Cameroon: Njoh Litumbe, 84, Publishes Book on Annexation of Southern Cameroons.

*Says annexation is crime against humanity.

*And challenges Southern Cameroons to claim their independence now.

By Christopher Ambe Shu



Mola  Njoh Litumbe (left) at  Book Press Conference



Senior citizen and Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Alliance (LDA),Mola Njoh Litumbe,84,who is now one of the frontline advocates for the independence of Southern Cameroons, has written a book –based on extensive research, on what he calls the colonization of the then UN British Administered Territory of Southern Cameroons by La Republic du Cameroun.

Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest Regions are what used to be the UN British Administered Territory of Southern Cameroons, which Mola Litumbe strongly argues has never gained independence- going by UN regulations, but has only –for decades, been annexed by a neighboring sovereign state, a Republique du Cameroun.

Mola Litumbe presented his book titled, “Case of the Annexation of the UN British Administered Territory of Southern Cameroons” at a press conference in Buea on May 28.

The 48-page book, written in French and English, according to Author Litumbe, is also a “Critical review of the Formation and Dissolution of the State of the Federal Republic of Cameroon”.

The Book

Mola Litumbe who has been footing his own bills globe-trotting and  meeting those who matter at home and abroad including the UN and are concerned about the plight of Southern Cameroons, told journalists that, he was challenged by the Diaspora to reduce his various presentations in defense of the Anglophone cause, in to a book.

He disclosed that before publishing the book, he had served the Cameroon Government with a copy of the manuscript, in the hope that they would read and appreciate the facts of the problem and begin to consider corrective measures.

“Southern Cameroons has never got independence from Britain. We merely changed our slave master from  Britain to la Republique du Cameroon, “Mola Litumbe, stressed. “We have just been annexed. This is crime against humanity- because colonialism is abolished”.

The author hoped that after reading the book and sharing the facts contained therein, Southern Cameroons-the two English –speaking regions of Cameroon, would more than ever before “assert their inalienable rights and claim their independence”

Although Southern Cameroons were denied their legitimate fundamental right of sovereign independence, “they could only be deemed to have done so if they joined one of the two neighboring sovereign states viz: Nigeria or La Republique du Cameroun. 


On the above basis, a UN-supervised plebiscite was conducted throughout the British Cameroons on 11/12 February 1961 and Northern Br.Cameroons voted to join Nigeria and Southern Br.Cameroons voted to join la République du Cameroun.

And it was agreed that on October 1, 1961 Southern Cameroons would gain its independence by joining La Republique du Cameroun, which had gained its independence on January 1, 1960

But Britain –as custodian of Southern Cameroons, failed to guide its mandated territory towards reaching proper agreements with La Republique du Cameroun and getting such registered at the UN as legally required for such to be cited before any of the UN organs.

According to the UN Charter, Article 102(1), “Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any member of the United Nations after the present Charter comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with the secretariat  of the UN and published by it”

(2)No party to 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 or agreement before any organ of the United Nations”

Mola Litumbe, who is the doyen of chartered accountants in Cameroon, has therefore challenged La Republique du Cameroun that is claiming that Southern Cameroons is part of its territory “to produce the documentary proofs, based on the UN Charter provisions, as well as the constitutive Act of African Union”

And “in the absence of such verifiable proofs”, Mola Litumbe maintains, “La Republique du Cameroun is committing an act of annexation and imperialism over Southern Cameroons by denying the latter their legitimate right of self-determination”

The book, which sells at 5000Fcfa and has been described as a must-read  by first reviewers, also talks about The Concept of Independence by Joining, the Two UN Trust territories of British Cameroons and French Cameroon, The Situation of Southern Cameroons, The Exchange of Notes pertaining to the abdication of Southern Cameroons to la Republique du Cameroon, The heroic all-Anglophone Conferences, The Bakassi Affair and the Green Tree accord, The Banjul Recommendations and much more

The press conference was also attended by several Hunan Rights Activists, such as Senior Barrister Sam Ekontang Elad, who is pioneer Chairman of Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC),Lawyer Ajong Stanislaus- one of the attorneys defending the Southern Cameroons case against La Republique before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’Rights in the Gambia.