Southern Cameroons Struggle : Why Gov’t Dispatches Delegation to UN

In what looks like a move to thwart the diplomatic efforts by Southern Cameroonians as they battle to restore their statehood, the government of Cameroon has dispatched a three man delegation to the United Nations. The delegation is due to meet with Cameroon’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations and some Cameroonians in the United States.

UN Headquarters, New Battle ground ?  

A statement from the Director of Cameroon’s PM’s Cabinet issued July 31 indicated that the three man team will be in the USA from the 3^rd - 9^th of August 2017.

Paul Ghogomu who is also part of the delegation, alongside former Minister Elvis Ngole Ngole, and Professor Nkot who is technical adviser to the PM, in the statement, said the President of the Republic and the PM give serious value to the visit.

Although the statement from Paul Ghogomu simple said the delegation is to go and explain the prevailing situation in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon, there are indications that the government is making attempts at wooing the UN to give credence to its efforts in trying to resolve the 8 month old crisis.

The visit comes barely few days after Southern Cameroons Senior Citizen and veteran politician, Mola Njoh Litumbe,  led a delegation of officials from the Public Affairs Committee of the  Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Consortium, United Front ,SCACUF,  marched to the UN office in New York on July 28, to seek UN’s intervention to prevent what they describe as a possible genocide in the Southern Cameroons. 

Cameroon Governments Statement 

Scacuf’s Kingsley Ashu and Caleche Bongo were at the office of the Special adviser to the UN, Adama Dieng and explained the human rights violations that have been on-going in Southern Cameroons for 56 years.  They denounced, marginalisation, abusive arrests and extrajudicial killings of Southern Cameroonians.

It is therefore not surprising that after the Scacuf delegation left New York, the government is sending a delegation to meet its representative at the UN. Other government officials are said to be on similar missions to other countries across the globe. The government officials are also due to meet other Cameroonians resident in the USA.  It is not clear whether the government delegation would be bold enough to explain, that the bone of contention in ending the crisis has been the sustained demand for the release of all those arrested.