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Cameroonians Worldwide Celebrate Independence Day

   by James Butty

   Cameroonians around the world celebrated Independence Day Sunday in a
   variety of ways. A group calling itself the Southern Cameroon National
   Council (SCNC) held a rally Saturday in Washington demanding
   self-determination from the Republic of Cameroon.
   Larry Eyong-Echaw, former chairman of SCNC/USA said tensions between
   northern and southern Cameroon continue.
   "The purpose of the gathering today is to alert the international
   community about an impending genocide in southern Cameroon," he said.
   Northern French Cameroon achieved independence in 1960 as the Republic
   of Cameroon.  In 1961, southern British Cameroon voted to join the
   Republic of Cameroon to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.
   Eyong-Echaw said his group wants a peaceful separation between
   Francophone and Anglophone Cameroon.
   "Since 1993, when we started fighting for our separate independence, 43
   nations have been accepted into the concert of nations.  So, we
   southern Cameroonians are asking for the intervention of the
   international community for there to be a peaceful separation between
   us and northern Cameroon," Eyong-Echaw said.
   Bertha Ndoh, special advisor to Prime Minister Philemon Yang, said
   Cameroonians at home celebrated Independence Day under the banner of a
   unitary state.
   "A majority of the Cameroonians came together and we did celebrate our
   unitary state.  Those who were demonstrating are just a little
   percentage of the population," Ndoh said.

   She rejected accusations from the SCNC that Anglophone Cameroon has
   been marginalized by the government of President Paul Biya.
   "You know, it is normal in a state like this [that] not everybody can
   think positive.  We have a little percentage of people who will
   disagree.  Here we are happy because we have national integration.  We
   live peacefully with each other.  Cameroonians can live wherever they
   want to live.  We can intermarry," Ndoh said.
   Eyong-Echaw described as traitors southern Cameroonians who have served
   in the Biya government.
   "Those are traitors. Those are people who do not have self-esteem like
   Ephraim Inoni, who was claiming to be a prime minister but [is] now in
   jail without a trial.  We have a dictatorship in Cameroon.  Southern
   Cameroonians, who are not proud of their British parliamentary
   heritage, go into French Cameroon and they are put in jail where they
   belong because they've sold their nationhood," Eyong Echaw said.
   Inoni, who served as prime minister from 2004 to 2009, was arrested and
   detained in April for his alleged role in the 2004 purchase of a
   presidential plane called Albatross.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/cameroonians-worldwide-celebrate-inde
   pendence-day/920284.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/cameroonians-worldwide-celebrate-independence-day/920284.html