This is the Voice of Amazonia. Truth and Resistance, Clarity in Crisis.
Today is Wednesday, September 17th, 2025.
Today’s editorial is titled: Why We Fight the Betrayal of the Southern Cameroons.
Fellow Amazonians, in the early 1960s, the people of the British Southern Cameroons stood at the door of independence. The United Nations, through Resolution 1608 of April 21, 1961, declared that our land was ready for self-rule.
Britain, the Republic of Cameroon, and our own leaders were asked to agree on the terms of a union before October 1, 1961. At that moment, President Ahidjo of La République du Cameroun made solemn promises before the world: that any union would be federal, not annexation; that the Southern Cameroons would keep its parliament, courts, and administration; that our cultural and linguistic identity would be respected; and that unity would never be imposed by force.
Our leaders believed him. After all, who would doubt a statesman making such assurances before the United Nations and the international community? But history tells us otherwise.
On February 11, 1961, our people voted in a UN plebiscite to join Cameroon rather than Nigeria. Independence, though guaranteed by international law, was denied as an option. We trusted Ahidjo’s pledges. Yet, in 1972, federalism was abolished by referendum, and our autonomy dismantled.
From that day forward, the Southern Cameroons ceased to exist as a state, reduced to provinces under Yaoundé’s control. Since then, every peaceful call for justice has been met with repression, bullets, and blood. The gap between promises and reality has become a wound that refuses to heal.
Let the record be clear. The documents remain in the United Nations archives. Ahidjo’s words are still there. What was promised was autonomy, dignity, and equality. What we received was annexation, assimilation, and war.
That is why we fight. Not out of hatred, but out of memory. Not against peace, but for a peace based on truth and justice.
Message from President Dr Samuel Ikome Sako, President of the Federal Republic of Southern Cameroons’ Ambazonia in Exile
Fellow Ambazonians, our struggle is not a struggle of destruction, but of restoration. The world has in its archives the very promises made to us in 1961. These documents bear witness that we entered this union in good faith, and it is that faith that was betrayed.
We do not seek revenge. We seek justice. We do not seek domination. We seek freedom. And we will never tire until the dignity of the Southern Cameroons is restored, and our children can live in peace and equality among nations.
Remain steadfast. Remain united. The truth is on our side, and history will vindicate us.
This has been the Voice of Amazonia—truth in resistance, clarity in crisis.
