Updated: March 5, 2021
Ambazonian activists in the United States may be united in their quest for independence for Southern Cameroons but they remain seas apart in their approaches.
On Monday, one of the most vocal Ambazonian groups in the United States, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC, drew the line and condemned what it perceived to be a xenophobic approach by Christopher Anu, the Communication Secretary of the self-appointed “interim government” of Southern Cameroons”.
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In a letter to Today News Africa in Washington DC, John Mbah Akuroh, President of the Caretaker Executive Committee of CACSC, said his organization was for the independence and liberation of Southern Cameroons but was against violence and xenophobia.
The letter was addressed to Simon Ateba, the publisher of Today News Africa in Washington DC after the medium published calls by the interim government urging French speaking Cameroonians to vacate Southern Cameroons immediately or have themselves to blame.
The Southern Cameroons interim government on Saturday called for ghost towns in Anglophone regions in Cameroon from September 20 to October 12, and urged Francophones to vacate their territory immediately or have themselves to blame.
In an audio message sent to Today News Africa in Washington DC, Chris Anu, US-based Communication Secretary for the self acclaimed Federal Republic of Ambazonia, issued what he described as a “no movement policy”.
Anu said the “policy directive” banning all movements affects people, cars, motorcycles and any other ground, water or aerial movements between September 20 and October 12.
“The interim government has ordered no movement of persons, of cars, motorbikes, throughout the territory of Ambazonia between the September the 20th through the September the 12th, 2018” he said.
He called on French speaking Cameroonians to vacate Anglophone regions immediately, saying that their security and safety cannot be guaranteed.
“Ambazonia is at war”, Anu said, warning that those who fail to heed the call may have only themselves to blame, as their safety would not he guaranteed.
But it was that approach and that rhetoric that angered John Mbah Akuroh, especially because the story was accompanied by a group photograph he was part of following a press conference he attended in Washington DC in August.
“We might well be all stumping for the restoration of the independence of Southern Cameroons, but we do not share the same philosophy and approach,” said Mr Akuroh, one of the earliest people to agitate for the independence of Southern Cameroons.
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He added: “Our organization is clearly different from the Interim Government of which Mr. Christopher Anu is the Communication Secretary. We might well be all stumping for the restoration of the independence of Southern Cameroons, but we do not share the same philosophy and approach.
“I like to invite you to note that ever since its creation, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium adopted the motto of the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC which states; The force of argument and not the argument of force.
“We are essentially an organization that believes that our independence can clearly be restored following peaceful means, especially through advocacy, civil disobedience and diplomatic outreach. This tells you that xenophobia is not something that falls within the framework of our policy objectives”.
Read full statement
To Mr. Simon Ateba, Editor, Today News Africa, Washington D.C, USA
Dear Sir,
Subject: Rejoinder in relation to Your Article Titled; Ambazonia Leaders in U.S Call for ghost towns in Anglophone regions in Cameroon from September 20, Ask Francophones to vacate immediately
I am writing to you in connection to an article published on your online outlet; Today News Africa, on the 09/15/2018 under the caption highlighted above. My name is John Mbah Akuroh and I am President of the Caretaker Executive Committee of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC. Our organization is clearly different from the Interim Government of which Mr. Christopher Anu is the Communication Secretary. We might well be all stumping for the restoration of the independence of Southern Cameroons, but we do not share the same philosophy and approach.
I like to invite you to note that ever since its creation, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium adopted the motto of the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC which states; The force of argument and not the argument of force. We are essentially an organization that believes that our independence can clearly be restored following peaceful means, especially through advocacy, civil disobedience and diplomatic outreach. This tells you that xenophobia is not something that falls within the framework of our policy objectives.
By this letter, I am urging you to immediately retract the picture attached to the said article which features me in the third position from the right. I am also calling on you to immediately retract the header of the said article which drags me and other honorable leaders of this revolution into the irresponsible utterances of an individual who from all indications does not speak for all of us. The decisions and measures he announces in his audio do not reflect the position we, as leaders came together in Washington on the 17 and 18 of August 2018 and agreed to (See attached resolutions of that meeting).
The Consortium, as well as all the other organizations that signed the Washington resolutions at no point in time asked that French speaking Cameroonians from La République du Cameroun resident on our territory be ousted for whatever reason. In our independence quest, we do not find it legit to be chasing away people, that certainly is not the route followed by others before us. Our struggle is against the colonial administration in Yaounde and its agents on our territory who are unleashing terror on our people daily.
Within this framework, Mr. Editor, I am urging you to immediately publish this rejoinder in the same space and fashion as the article quarreled and retract the picture and title in like manner. If you fail to redress this situation within 72 hours from today, I shall be left with no other option than to seek legal redress for such blatant defamation and damage to my personality.
While I look forward to your prompt action, I have the honour to remain,
Yours Sincerely, John Mbah Akuroh akurohjohn@gmail.com, Tel. 443 985 3480
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