“Cameroonian!” Cameroonians! Cameroon is free and independent. Independence, like freedom, is a good that must be conquered and reconquered every day. And no one is too much to defend it, strengthen it, and preserve it with all their strength and with all their soul.” These are the words of the late Prime Minister and first President of the Republic of Cameroon Ahmadou Ahidjo on January 1, 1960 in Yaoundé. After years of protectorate, mandate and tutelage, the young republic began another stage in its history as an independent Territory. But this freedom which certainly opened up new prospects for development was not unanimous. Indeed, if this right to self-determination was the objective assigned to France and Great Britain by the United Nations (UN), it was above all the culmination of several years of strong resistance and repression of movements Upcists who saw it rather as the beginning of another form of enslavement.
If Cameroonians all aspired without exception to a free and independent Cameroon, doubt about its effectiveness persisted especially on the side of the Union of Cameroon Populations (UCP). Would we really be free to decide what we want, or would our choices be influenced by our guardian? If for some freedom would be effective, for others on the other hand, the official proclamation of this exit from the colonial system was more like a process of transition towards a neo-colonialist system because, the conditions for true independence were not reunited.
Also read : Cameroun : October 1st, commemoration of the beginning of a march towards the Nation-State.
There were indeed prerequisites to be respected to guarantee complete independence. But the late secretary general of the Union of Cameroon Populations (UCP) did not benefit from the same favours as his compatriot Ahmadou Ahidjo. His projects (Ruben Um Nyobe) for Cameroun could only be part of a dynamic of projects whose realization would only come after him, thanks to the cumulative efforts of the leaders of the ruling party and those of others opposition parties.
The late President Ahidjo, enjoyed the privilege of being on the side of those who had the power to do whatever they want unlike the Upcists. In other words, he was on the good side, unlike the upcists who were considered a group of undesirable individuals by the colonial power and its allies. The relevance of the brief intervention of the upcist leader at the concert of nations on December 17, 1952 as well as the multiple detailed points in the long version of his speech are prophetic declarations which are gradually coming to fruition in Cameroon, in Africa and in the world.
Even if the regime of the late President Ahidjo had the privilege of being supported by France to the point that its role in the process of the country's accession to independence was more highlighted than that of Um Nyobe and his colleagues, This can never remove from the memory of Cameroonians that their independence is also the fruit of the blood shed by their martyrs. President Paul Biya himself recognized the gold of his speech on May 17, 2010 in Yaoundé and on the occasion of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of independence, recalling that: “Young nationalists had the uncertain dream of freedom. Let us say it clearly, their fight, for some their sacrifice, will have had a lot to do with the fulfilment of our people's right to self-determination. This is why I repeat, we must be eternally grateful to them” (source: prc.cm).
Although unfortunate incidents of the past can create dissension and division, the truth of conscience always ends up bringing everyone in agreement. Yesterday's enemies were in fact brothers who really contributed to making our country what it is today and what it will be tomorrow, that is to say, a sovereign territory whose survival will always depend on the activism of each political party.
Anglais|French
