SOUTH WEST FORUM

2 February 2017-02-06  Mountain Hotel Buea

The Buea Declaration

We, the People of the South West Region, comprising the traditional and political leaders of all shades of opinion; and also comprising women, youth, trade union, educational and civil society organisations; as well as members of the Bar Association and other professional bodies,  believers in the Almighty God,  who ordained our origins in this promised land;

                Assembled in Buea in a representative Forum of the South West People, on the 2nd of February 2017 under the guidance of our Almighty God;

                - Considering our republican and patriotic stand of a one and indivisible nation, which has been the long-standing position of the Southwest People;

                - Jealous of its unity in diversity, and against the backdrop of disruptive and unconstitutional attempts by negative forces, to blackmail the institutions of the State, as well as the peace and stability reigning in our region and throughout our country;

                - Cognisant of the injustice, illegality and immorality being perpetrated on our children in depriving them of their most important right, that to education,

Do Hereby Declare as Follows: 

1. Recognise the pertinence of the grievances that have been expressed by the Anglophone professional and trade union leaders in the management of our unity in diversity, although these grievances were watered down by a hidden political agenda for a two-state federation with Anglophones regrouped in one state as well as secession;

2. Acknowledge the sincere and purposeful measures by the Government   designed to provide lasting solutions, through frank and open dialogue, within the framework of the Ad-hoc Committees on Educational and Judicial reforms;

3. Notice with dismay, the failure by the moral and spiritual authorities (Catholic, Presbyterian,  Baptist and others), proprietors of confessional and lay private  educational institutions, to instruct the heads of their educational establishments to open the doors for the resumption of schools and to assure parents of the security measures put in place by the State to ensure the right to education as guaranteed by the Holy Scriptures, the UN and other international organisations such as the African Union;

4. Applaud heartily and warmly, the recent and timely creation by H.E the President of the Republic, of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism as a platform for debate, proposition and mediation in the spirit of dialogue; 

5. Accordingly Express, our deep gratitude to H.E Paul BIYA, the President of the Republic, for His willingness to listen to the people, to dialogue, to appease, and to unite all Cameroonians, in the spirit of the legacy of the Founding Fathers of our Reunification;

6. Vehemently Condemn, and dissociate the South West region, from any notion of a two-state federation that will compromise the cultural identity and political aspirations of the South West People;

7. Equally condemn any notion of secession from the present constitutional dispensation of ten autonomous regions, or any notion of the restoration of the Southern Cameroons, or the so-called Ambazonia Republic, now advocated by the outlawed SCNC;

8.Further condemn all forms and acts of violence, destruction, threats, intimidation and terror on the peace-loving and hospitable Southwest People, as well as the burning of state symbols such as the national flag, which are emblems of our statehood and national sovereignty;

9. Reaffirm solemnly our faith in and commitment to the Constitution and the rights therein, the institutions of the Republic, and the leadership and political vision of the Head of State in the interest of our hard-earned national unity, peace, territorial integrity and sovereignty of our dear Republic;

10. Further reaffirm our clarion call to the parents, students, teachers and the educational authorities for the immediate opening of educational establishments and a return to classes by our children.

DONE IN BUEA, THIS DAY, 2ND OF FEBRUARY, 2017

SIGNED: Sen. MafanyMusonge and SW elite and chiefs