Southern Cameroons: The Politics of United Nations Trusteeship Colonial Diplomacy

The Southern Cameroons was administered by Great Britain under the United Nations Trusteeship for preparation towards the achievement of self-government or independence. The people of Southern Cameroons voted in a UN supervised plebiscite on February 11, 1961, to achieve independence by joining the independent Republic of Cameroon. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) by Resolution 1608(XV)-5 dated April 21,1961 fixed the date of independence of Southern Cameroons and termination of the trusteeship on October 1, 1961. UNGA invited Great Britain the Administering Authority, the Government of the Southern Cameroons and the Republic of Cameroun to initiate urgent discussions with a view to finalising, before October 1,1961, the arrangements by which the agreed and declared policies of the parties concerned will be implemented. The resolution was not implemented because the agreed and declared policies of the parties concerned were never worked out. This paper argues that the independence of the Southern Cameroons, which was guaranteed by international law to occur on the critical date of October 1, 1961, was achieved nevertheless; but the union with Cameroon on agreed declared policies by the parties did not take place. The failure by the UN to ensure compliance with the resolution frustrated the purported union. This paper addresses the status of Southern Cameroons in international law on the critical date of October 1, 1961, and establishes that Southern Cameroons attained the status of a decolonized independent state, pending formal UN recognition. The paper recognises that, although decolonised and independent, the freedom of Southern Cameroons was hampered by the cession of the territory by Great Britain to Cameroon through United Nations trusteeship colonial diplomacy and mismanagement of the trust, in violation of peremptory norms of international law, erga omnes obligations and the UN Charter. The paper has demonstrated that the UN bears the greatest responsibility for the cession of the Southern Cameroons by Great Britain and its annexation and colonization by Cameroon and the violent armed conflict which has arisen from these violations. The paper has highlighted the uncontrolled organisational failures and mismanagement of the trusteeship over Southern Cameroons which led to the cession of the territory and the harmful effects on the universal rule of law and UN Charter obligations and recommends UN action to redress the violations.