President of Ambazonia

The president of Ambazonia is the interim or provisional head of state of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, formerly British Southern Cameroons. The latter is a proto-state struggling for freedom from de facto recolonization by a Cameroon under control by France,[1] following the collapse of the UN-coerced cold-war Cameroon federation of 1961. French Cameroon finally abandoned the federation in 1984 by decree to reconstitute the original 1960 French-speaking Republic of Cameroon but has since that time attempted to attach the English-speaking Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) state onto herself as mere regions.

President of the
Federal Republic of Ambazonia
Formation1 October 2017

The compounded effect of (a) underhand efforts to annihilate[2] the Anglo-Saxon cultural heritage of Southern Cameroons, (b) convert the indigenous people into French speakers in an expanded Francafrique, (c) impose civil law practices in common law courts, (d) undermine the Anglo-Saxon educational system and (e) grant to France unfettered access to natural resources and the right to determine the cultural, political and economic choices in Ambazonia as in the Cameroon Republic; all absent the direct democratic consent of the indigenous people; ignited the Southern Cameroons Ambazonian revolution for independence in 2017. Ambazonia comprises the English-speaking provinces of the defunct Federal Republic of Cameroon. The president of Ambazonia is currently a position in exile, functioning through the Interim Government of Ambazonia. No country yet officially recognizes Ambazonia besides two city governments in the Americas. Ambazonia is defending herself in a war declared by the French-speaking political leadership of Cameroon.

History

The separatists argue that Ambazonia's independence constitutes the restoration of Southern Cameroons, which was established by the UK in 1922, exemplified self-governance as a multiparty democracy under British rule between 1954 and 1961, gained independence in 1961 through UN Resolution 1608(xv) to join the Republic of Cameroon and constitute a federation of two equal states now defunct. The Southern Cameroons, christened 'West Cameroon state' and English-speaking, enjoyed regional autonomy alongside the 'East Cameroon state' from 1961 to 1972 despite the absence of the requisite treaty of union stipulated in UN Resolution 1608(xv)(5). E. M. L. Endeley served as the first premier of Southern Cameroons, followed by John Ngu Foncha who defeated him in the 1959 election. Foncha then served as the prime minister of West Cameroon until 1965, when Augustine Ngom Jua was elected. The last Prime Minister of West Cameroon was Salomon Tandeng Muna, who was appointed by the then President of the Cameroon Federation Ahmadou Ahidjo. ST Muna held the post until it was abolished in 1972 at which point the Southern Cameroons lost her regional autonomy.

On 1 October 2017, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, chairman of the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Consortium United Front (SCACUF), declared the independence of Ambazonia with himself as interim president and SCACUF forming the Ambazonia Interim Government.[3] The declaration followed 6 decades of oppressive decrees by successive French-speaking presidents of Cameroon, 80% French-speaking by population and under France through dependency covenants executed 12/26/1959. Despite judicial review, findings of gross violations of rights against the Southern Cameroons people and recommendations by the African Court of Human and Peoples Rights,[4] Cameroon's French-speaking political leadership refused to abide by international law and further expanded the scope of radical decrees put in place against the Southern Cameroons cultural heritage.

Mr. Ayuk Tabe's presidency de facto ended on January 5, 2018, when he and other members of the Ambazonia Interim Government were detained in Abuja, Nigeria,[5] and flown to Cameroon on January 26.[6]

Following Ayuk Tabe's arrest, on February 4, 2018, Samuel Ikome Sako was elected interim president by the remaining cabinet and constituent representatives of the Southern Cameroons Ambazonian diaspora.[7] On May 2, 2019, a document signed by Ayuk Tabe, from prison in Yaounde autoproclaimed that the Sako-led interim cabinet had been dissolved, and that his own pre-arrest cabinet had been restored.[8] This move was not recognized by the Sako-led cabinet which refused to step down on account that a successor [Dr Sako] had been duly elected. This triggered the 2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis.[9] on the day of the United Nations Security Council Aria's Meeting on Southern Cameroons[10] Ambazonia amidst sham concessions.[11] On August 20, 2019, Ayuk tabe was handed a life sentence at the Yaoundé Military Tribunal.[12] In November 2019, the cabinet and tiers of the interim government re-elected Dr Sako to a further two-year mandate in office.[13]

List
No. President Tenure
Took office Left office
1 Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe 1 October 2017 4 February 2018
2 Samuel Ikome Sako 4 February 2018 Incumbent[lower-alpha 1]
(1) Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe 2 May 2019 Incumbent[lower-alpha 2]

See also

Notes
  1. Undisputed de jure until 2 May 2019, de facto ever since while it remains disputed whether he is still president de jure.
  2. De jure since 2 May 2019 according to his supporters; Sako remains de facto President. Ayuk Tabe received a life sentence at the Yaoundé Military Tribunal on 20 August 2019.[12]

References
  1. Cooperation Dependency Accords between France and Cameroun signed and ratified 12/26/1959 Le Journal de l’Afrique n°28, janvier 2017. Accessed March 16, 2020.
  2. The Cameroonian state is the only grave digger in our Constitution, LeMonde online, Paris, 24 January 2017. Accessed March 15, 2020.
  3. "Several killed in Cameroon as anglophones declare 'independent Ambazonia'". Euractiv. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  4. , ACHPR, 2009. Accessed March 15, 2020.
  5. Cameroon separatist leader detained in Nigeria as unrest grows. The Guardian, Jan 7, 2018. Accessed Apr 19, 2018.
  6. Cameroon govt says detained separatists are in good health, enjoying rights, Africa News, Apr 10, 2018. Accessed Apr 28, 2018.
  7. Just In-Dr Samuel Ikome Sako Is New Acting Interim President of The ‘Federal Republic of Ambazonia’, Cameroon News Agency, Feb 4, 2018. Accessed Apr 19, 2018.
  8. Detained Sisiku Auk Tabe Dissolves Interim Government As Infighting Bedevils ‘Ambazonia’ Archived 2019-05-09 at the Wayback Machine, The National Times, May 2, 2019. Accessed May 2, 2019.
  9. Cameroon: Confusion as detained Ambazonia leader impeached by peers, Journal du Cameroun, Jun 12, 2019. Accessed Jun 12, 2019.
  10. , Journal du Cameroun 15 May 2019, Accessed 15 March 2020.
  11. https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1161586/download] by the Republic of Cameroon. USDOJ Africa Report No. 272, Accessed 15 March 2020.
  12. Cameroon: Detained Ambazonia leaders handed life sentence, Journal du Cameroun, Aug 20, 2019. Accessed Aug 20, 2019.
  13. Dr. Sako sworn in as President of Ambazonia, Mimi Mefo Infos, Nov 30, 2019. Accessed Nov 30, 2019.
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