Anglophone crisis: Pioneer Southern Cameroons National Council chair dies.

The death has been announced of Barrister Sam Ekontang Elad, the first ever leader of the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, one of the pioneer groups that initiated a secessionist agenda in Anglophone Cameroon’s North West and South West Regions.

The legal mind from the South West region died Monday May 29, 2023 at the Buea regional hospital.

He was one of those who laid the foundation of the Separatist movement in Anglophone Cameroon.

Together with Carlson Anyangwe,and Dr Simon Munzu, they convened the All Anglophone Conference, AAC 1 and AAC 2 in 1993 in Buea and Bamenda respectively.

The conference ended with resolutions demanding a return to the Federal system of governance to safeguard the Anglo-Saxon culture that was facing extinction.

Reports say a timeline was given for the government to act or faced a secessionist agenda in the two English speaking regions.

The Cameroon Government, however, ignored the threats and the group transformed into the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, with Barrister Sam Ekontang Elad as it’s pioneer chairman.

A secessionist agenda was then set forth to be pursued through non violence.

It gained sympathy from the population until 2016 when a majority of Anglophones caved into the idea after concerns raised by teachers and lawyers of English expression.

The issue has now morphed into a deadly armed conflict.

Though no longer active in the independence movement, late Ekontang Elad in April 2023 in an interview with ‘The Post Newspaper’ on the sidelines of the 30th anniversary of AAC, said “I praise the young people who are fighting.”

“I must be clear on this; they said it will be difficult to get the member states to vote for complete Independence. But in the corridors of the UN they said to us that if people took
up arms, UN might step in,” he said of a trip he undertook to the United Nations to lobby for independence support in the company of Late ST Muna, Late JN Foncha amongst others.

Barrister Elad’s death is coming at the time when an end in sight in the ongoing Separatist movement is still far-fetched.

He has remained the most vocal voice, speaking against injustices in Anglophone Cameroon and against its citizens.