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The Cameroon War[lower-alpha 1] (also known as the Hidden War,[lower-alpha 2][3] or the Cameroonian War of Independence[lower-alpha 3]) is the name of the independence struggle between Cameroon's nationalist movement and France. The movement was spearheaded by the Cameroonian Peoples Union (UPC). Even after independence, the rebellion continued, shaping contemporary politics. The war began with riots in 1955 and continued after Cameroon gained independence in 1960. Following independence, the first President of Cameroon, Ahmadou Ahidjo requested continued French military intervention to fight the UPC rebels. The UPC rebellion was largely crushed by the Cameroonian Armed Forces and French Army by 1964.[4] This war is often forgotten because it occurred at the height of France's biggest colonial independence struggle, the Algerian War.
The war is believed to have produced some 61,300 to 76,300 civilian deaths, according to estimates from the British embassy assembled in 1964, with 80% of the dead being from the Bamileke Region. General Max Briand, the commander of all French military forces in Cameroon, gave an estimate of 20,000 people killed in the Bamileke Region in 1960 alone. Some modern estimates for deaths go into the hundreds of thousands or even millions, but are believed to not be reliable. Overall, estimating the number of deaths is difficult as the French administration did not keep meticulous records of the number of people killed.[4]
Causes of war
Cameroon's own movement began in the early 1950s, after the founding of the Cameroon Peoples Union (UPC), Cameroon's first and most prominent nationalist party.[5] The party was centered around two main goals: separating from France and establishing a socialist economy.[6][5] The party was founded in 1948 by Ruben Um Nyobe and his colleague, Felix-Roland Moumie.
The burgeoning nationalist movement was met with the challenge of a colonial administration that wanted to neutralize it.[7] In a letter that was written to the colonial high commission in 1954, Um Nyobe wrote:
“For six years, the Union of Cameroonian People has resisted and will continue to resist violent hostility from French colonial authorities. One must write a book to cover the inventory of forces and structures of power that were used to combat our organization”[3]
Um Nyobe's words allude to the tensions that existed between the nationalist movement and the colonial administration. Attempts to thwart the nationalist movement were not unique to Cameroon, but rather a natural extension of French colonial politics at the time. The French colonial administration's efforts to suppress UPC led to a brutal civil war.
Elites and the war
For many Cameroonian nationalists, embroiling oneself in the war was not an immediate inclination. In fact, many attempted to cooperate and participate democratically in the French colonial political system. Many of these were Cameroonians who had fully assimilated French law, language, and customs and were called Evolue. They admired the French lifestyle and denigrated local mores.[8] Yet, some of Cameroon's early revolutionaries would qualify as evolue.
Likewise, candidats administratifs were candidates that were favored by the colonial administrations.[3] This practice was first introduced in Cameroon in 1945 when the colonial government was looking to create a class of proteges. During a provisional election, they placed Chief Andre Fouda against popular anti-colonialist Douala Manga Bell. The colonial administration favored Fouda and worked to ensure his victory.[3]
Um Nyobe's leadership
Even members of the UPC tried to participate in the French political process at first. During legislative elections in June 1951, Ruben Um Nyobe presented himself to electors. To hinder Um Nyobe's chances, the colonial administration waited until the last minute to accept Nyobe's candidacy. The administration also employed methods of voter suppression.[9] Regions in which Nyobe's popularity was high, had few voting offices. This forced Nyobe's supporters to travel long distances just to cast their votes. Nyobe ended up losing the election, winning only 3,100 votes.[10]
Frustrated by election results and other injustices plaguing the country, Nyobe took to the international stage. He defended three times (1952, 1953, and 1954) the cause of independent Cameroon before the General Assembly of the United Nations.[11][12] In his speeches, Nyobe denounced French colonial rule and called for the unification of British and French Cameroon.[13]
The UPC's growing popularity became a threat for the French, and left latitude for other conflicts.
War chronology
On April 22, 1955, the UPC published the "Proclamation Commune," which at the time, was considered a unilateral independence manifesto.[14] However, the colonial administration viewed it as an unnecessary provocation.
Slowly, the French began to focus their energies on quelling the UPC movement, by stifling its leaders and their supporters. By May 1955, Um Nyobe and his peers went into hiding.[3]
On May 22, 1955, pro-independence riots broke out in Cameroon's major cities, Douala and Yaounde. These riots would continue on until May 30, 1955, when they were shut down by new French Colonial High Commissioner, Roland Pre. Following the riots, on July 13, 1955, French authorities officially banned the UPC.[15] In the Sanaga-Maritime, the region of the country that contains the nation's largest cities Douala and Yaounde, the French Administration repressed these riots.[3]
On December 18, 1956, the UPC began boycotting legislative elections. They enacted a “zone de maintien de l’ordre” at Sanaga-Maritime to squash nationalist upheaval. This designation gave the French the authority to exert any military force on Cameroonians living in Sanaga-Maritime. In retaliation, the UPC established an armed branch of their party called Organizational National Committee (CNO).[16] From this moment, the war had officially begun.
As tensions heightened, the French quickly tried to retain order in the area. They brought in a lieutenant colonel, Jean Lamberton, from French Indochine to lead these efforts. From December 9, 1957, through 1958, Lamberton enacted what was known was the Cameroon Pacification Zone (ZoPac).[17] In this zone, locals were placed into camps and surveilled by the colonial army. The culmination of this pacification program was Um Nyobe's assassination in September 1958.[13]
From January 18, 1957, to May 25, 1959, French authorities installed a similar martial zone in western regions of Cameroon. This region of the country is home to two of the nation's largest ethnic groups, the Bamileke and the Bassa.[7] Localizing the conflict within the Bamileke region also served to quell the power of Bamileke elites.[18] However, Bamileke and Bassa forces continually challenged the French rule.
