha's negotiations with President Ahidjo. Even when they do meet. as happened last week, their only
means of communication is pidgin, the garbled English which is one of
British colonialism's worst legacies to West Africa; for French and
English have remained rigidly divided by the frontier.
Any chance that
the federation will have a smooth start in life is dimmed still further
by the extreme disparity between the stages of development that the two
territories have reached. The Republic is a going concern with a
reasonably well diversified economy and an able, if overworked,
administration. After initial uncertainties President Ahidjo accepted
the help of France in establishing his country, and French aid is now
pouring in. France spends about ?3,500,000 a year in meeting the Republic's budget deficit, and as much again on aid and cooperation,
quite apart from providing troops and technical advisers. It makes no
difference that this aid is administered with marvellous tact and
restraint; the Republic is committed to drawing much of its life from
France.
Unless the United Kingdom can do the same for the Southern
Cameroons it will rapidly decline to the status of a wild and
depopulated border country.
VULNERABLE ECONOMY
Compared with the
realities of President Ahidjo's Government in Yaounde the atmosphere
in Buea-the village capital of the Southern Cameroons- seems rather
dreamy. Mr. Foncha appears not to have even begun to tackle the facts
of federation, and the British administration, while well aware of the
difficulties, is finding that it is now too late to do much about them.
The British have never been as good as the French at producing African
administrators, and in the Southern Cameroons there are not more than
a couple of dozen people capable of running even quite a small
department. For years the country has lived on Nigeria, which still
runs most of the public services as a federal responsibility; but
Nigerians cannot help after October 1, because of the ill feeling that
has grown up during the past two years.
Of 160 senior officers in the territory's administration only 30 are Cameroonian and the rest British. Mr. Foncha wants the British to stay, but as yet he has given no guarantees of the pension rights and other securities which they at present enjoy from the Nigerian Government. A similar problem is posed by the police force, which, though largely Cameroonian, is also paid and pensioned by Nigeria.
Economically, the country looks even less able to stand on its own feet. Bananas make up about 60 per cent of exports, and bananas are a crop which is particularly vulnerable to weather and disease, and to violent price fluctuations on the world market. The crop depends entirely on Commonwealth preference, the withdrawal of which would mean a loss of ?7 10s. a ton. Mr. Foncha hopes eventually to find other markets, but he will be lucky if he succeeds. Certainly the French do not want any more bananas, as they are already taking more than they can possibly eat or sell from the republic.
TRYING TIME
Only recently has a start been made towards
giving the country a greater diversity, notably by the Cameroons
Development Corporation, which is to become a joint stock company in
association with the Colonial Development Corporation. But the
country is so far behind that a full development pro- gramme will cost,
it is estimated, about ?14m., and most of that will probably have to
come from the United Kingdom. Mr. Foncha has a trying time ahead of
him, and he will be very much on his own. In many ways he is a
remarkable man. In 1955, when he broke away from the ruling
pro-Nigerian Cameroon Peoples National Congress, he had nothing. With
neither money nor education behind him he set out to stump the
country, and within four years he had won enough support to give him 13
out of 26 seats in the House of Assembly.
Mr. Foncha has a dogged persistence, which may yet carry him through. But it would be more reassuring if the two main parties could come together again, for the Southern Cameroons cannot afford the luxury of an opposition. But a true reconciliation will take time and Mr. Foncha remains a solitary man behind his desk, on which there is an in-tray piled high with files, and will be pressing his forefinger against the back of his teeth in a gesture of bewilderment.
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