The Presidency responds to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Canada on mandate to facilitate peace in Cameroon.
A letter was sent to Global Affairs Canada (GAC) on the 12th of December 2022 stating the stance of the Interim Government on the 3rd Canadian pre-talk which the IG did not attend. See attached PDF below:
FULL TEXT RESPONDING TO THE STATEMENT FROM GLOBAL AFFAIRS CANADA ON MANDATE TO FACILITATE PEACE IN CAMEROON
PP-PIGFRA 2101/2023
21st January 2023
To: THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS CANADA
Honourable Mélanie Joly
RESPONSE TO THE RELEASED STATEMENT FROM GLOBAL AFFAIRS CANADA (GAC) ON PEACE PROCESS IN CAMEROON DATED 20TH JANUARY 2023
Canada falls short of structuring and conducting an all-inclusive, fair and transparent process, after being swayed to engage selected stakeholders of the Ambazonian liberation plight yet claims mandate to facilitate a peaceful political settlement of the ongoing conflict between La République du Cameroun (LRC) and Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.
Be it known that delegates of the IG were not invited to the third pretalk session in Canada that led to the agreements expressed in the statement from the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published on the 20th January 2023 (https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2023/01/statement-on-peace-process-in-cameroon.html ), because GAC was put to scrutiny by the IG leadership (letter dated 12th December 2022 which is attached to this release) on the structural and functional authenticity of the process and the need to officially recognize the identity of the parties to the process (Ambazonia and La République du Cameroun) before requesting the commitment of the two parties and before obtaining the mandate to facilitate the process.
Other aspects void of trustworthiness on the statement include:
– The appellation North West (NW) and South West (SW) was categorically rejected by all the Ambazonian delegates during the first two pre-talks in which IG delegates participated. It is therefore shocking to still see GAC make references to NW and SW despite the rejection and education.
– There are two parties involved in the ongoing pretalks, not seven parties as mentioned in the statement by GAC. The two parties are Team A- The Federal Republic of Ambazonia and Team B- La République du Cameroun. This was recognized at the first pretalks and as a result, in all correspondences from the first two pretalks, the two parties have been referred to as Team A and Team B as agreed by the two parties, until at such a time when they will be publicly identified as the Southern Cameroons – Ambazonia and La République du Cameroun respectively. Besides, the first 4 purported parties listed in the statement after “the Republic of Cameroon” are factions of a common denominator.
– Mentioning the Ambazonia Coalition Team (ACT) as a party to the agreement is fraudulent and redundant because the IG and other independentist movements in ACT were neither consulted nor endorsed any such agreement.
The parties listed on the agreement by GAC reflect a lack of knowledge or a deliberate attempt to deceive the international community. This will further nest Ambazonians’ distrust in GAC’s ability to adequately address and manage the root causes of the ongoing genocidal war in Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.
Be reminded that the IG was not part of the third pretalks that led to the agreement in the statement.
The IG therefore declares the statement from the Canadian Ministry of FA not trustworthy, a recipe to failure of the process upon inception and hence distances herself from the purported agreement expressed in the statement.
The IG is equally appalled by the pompous, fraudulent, and non-patriotic attitude of the so-called stakeholders mentioned in the statement.
It is the wish of the Ambazonian people to see the full application of the fundamental principle of external self-determination with the objective of attaining the restoration of our independence. Ensuring all-inclusiveness in the representation of the people will guarantee a long-lasting and binding outcome of any just process. GAC in facilitating as an impartial third party must make efforts to attain an appropriate democratic representative quorum of the will of the Ambazonian people and make efforts to report honestly, accurately, and transparently to the Ambazonian people and the International Community as a whole.
The Interim Government (IG) of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia remains engaged to any authentic process but has not acquired the consensus of the Ambazonian people to commit to the Canadian facilitation process without ascertaining the authenticity of the process and without due recognition of the identity of the parties to the process.
Signed
Signed this day Saturday 21st January 2023
Mrs. Marianta Njomia
President of the IG of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.
