Bakweri Digital Archives

The Bakweri Land Claims Committee: Standing the Test of Time and History

Created shortly after the Second World War, precisely in 1946, the Bakweri Land Committee (BLC), which is now officially referred to as the Bakweri Land Claims Committee (BLCC), has been at the forefront of the Bakweri campaign for compensation for, and restitution of, their lands initially expropriated by the Germans at the end of the 19th Century, and taken over by the Government of Cameroon, immediately after the reunification of British and French Cameroons in 1961.

2003 Bakweri Land Claims Committee Vs. Cameroon: BLCC Response to Preliminary Objections of Cameroon

Before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights 

Summary

On October 4, 2002, after nine long years of waiting on Respondent to resolve the Bakweri Land Problem, Complainants submitted a Communication to the Commission asserting that Respondent had violated its obligations under the African Charter. Complainants requested that the Commission resolve the problem and grant them appropriate relief.

2003 BLCC Submission on Admissibility to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

Communication 260/2002 – Bakweri Land Claims Committee (BLCC) Vs. Cameroon

Introduction

On behalf of the Traditional Rulers, Notables and Elites of the indigenous minority peoples of Fako Division (the “Bakweri”), in the Republic of Cameroon, and their accredited agent, the Bakweri Land Claims Committee (“BLCC”), and at their request, the undersigned Counsel, presents this Submission on Admissibility as a supplement to Communication 260/2002 - Bakweri Land Claims Committee/Cameroon which the Commission considered and decided to be seised at its 32nd Ordinary Session that held in Banjul, The Gambia from 17th - 23rd October 2002.

2002 BLCC Petition to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

Communication Under Articles 55, 56, and 58 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights Concerning Violation of Land Rights of an Indigenous Ethnic Minority in Cameroon

While the core of this Communication centers on the persistent violation of the protected right to property, other fundamental human rights are also implicated.

BLCC Notice to Brobon Finex

“A [South African] Company that should have been sensitive to minority rights and land issues has chosen to be complicit in the dispossession of the Bakweri people of their ancestral lands”

Sir, BLCC believes that your company may have, perhaps with all the best intentions, agreed to this deal without the benefit of a full and complete disclosure on the status of the lands which these tea estates occupy. Our interest is, of course, in the Tole/Bwiyuku estate which is in Bakweri territory.

2002 Without a Trace: On the Trail of the Elusive Brobon Finex

A BLCC-USA Investigative Report

An extensive investigation carried out the Bakweri Land Claims Committee (BLCC) into the identity of Brobon Finex since October 2002 seems to give credence to increasing evidence and allegations being made in Cameroon (even by the Government-owned Cameroon Tribune) that this South African “consortium”, which recently purchased the Tea estates of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), may be a dummy Corporation set up by unscrupulous Cameroonian nationals (with the aid of South African accomplices) to defraud the Cameroonian people.

2002 BLCC Reaction to the Sale of CDC Tea Estates

Statement by the Bakweri Land Claims Committee (BLCC) following the announcement on the Privatisation of the Tea Estates of the Cameroon Development Corporation - Thursday 6th June, 2002

In the last few days, information has been carried by the public Radio and the Press to the effect that the Cameroon Government has decided, unilaterally, to privatise the tea estates of the Cameroon Development Corporation.

2001 Letter to PriceWaterhouse Coopers

Prof. Kofele-Kale: "BLCC will Seek Legal Redress Against PriceWaterhouse Coopers for Participating in Dispossessing the Bakweri of their Lands"

RE: The Status of Bakweri Lands after the Sale or Privatization of the Cameroon Development Corporation

On the 24th February 2001, I addressed a letter to you and attached a copy of a separate one that had earlier been sent, on instructions of the Secretary General of the Bakweri Land Claims Committee (“BLCC”), to prospective foreign buyers of the assets of the Cameroon Development Corporation (“CDC”) which put them “on notice that a cloud continues to hover over the title to the lands on which stand the CDC plantations.”

2001 CEFAM Resolutions Adopted By Fako Chiefs and Notables

Resolutions adopted at a meeting of Fako Chiefs, Notables and Elite at their meeting in CEFAM (Local Government Training Center), Buea on July 28, 2001

Preamble
At a meeting of Fako Chiefs, Notables and Elite, held at CEFAM Buea on Saturday 7th  April, 2001, it was agreed to establish a special committee to explore the possibility of setting up a trust which would cater for the rights of owners of CDC lands, under the Land (Perpetual Succession) Ordinance. The committee comprised all members of the Executive of the Fako Chiefs Conference, two representatives of the BLCC, two lawyers, and an educationist.

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