YouSaid · the spoken record

Okala

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS OKALA

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64
first
1960-09-24
most recent
1960-09-24
sittings or episodes
1
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un-general-debate

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  1. “For that reason, by decreeing a general, total and unconditional amnesty we wished to pardon even those individuals who, through a nationalism which is now confused with mere chauvinism, have continued to maintain a situation of tension, forgetting the evil that has been done to our country by a fratricidal struggle for which there is no longer any purpose and conceals its real motives. 127. The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics stated in this Assembly on Friday, 23 September 1960: "...we have no liking for capitalism. But we do not want to impose our system on other peoples...” [ 869th meeting, para. 258].”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  2. “His Excellency Ahmadou Ahidjo was elected to the highest office in the State, by 89 votes out of 99. To celebrate the inauguration of his office, the President of the Republic of Cameroun proclaimed a general, total and unconditional amnesty. This was the last of the measures of general reconciliation urged by the United Nations and, at the same time, it revealed the liberal outlook of the President and his team. 126. My Government considered that a man’s past should not stand in the way of his redemption; but the redemption of the offender must hot help to diminish or even to suppress the gravity of the offence.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  3. “It was the duly of my delegation to make the situation clear so that all those who thought to serve democracy by giving help and assistance to the Camerounian exiles may know that their struggle is no longer a national struggle but, in fact, a trial of strength which is being imposed upon a young State; because of this, the latter is obliged to use every effort to maintain public order instead of concentrating on the implementation of programmes designed to strengthen the independence so dearly acquired and to promote public welfare, the concern of all the new States. 125. After the April elections the Assembly met in May to ratify the credentials of the newly elected members, appoint its officers and elect the first President of the Republic.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  4. “This is something outside the honourable struggle which was the right of all Camerounian patriots when they were fighting for independence and it is a good indication of the intentions of a handful of individuals who wish to seize power for themselves and impose on the people a regime which it has always rejected in all the elections through which it has been able to demonstrate its sovereign will. 124.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  5. “The balance of forces emerging from these elections gives the following pattern of distribution in the new Assembly. Out of 100 seats to be filled, fifty-three went to the Union camerounaise, eighteen to the Parti de la reconciliation, eleven to the Democrates camerounais, eight to the Groupe des progressistes, eight to the Union des populations du Cameroun and two to independent candidates. 123. That result is more eloquent than all the speeches that have been made here telling you of the myth of the forces represented by Mr. Moumié, It is now easy to understand why the latter is reluctant to adopt and use democratic means for obtaining power. The only course left to him is to maintain a state of continuous tension in Cameroun in order to take power by force.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  6. “Out of 1,940,438 registered electors, 1,349,739 voted. Votes cast totaled 69.55 per cent of the electorate. This figure is distinctly higher than the proportion of votes cast in previous consultations organized under the trusteeship administration, which had been 42 per cent in 1846, 45 per cent in 1952 and 54 per cent in 1956. The proportion was less than 50 per cent in only one department, Wouri, the chief own of which is Douala, where the order to boycott the elections, given from abroad, was followed, thereby lowering the proportion to 30.37 per cent in that department. In the other departments the proportion of voters varied between 50 and 87 per cent of the electorate. In the troubled Bamilléké department, 101,049 electors cast their vote, representing a proportion of 50.33 per cent. 122.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  7. “Although our people living in Cameroun approved these measures, those living abroad, on the other hand, demonstrating the truth of the saying, valid for all times and all countries, that exiles learn nothing and forget nothing, ordered their followers to boycott the elections. There were two exceptions: one, André-Marie Mbida, the former Prime Minister, and until then a refugee abroad, who returned to Cameroun to prepare his election campaign; the other, Mr. Owono Mimbo, an associate of Mr. Moumié, who became a candidate. Both were elected. Mr. Mimbo returned to Cameroun after confirmation of bis election. 121. The elections were democratic and free. The best proof of this is the fact that, as in all democratic countries where voting is free, several ministers were defeated, one of them by a woman.