CC:
– Canadian High Commissioner to Cameroun, Mr. Richard Bale
– Assistant to the Deputy Minister for Global Affairs Canada, Mr. Peter MacDougal
– Delegated Assistant to the Deputy Minister for Global Affairs Canada, Mrs. Nicole Waintraub
– The Ambazonian People
– All LGA and County Chairs
– The International Community and Media Houses
FULL TEXT OF APPRAISAL TO GAC DATED 12TH DECEMBER 2022
PP-PIGFRA 1212/2022
12th December 2022
To: TO GLOBAL AFFAIRS CANADA
C/O Deputy Minister For Global Affairs Canada
Mr. Peter MacDougall
APPRAISAL ON PLANNING OF CBM WORKSHOP AND A CALL FOR FAIR STRUCTURING OF THE CANADIAN FACILITATION PROCESS
The IG on behalf of the people of Ambazonia extend gratitude and thanks to the Canadian Government for invoking their political goodwill to intervene in seeking a peaceful and just solution to the ongoing conflict between La République du Cameroun and the People of the Southern Cameroons.
Aware of an ongoing Canadian Facilitation Process between the leadership of southern Cameroons Ambazonia and the Government of Cameroun aimed at seeking a solution to the ongoing conflict;
Ascertaining that the fundamental prerequisite of an impartial third-party engagement in a neutral ground was verified;
Acknowledging the different virtual Zoom or WhatsApp calls in the context of the ongoing Canadian Facilitation Process between the IG leadership represented by President Marianta Njomia and VP Dr Abongwa Hariscine, And Global Affairs Canada represented in different occasions by the deputy minister for Global Affairs Canada Mr. Peter MacDougall, the delegated assistant to the deputy minister Mrs. Nicole Waintraub and the Canadian High Commissioner to Cameroun Mr. Richard Bale;
Reiterating that the IG will only commit to the process after validating its authenticity (All-inclusiveness, Fairness and Transparency) and that an all-inclusive process is paramount to render the outcome of the process void of spoilers and binding to both parties.
Reminding that the IG has previously made a request to GAC that all process-related gatherings, workshops and events be organized by partners officially presented by GAC as part of the process; and that such partners must be a third neutral party operating in a neutral ground;
The leadership of the IG hereby brings to your attention and to have it on record, the following problematic issues and actions of GAC that led to our non-participation in the Berlin Workshop on CBM (December 10th-11th 2022):
• Absence of clear outline and structure of the process. It appears that GAC is simultaneously structuring and conducting an undefined process.
• Planning of the meeting was chaotic and we did not feel considered: we were informed of the definite date and place only 5 days to the event; information derived from our talks with Mrs. Nicole Waintraub and Ambassador Bale revealed that not only was the leadership of other Ambazonian independentist entities aware of the arrangements time ahead but also that the date and placed was agreed by GAC to accommodate a pre-planned meeting of other Ambazonian independentist movements.
• Despite our recommendations that any leadership forum be constituted with oversight from a delegated third party who:
– Is officially recognized by GAC as partner in the process;
-Demonstrates neutrality and impartiality and doesn’t entertain preferred links with one specific group (as is the case between NOREF and AGC);
Another meeting of the leaders was organized without coordination with GAC and with the support of an entity that isn’t a neutral external party.
• Considering that in our talks, Mrs. Waintraub stated that HD and NOREF were delegated to organize the Berlin workshop, it was astonishing to ascertain that as per the date of our conversation with Mrs. Waintraub and Ambassador Bale (5 days to the event), we had still not been contacted by either HD or NOREF regarding that workshop. In addition, we were not clearly and transparently informed of the pre-existing organization of a meeting in Berlin. Neither were we informed of the organizer in charge of this meeting, knowing that HD and NOREF had not been involved at this point.
• The fact that the date and place was agreed to accommodate planning of a meeting not officially recognized in the structuring of the process and that the declared organizers were not aware of the date and place 5 days to the event, nursed skepticism as to whether sufficient attention was given to the security of participants.
• The planning was therefore characterized by insufficient communication and coordination, unfair consideration of our availability, and created major skepticism regarding the security required for our participation.
It’s a learning curve for us all, we count on the good will of GAC to keep improving on the structuring and conduction of the process as promised by Mrs. Nicole Waintraub in our last conversation (4th December 2022) and we look forward to attending the subsequent meetings of the Canadian Facilitation Process.
The IG remains engaged as mandated by our people, to any fair process and will only commit after validating the authenticity of the process.
Signed
Signed this day Monday 12th December 2022
Mrs. Marianta Njomia
President of the IG of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.
CC:
-Canadian High Commissioner to Cameroun, Mr. Richard Bale
-Delegated Assistant to the Deputy Minister for Global Affairs Canada Mrs. Nicole Waintraub
– The Ambazonian People
– All LGA and County Chairs
– The International Community