2000 BLCC Letter to Prime Minister Mafany Musonge

On October 4 2000 the BLCC leadership met with the Prime Minister of Cameroon, the  Honorable Peter Mafany Musonge, and some of his top aids, among them the Honorable Ephraim Inoni who would subsequently replace Musonge as Prime Minister.

Mafany Musonge & Ephraim Inoni (former & current Prime Ministers of Cameroon) were both present at the October 2000 meeting with BLCC leadership

During the meeting the PM conceded that the issues of ownership of the land and the payment of ground rents were legitimate demands but urged that these demands be pursued separately from that of privatization. The PM and his aides argued that that a hostile environment was being created by the BLCC protest campaign which was scaring away potential investors.

While the BLCC delegation agreed with the Prime Minister that privatization would be successful only in a peaceful atmosphere, it nonetheless unequivocally stated that: “To the extent that pleas and representations from the Bakweris are either ignored or treated with disdain to that extent will there be protest until justice, equity, and legitimate rights of the bakweri are met.” The Prime Minister then requested that the BLCC send him an Executive Summary of its position on privatization.

On October 30, 2000, the said document to the Prime Minister. In it, the BLCC reiterated the key demands made during the October meeting, restated the historical and legal foundations of Bakweri land claims, challenged any privatization carried out at the expense of the Bakweri, and concluded that:

”The Bakweri people have suffered in silence for long as a result of the large-scale alienation of their land which can only he compared to that in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia. They have borne their hardship with fortitude and equanimity in the hope that one-day justice will prevail. We now look forward to the dispensation of that justice.”

Click here to print or download BLCC letter to PM in PDF format

Comments

[Susan Lee]

Tragedy:
I am woman writer in Singapore. I am so concerned about the staged accident of colleage Dr Bate besong. He had told me all this, that the Francophones in that country want to wipe out the Anglophones, with the help of a few Anglophones in power. I hall see to it that this cruelty gets to the international court, and that Paul Biya, pays for it. The plight of the Southern Cameroonians is tioo much. Their part of the country is rich, but they get nothing out of it. If you do not set them free, you will pay for all this by justice.
Susan

[monangai john monangai]

AM A CAMEROONIAN LIVING IN GERMANY FOR EIGHT YEARS NOW BECAUSE OF LACK OF EMPLOYMENT IN CAMEROON I CAN NOT FIND MY PLACE THERE.I LEFT CAMEROON AT THE AGE OF 20 TO SEARCH FOR GREENER PASTURES,YOU CAN'T IMAGINE EVEN ON THE TV YOU CAN COUNT THE NUMBER OF ENGLISH PROGRAMMES THAT RUNS OVER THE TV.THE ANGLOPHONES HAVE BEEN THROWN APART ESPECIALLY THE SOUTH WESTERNERS HAVE NOT GAINED NOTHING FROM THE GOVERNMENT DESPITE THE RICHEST OF THE PROVINCE,THE CAMEROON GOVERNMENT TALKED ABOUT EQUAL EQUALITY BUT WE CAN NOT FIND THE LIBERTY THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT.
MINISTERS ARE ARE ON A THEFT ROLL, ANY ONE HAS HIS OWN TURN TO STEAL.WHO ARE THEY? OR WHICH PART ARE THEY COMING FROM? THEY ARE ALL FRANCOPHONES FROM THE SAME TRIBAL THROWN WITH THEIR LEADER,I HAVE A SUGGESTION THAT I WILL LIKE TO MAKE TO OUR HEAD OF STATE.I WANT TO SUGGEST THAT EVERY HEAD OF A FAMILY IN CAMEROON SHOULD BE GIVEN AT LEAST FIVE MILLION FRANCS TO START A LIVING WITH.THE CAMEROONIAN POPULATION IS ONLY 17MILLION AND I KNOW THAT THE IS MONEY IN CAMEROON BECAUSE IF A CRULTY SO CALLED MINISTER CAN DO AWAY WITH 650MILLION OR MILLIAD THAT MEANS THERE IS MONEY IN CAMEROON AND EVEN IF FIVE MILLION IS BEEN GIVEN TO EVERYONE