POST PLEBISCITE PETITIONS AND REQUESTS FOR THE PARTITION OF SOUTHERN CAMEROONS

The 1961 UN-organised Plebiscite provoked serious ethnic tension, bitterness and calls from some quarters for the partition of the British Southern Cameroons. The ethnic groups that voted for independence with Nigeria were not satisfied with the results of the plebiscite and were not ready to join the Republic of Cameroon. They clamoured for the partition of the British Southern Cameroons following the voting patterns so that those who voted for Nigeria could join Nigeria freely. This article based on archival and secondary sources attempts a survey of the crisis, the requests by the defeated ethnic groups for the partition of the British Southern Cameroons and the response of the Yaoundé authorities and the United Nations. The study argues that the requests for the partition of the Southern Cameroons were made out of fear that the reunified Cameroon could lead to the domination and exploitation of the coastal ethnic groups by the more dynamic and land grabbing ethnic groups of the Bamenda Grassfields and not out of some phobia for the French Cameroonians. Article visualizations