In January 1959, the Cameroonian Liberation Army began fighting for Cameroon to become an independent nation. From this moment, the Cameroonians and the French were engaged in a fully fledged war.
On January 1, 1960, Cameroon gained independence, and Ahmadou Ahidjo became the nation's first President.
War Crimes
Both the rebels, Cameroonian military and the French military committed war crimes during the conflict. The French Army "frequently burned or otherwise completely destroyed entire villages infested with terrorists, resulting in the killing of an unknown number of non-terrorist civilians".[19]
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Its coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West Africa and Central Africa, it has been categorized as being in both camps. Its nearly 27 million people speak 250 native languages, in addition to the national tongues of English and French, or both.
At the crossroads of West Africa and Central Africa, the territory of what is now Cameroon has seen human habitation since some time in the Middle Paleolithic, likely no later than 130,000 years ago. The earliest discovered archaeological evidence of humans dates from around 30,000 years ago at Shum Laka. The Bamenda highlands in western Cameroon near the border with Nigeria are the most likely origin for the Bantu peoples, whose language and culture came to dominate most of central and southern Africa between 1000 BCE and 1000 CE.
The Centre Region occupies 69,000 km2 of the central plains of the Republic of Cameroon. It is bordered to the north by the Adamawa Region, to the south by the South Region, to the east by the East Region, and to the West by the Littoral and West Regions. It is the second largest of Cameroon's regions in land area. Major ethnic groups include the Bassa, Ewondo, and Vute.
The Union of the Peoples of Cameroon is a political party in Cameroon.
Alexandre Biyidi Awala, known as Mongo Beti or Eza Boto, was a Cameroonian writer.
Articles related to Cameroon include:
The Bassa are a Bantu ethnic group in Cameroon. They number approximately 800,000 individuals. The Bassa speak the Basaa language.
Ruben Um Nyobè was an anti-colonialist Cameroonian leader, slain by the French army on 13 September 1958, near his natal village of Boumnyebel, in the department of Nyong-et-Kellé in the maquis Bassa. On 10 April 1948, he created the Cameroon's People Union (UPC), which used unarmed struggle to obtain independence from French colonial rule.
Andre-Marie Mbida was a Cameroonian statesman, a nationalist, the first Cameroonian to be elected Member of Parliament at the French National Assembly, a Prime Minister of Cameroon, the second African-born Prime Minister in Sub-Saharan Africa, the first Head of State of French-speaking autonomous Cameroon from 12 May 1957 to 16 February 1958, and the first political prisoner of independent Cameroon from 29 June 1962 to 29 June 1965.
Ndumbé Lobé Bell or King Bell was a leader of the Duala people in what is now the southern part of Cameroon during the period when the Germans established their colony of Kamerun. He was an astute politician and a highly successful businessman.
French Cameroon, also known as the French Cameroons, was a French mandate territory in Central Africa. It now forms part of the independent country of Cameroon.
Ernest Ouandié was a leader of the struggle for independence of Cameroon in the 1950s who continued to resist the government of President Ahmadou Ahidjo after Cameroon became independent in 1960. He was captured in 1970, tried and condemned to the death penalty. On 15 January 1971, he was publicly executed in Bafoussam.
Castor Osendé Afana was a Marxist economist and militant nationalist who died in 1966 while fighting as a guerrilla against the government of Cameroon.
Boumnyébel is a community in Cameroon about 120 kilometres (75 mi) along the road from Yaoundé to Douala. The village is on the road from Edéa to Yaoundé, at the junction with the road from Bafia.
Abel Kingué was a political leader in the struggle for the independence of Cameroon from France.
Tankeu Noé was a member of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) guerrilla forces in Cameroon fighting first against French colonial government and then against the government of Ahmadou Ahidjo in the Douala region.
Ndeh Ntumazah was a leader of the pro-independence movement in Cameroon in the 1950s. He was forced into exile, and was unable to return to his country until 1991, when he returned to the political fray. After his death he was honoured by an official burial.
The villa Mandessi Bell situated at Douala is a building constructed between 1904 and 1909 by David Mandessi-Bell a rich farmer and commissioner of the king Rudolf Manga Bell. This building is and architecture from the colonial period. It is a representation and legacy of the German occupation in Cameroon.
Tayap is a small village of Cameroon located in the Centre Region, between the country's capital Yaounde (86 km) and Douala (164 km). The village of Tayap is part of the Ngog-Mapubi district of the Nyong-et-Kéllé department.
Blick Bassy is a Bassa singer-songwriter from Cameroon. Bassy writes his songs in his native language, Bassa. His song "Kiki", from Akö, featured as the theme song for the worldwide launch of the iPhone 6 in 2015.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Deltombe, Thomas (2011). Kamerun! Une guerre cachée aux origines de la Françafrique (1948 - 1971). Paris: La Découverte. p.114. ISBN978-2-7071-5913-7.
1 2 Teretta, Meredith. "Nation of Outlaws, State of Violence: Nationalism, Grassfields Tradition, and State Building in Cameroon". Athens OH: Ohio University Press. Page 178-179.
↑ Deltombe, Thomas (2011). Kamerun! Une guerre cachée aux origines de la Françafrique (1948 - 1971). Paris: La Découverte. pp.120–121. ISBN978-2-7071-5913-7.
↑ Teretta, Meredith. "Nation of Outlaws, State of Violence: Nationalism, Grassfields Tradition, and State Building in Cameroon". Athens OH: Ohio University Press. Page 178.
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Federal Republic of Cameroon 
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Union of the Peoples of Cameroon 