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  8. “The Union des populations du Cameroun, the Jeunesse démocratique du Cameroun (JDC) and the Union démocratique des femmes camerounaises (UDEFEC) were re-established. A de facto amnesty was granted on the sole condition that a declaration renouncing and condemning violence was made. All these steps were taken in order to enable those Camerounians who had gone into voluntary exile abroad to take part in the elections which were to take place two months later. It might have been thought that these steps alone would have been enough to convince those who were preaching violence of the desire of all Camerounians to be reconciled and to meet at the ballot-box in order to build the country together on the firm and secure foundations of renewed fraternity and harmony. 120.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  9. “The indivisibility of the Republic and the sovereignty of the people were proclaimed. All the freedoms were recognized and guaranteed! by the constitution which, after sub-; mission to a popular referendum, was adopted on 21 February 1960 with a majoriiy of more than 250,000 votes, despite a violent and bitter campaign by the opposition. In one aspect there was great progress: the referendum campaign took place in an atmosphere of dignity, seriousness and calm, despite the feverish activity of both sides, which demonstrated a perfect consciousness of their duty on the part of the citizens of my country. 119. After the adoption of the constitution, and still within the framework of the reconciliation of all Camerounians, the decree of 13 July 1955 dissolving the Union des populations du Cameroun (UPC) was rescinded.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  10. “The main aim of people of all opinions was to endow the country as rapidly as possible with democratic institutions which would enable it to tackle the work of decolonization with the greatest chance of success so as to give the country's administration, economy and social system a new aspect. A committee of forty-two members, half of them members of parliament and half representing public bodies, was set up in order to prepare the advance draft of a constitution, which was to be adopted by the Council of Ministers. This draft was later to be submitted to a referendum for popular approval. The draft constitution, incorporating all the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the principles of the United Nations Charter, established the State of Cameroun as a republic.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  11. “I therefore feel that I may request your attention and indulgence: your attention because, as in any business concern, there must be a balance-sheet to show whether the enterprise is making a profit or a loss, and you owe it to yourselves to know all that is happening; your indulgence because I feel that, at a time when so many important problems are under discussion here in an endeavour to clear the world horizon of all the clouds which darken it, it may seem conceited for a newcomer, whose first and only duty should be to listen to you, to mount this rostrum and not expect to seem tiresome to those who are accustomed to listening to great things said by great men. 118. My country attained independence on 1 January 1960. The Government, in agreement with parliament, established a time-table which has been closely followed.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  12. “All supporters of democratic institutions in our country therefore felt that an account should be given so that you might all know what is happening and feel easy in your conscience with regard to the manner in which my country has observed the directives given in the resolution I have just mentioned. For us Camerounians it is both a moral duly and a duty of political integrity, to which we attach great importance.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  13. “I said that it was a sacred duty for me to discharge this moral debt, for you are fully aware that my country, placed under French administration by virtue of a trusteeship agreement drawn up in accordance with the United Nations Charter, owes you, more than any other body, an account of the way in which both independence and democracy are functioning in Cameroun. 116. In March 1959, at the conclusion off lengthy discussions here on the question of giving my country democratic institutions, the General Assembly adopted resolution 1349 (XIII), the tenor of which may be summed up as follows: (a) The holding of free elections by universal suffrage as soon as possible after the proclamation of independence; (b) The exertion of sincere efforts towards national reconciliation, 117.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  14. “On coming to this rostrum for the first time in the general debate to add my country’s voice to those of all the speakers preceding me, I should like, on behalf of my delegation, to discharge first of all a sacred duty entrusted to me by Mr. Ahmadou Ahidjo, the President of the Republic — whom so many of you heard in certain Committees of this Assembly in 1958 and 1959, when the future of my country was under discussion — and by the Camerounian Government under title leadership of Mr. Charles Assail. The object of my statement will be to tell you, in simple terms but as fully as possible, the manner in which Cameroun entered upon its independence on 1 January 1960, 115.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)