Ambazonian liberation movements present and / or represented at a second workshop held in June 2019 (the first held a month earlier) made an offer and the Government of Switzerland has accepted to set up a mediation process. (See attached a copy of the press statement by the Government of Switzerland).
Under this arrangement, Switzerland is offering its good offices and will serve as mediator in negotiations – which, it is important to stress, have not started-between, on the one hand, the Republic and, on the other hand, Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia.
Switzerland’s agreement to also double as the mediator for the Republic of Cameroon completes one of the most important preliminary conditions for any negotiations to be even possible: finding a mediator or mediators who is /are acceptable to both parties.
Our goal remains the same: we seek the restoration of the independence of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia won before the United Nations General Assembly on 21st April 1961 and an end to the recolonization and illegal occupation of Ambazonia by the Republic of Cameroun. Obviously, and until Cameroon ends its illegal recolonization and genocidal war in our Homeland, the Sovereign People of Ambazonia will continue to exercise the right to self-defense in order to protect our people facing mass slaughter.
We have committed to the Swiss-led Process will participate in it in good faith. We must be very clear to Ambazonians that we have not ascertained that the republic of Cameroon is signing up a Swiss-led Process in good faith. It is not impossible that the republic of Cameroon could act in bad faith.
However, and despite these risks, we are intentionally taking what is a “leap in the dark” to demonstrate our good faith. We embrace it as part of our appeal to the international community to be witness when/if the republic of Cameroon chooses to act in bad faith.
We applaud the Government of Switzerland for its track record, steadfast support for and historic role in promoting peace and mediated settlements around the world. Switzerland has our green light to design a process that will work for us and the Sovereign people of Ambazonian.
We also grant consent for the inclusion of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), the strategic partnership of the Swiss Government, and commit to work with HD in areas of its competence to ensure a successful process.
We will continue building cohesion across our movements. This is an exercise we take seriously aware, based on history, that the strongest party at the negotiating table is the most united party.
Contrary to misleading rumours on social media to which we have refused to respond in order to maintain the silence and confidentiality indispensable for the success of future negotiations. We have done our due diligence. We have, for example, reviewed and can attest that there is no exception to ongoing independence in the post-Cold war era which did not go through a structured negotiation with the country from which the territory seeks to break away.
We are satisfied that Switzerland has no hidden agenda, including no so-called “chocolate deals”, no commitment to deliver results to the republic of Cameroon and no intention to use this process to enhance either its already stellar reputation and/or economic interests. On the contrary, Switzerland has peace, neutrality and commitment to humanitarian assistance in its DNA and we are thankful that Switzerland brings those core values to the mediation process.
As a mediator, Switzerland will be working for the process, not for anyone of the parties. Switzerland’s mission is to work towards a solution that belongs to and is owned by the parties. We can commit, on our honor, that Ambazonians should trust Switzerland as a mediator unless the Swiss give Ambazonians reasons not to do so. To achieve results, we need Ambazonians to sign on to the process and show support for the Swiss-led Process unless some other nation and/or organization can show a better option.
Recognizing that negotiations need serious planning to tackle what is bound to be a complex, long and messy process, we will well and only begin negotiations once we are fully ready. We are keen to make progress, even if only in baby steps, that can help arrest further worsening of the genocidal violence and the accompanying humanitarian crisis. It is also our fervent hope that the launch of the Swiss-led Process will help prevent further radicalization in the face of what has been a steady increase in acts of violence which, if left unattended, can only make peace and the justice on which it is founded more elusive.
Liberation movements present and/or presented committed to continue to deepen coherence, legitimacy, inclusivity in the mediation process, including through the setting up of a platform which will remain open to all Ambazonian liberation movements which are genuinely committed to seek a political settlement. We stress that what we seek is not peace but respect for International law, including United Nations-backed resolutions, and guarantees for justice whose absence is at the root cause of the unfolding genocidal violence.
We recognize that many other preliminary conditions still need to be met, including building capacity, organizing “talks on talks” (indirect talks prior to the opening of any negotiations) and moving forward, even if in baby steps, seizing on the momentum of today’s foundational agreement with Switzerland.
We congratulate countries which are already planning to contribute to the Swiss-led Process and encourage others to join.
We encourage all members of the international community who have called for third-party mediated negotiations without preconditions to treat the Swiss-led Process as the only process at this moment with any real chance of success.
Done at Geneva this 27th day of June 2019.
