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Ambazonia V. La Republique du Cameroun: Mediation and ceasefire talks in Yaounde: A legal perspectiv

2020-07-13

No: 511

Ambazonia V. La Republique du Cameroun: Mediation and ceasefire talks in Yaounde: A legal perspective.

By Barrister Tumasang.

Dear All,

I have read Sisiku’s statement about ceasefire talks in Yaounde and I have heard an audio by Chris Anu disclaiming the statement by Sisiku. In municipal law, when you take a case to court, the judge can order that status quo ante be maintained pending the determination of the case. This is to avoid a fait accompli being foisted on the court.

In International law, when you take a case to an International Tribunal or the International Court of Justice (ICJ), you can apply for INTERIM MEASURES. These are preliminary things to be done immediately because failure to do mean might mean irreparable damage by the time the case is over which might take years.

Ambazonians in their international mediation submission have prepared interim measures to be discussed and implemented once negotiations start and Ceasefire is on. Ceasefire cannot be discussed out of mediation since it is one of the interim measures in mediation and it cannot be discussed severally without the other interim measures being discussed since they are interwoven.

Originally, I did not want to declassify this portion of Ambazonia’s mediation submission but due to the conflicting positions being taken by various Ambazonian stakeholders, I have decided to declassify it. This is Ambazonia’s position in terms of interim measures at the start of any negotiations,

DECLASSIFIED PORTION OF AMBAZONIAN MEDIATION POSITION STATEMENT

121 Considering that the damage done to Ambazonia since 1961 to date is immeasurable, and mindful of the fact that the humanitarian situation in Ambazonia is dire where more than five thousand civilians have been killed and are being killed, over 4 million Ambazonians have been affected or displaced, hundreds of thousands as documented and undocumented refugees in Nigeria, it is urgent and necessary to institute the following interim measures whilst this mediation process is taking place to negotiate the sovereignty issue, which is the gravamen of the present dispute since it is not certain when the process will end:

1. Unconditional freeing of all political prisoners (POWs) in Ambazonian and La Republique du Cameroun jails, sentenced already or undergoing purported trial mostly in military tribunals, whose incarceration in underground and over ground detention centres emanates from the subject matter of this mediation, including Sisiku Ayuk, the Nera 10, the other 47 abductees from Nigeria, and the thousands in jail, mostly randomly arrested but who could not pay the amounts requested on time or at all for their release, hence ended up in jails at home in Ambazonia or abroad in La Republique du Cameroun;

2. Exchange or release of all Prisoners of War (POWs) if any;

3. Demilitarisation of the territory of Ambazonia i.e. all occupation troops from La Republique du Cameroun be removed from Ambazonia (including foreign troops) to allow schools to resume normally hence the hundreds of thousands of students out of school for over 3 years to return to school;

4. Transfer of all La Republique du Cameroun administrators from Ambazonia i.e. Governors, Senior District Officers, judges, magistrates, teachers, District Officers, police commissioners, etc.;

5. Allowing Ambazonia to collect customs duty for going and coming into its territory i.e. at the Ekok border post, Abongshe border post, Wum border post, Victoria seaport, Tiko wharf, Mungo bridge border post, Matazem border post, etc. and use on interim palliative measures on its traumatized population;

6. Immediate formation of Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) in Ambazonia and transfer of all pension monies from Ambazonian workers accumulated since 1961 and domiciled in La Republique du Cameroun, to these Ambazonian PFAs to manage and be paying retirees their entitlements whilst investing the funds;

7. An interim ceasefire after all La Republique du Cameroun troops and foreign troops have vacated the territory, to prevent more bloodshed, and particularly to control the spread of Covid 19 in the territory;

8. Empowering local police made up of indigenous Ambazonians only, and locally formed peace groups to maintain the peace until the sovereignty issue which is the main purpose of this mediation is resolved;

9. Empowerment of County administrators and Local Government Administrators (LGAs) already existing in the territory to administer their counties or LGAs pending the resolution of the sovereignty issue of Ambazonia;

10. Creation of an Ambazonian Bank Account into which an agreed portion of oil revenue is paid for development and management of Ambazonians by a Committee made up of County Chairpersons and LGA chairpersons.

11. Creation of Ambazonian Reconstruction Account where all foreign donations for reconstruction of Ambazonia is vested, to be managed by a Committee of County Chairpersons and LGA chairpersons for reconstruction activities within their counties or LGAs;

12. Immediate implementation of an education curriculum in the whole of Ambazonia that has been drafted and agreed by Ambazonians themselves and not imposed by a foreign power or powers;

13. Immediate institution of an Ambazonian Supreme Court and an Ambazonian Judicial Council to manage all judicial matters in Ambazonia;

14. Immediate reinstitution of Ambazonian Parliament that was abolished by stealth by La Republique du Cameroun and LGA chairmen act as interim parliamentarians pending the election of parliamentarians;

15. Immediate constitution of an Ambazonian Independent Electoral Commission with representatives from each County and the representatives to vote their chairman, with the exclusive mandate to conduct all elections within Ambazonia, be it international, national or local elections but with provision for international and national monitors of elections;

16. Opening of an escrow account and transfer by La Republique du Cameroun of at least US$1 billion to be used as initial/partial down payment for reparation/equitable adjustment/compensation for its international wrongful acts since 1961 to date against Ambazonia;

17. Payment of international judgment debts from international tribunals such as African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) and The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), including debts from Communication 266/2003, debts from UNHRC owed to Fon Dinka, and Ebenezer Akwanga, and other similar debts;

18. Amnesty/immunity for all Ambazonians at home or abroad, for all acts, utterances, inaction or omissions in relation to the ongoing crises in Ambazonia, except as relates to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

CONCLUSION

The above is Ambazonia Experts legal opinion to Sisiku and Sako. I will be writing to both Sisiku and Sako on this issue, and I recommend other experts such as Chief Taku and Professor Anyangwe to write to Sisiku and stress the above points I have crafted in our mediation submission.

Sisiku cannot negotiate ceasefire which is an interim item in Mediation out of mediation and he cannot negotiate ceasefire without all the other Mediation interim measures being negotiated otherwise Ambazonian will lose its leverage and irreparable damage will be done.

Sisiku should tell LRC that ceasefire is an interim measure in mediation and should be discussed at the start of the international mediation and that any discussions in Yaounde can only be on freeing of leaders who are Prisoners of War (POWs), to meet their brothers out of jail to jointly go to mediation immediately to discuss ceasefire and other interim measures.

The international mediation can be in Switzerland, Norway, USA, Canada, or even South Africa, it does not matter but it has to be outside Ambazonia and LRC, in the presence of UN representatives and other international observers and/or mediators.

Tumasang Martin

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Ambazonia V. La Republique du Cameroun: Mediation and ceasefire talks in Yaounde: A legal perspectiv