Human Rights Day:

FAKLANS talk self-determination in Buea

By Boris Esono in Buea

Nkongho Felix Agbor, FAKLA President

Lawyers under the banner of the Cameroon Bar Association have commemorated the 64th edition of the International Human Rights Day with the lawyers saying everyone has the right to self-determination.

                Speaking last December 12 in Buea, the president of the Fako Lawyers Association, FAKLA, Barr. Felix Nkongho Agbor Balla said “without the right to Federation and secession, there would never be a right to self-determination…..Art 1 of the UN chatter and chapter 20 of the African Chatter sate clearly that “All people have the right to self-determination”.

                There is no universally acceptable definition of rights and this makes it difficult to understand the definition. The issue of self-determination is very crucial because it means breaking the sovereignty of the state which politicians do not condone.

                “Asking federation and or secession is a right to self-determination. You are considered an outcast, a terrorist, wanting to change the state for considering the idea of federation. Self-determination is very complex. When you succeed, you are accepted by the international community, but when you fail, you are branded a terrorist”.

               

Fako Lawyers met in Buea to talk self determination

“The government in this country has tried very much to deprive its citizens of any self-determination. The 2014 law instituted by the president was not against terrorism or Boko Haram, it was against free speech. “No good can come out of a state headed by band of animals”.

                Bar. Balla went on to posit that there has been a lot of Human Rights violations in the country stating 22nd September and 1st October 2017 which can amount to crimes against humanity and attack on humanity. “Those clamoring for “Amba” have their rights but you don not claim it by using violence and arms. Education and sensitization is paramount in this struggle. There is a right to self-determination”.

                Internal self-determination is very easy to get but external is not easy. Nobody will have it without dyeing. South Sudan had a war for over 25 years and only has self-determination after getting federation for 5-years. You must sweat before you can get federation.

                “If they continue to force it on us then this country will never know peace and they too will not sleep. We will keep on fighting against oppression. Lawyers in the Anglophone regions are unique in the way they practice law from their brothers in French Cameroon. Let us do our thing and let them do theirs”. He added

This year’s International Human Rights Day was celebrated under the theme “Our rights, Our freedom, Always”.