@Gov Achu: Herakles Farms Steps Up Deception of Cameroon Public

Dear Governor Achu,
why can't you let me be?. Why keep dragging me into this Herakle farms issue for so long and repeatedly. My position on this issue is clear so I do not know why you want a response from me.
 
I have stated and I repeat the following:
 

1. La Republique du Cameroun is a legal entity that can sue and be sued in Southern Cameroons hence has a right to give land on a lease provided it properly and legally acquired the land in the first place.
2. La Republique du Cameroun even if considered as an occupying power in Southern Cameroons (occupying power does not need to occupy by force) has rights and obligations in Southern Cameroons and these rights might include entering into agreements with multinational organisations like Herakle farms (not treaty since Herakle farms has no international personality) in the course of its administration of the territory.
3. The sovereignty issue does not need to be resolved before La Republique du Cameroun can have any rights in Southern Cameroons. As occupying power, it has rights and obligations to the territory. Being a Defendant on a Sovereignty issue has no moment on the Herakle farms issue. Even as occupying power with no sovereignty, such agreements are permissible in international law provided they do not permanently change the nature of the territory.
4. These agreements such as that with Herakle farms, if of a type to permanently change the nature of Southern Cameroons, it might be illegal in international law. Clearing 73,000 sq kilometres of rain forest might be a point in issue.
5. Southern Cameroonians whilst fighting to stop the project, mindful of the backing of a powerful and tyrannous state like La Republique du Cameroun, victory is not certain and since the project appears to be going on, should not put all their eggs in one basket.
6. Southern Cameroonians and particularly the Ndian people, at worst, should insist on an equity share of the project i.e. say 25% due to their land.
7. Imagine how the Bakwerians would have been rich today if they had an equity share of CDC in the first place from the Germans.
8. The viable and wise approach on the Herakle farm issue is a form of "stick and carrot approach". Some fighting to stop it if they can and others fighting to at least get 25% of the project for the indigenes in case it is not stopped considering the powerful and evil force beyond the Mungo backing the project.

 
The above is my position on Herakle farms. I hope it is clear enough so that the issue is not recycled again please. Biya has given land in the South Region to the Chinese which is about 4 times the land given to Herakle farms to grow rubber. The issue is not giving land for this can be done in a mutually beneficial way where the land owner (indigene) has some equity in the project. The issue in point for the Herakle farms is the cutting of the rain forest (which might not be replaceable and no proper environmental impact assessment), no equity participation for indigenes and taking of land without proper compensation.
 
Regards
 
Tumasang
 

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CC: cameroon_politics@yahoogroups.com; ambasbay@googlegroups.com; SouthernCameroon@yahoogroups.com
To: tumasangm@hotmail.com
From: gamya39@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 4 Oct 2013 20:24:54 -0400
Subject: Fw: [cameroon_politics] Herakles Farms Steps Up Deception of Cameroon Public

Martin,
There seems to be something you know about this outrageous give-away of one of Southern Cameroons'  richest natural resources (without their input) for 99 years (three generations!!!!!) by the government of the Republic of Cameroun which is a defendant at an international tribunal (African Union Commission for Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) on the legality of its administration of the state. I posted an email on this forum to which I requested a reaction from you as a lawyer who appears to be encouraging, condoning, aiding or abetting this foreign invasion of resources that belong not only to the living but also their issue for three generations.

Re: Herakles Farms investment in Ndian division: An Economic Perspective (1)

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Wednesday, October 24, 2012 11:45 AM

Dr. Tumasang,

It appears you know that there is no legal association between Cameroun and Southern Cameroons; that Cameroun illegally occupied Southern Cameroons before its independence; that a case of illegal occupation of Southern Cameroons by Cameroun is pending at the African Union Commission. 

If so, how could you be supporting this venture based on a 99-year lease by the government of Cameroun of 70,000 acres of environmentally-protected land in the occupied state to a foreign corporation? How could you, from your statements, be advising Southern Cameroonians to seize the opportunity to have their own share, before other foreigners do? Do you as a man of law, believe that Cameroun has the right to make long-term decisions on the territory, including the ownership of national land in the occupied territory - while it is a defendant in a case challenging its right to administer the state? Please, enlighten me, other "learned friends" and the people of Southern Cameroons on these issues. Thanks.

G. Achu

Sent from my iPad

On Oct 24, 2012, at 8:34 AM, Tumasang Martin <tumasangm@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Dr Ngumne,
 
equity does not act in vain. Herakle farms is on the ground moving on with the project. I believe they should be held to account i.e. conduct a proper environmental impact study not a contrived one and all vulnerable areas as you pointed out protected.
 
Our people must also engage in terms of any outreach programmes and any supplies or subcontracting available. If we are only protesting and not engaging, the Bamilekes who do not care about us and our environment would move in and grab all supplies and subcontracts. I understand Herakle farms is being offered large tracks of land in Kribi as part of their outreach programme to plant palms.
 
My recommendation is that our people should engage with them. It seems the project is going no matter what. Protest alone is not an option. The government is bent on the project going on, Herakle farms is bent on the project going on, and the project is going on. Whilst the sabre rattling is going on, we should also engage with them on the other hand.
 
Regards
 
 
Tumasangp
Who are the shareholders of Herakles Farms and their Cameroonian shareholders (Sithe Global

Sustainable Oils Cameroon, PLC) - with a three generation stake on the natural resources of the

state of Southern Cameroons? I use "state" here by design because, until the contrary is proved,

Southern Cameroons did not execute an enforceable treaty of association with the Republic of

Cameroun after its independence of October 1, 1961 when it acquired contractual capacity by

operation of law. It could not have been otherwise when it was a dependency. This is why the

African Union recommended talks in view of new constitutional arrangements to resolve the conflict -

a direction which the Republic of Cameroun apparently has treated with contempt - with impunity!

Do foreign investors know that there is a case filed by representatives of Southern Cameroons against

the Republic of Cameroun pending at the African Union Commission for Human and Peoples Rights

(a quasi-judicial agency of the African Union)? This being the case, is it not contempt of the authority

of the court and the African Union for the government of Cameroun to grant such long-term concessions

to private companies for periods of up to 99 years (three generations) while the African Union is trying to

resolve the problem of the illegal occupation?

What have the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) and Southern Cameroons People's

Organization(SCAPO), that were designated by the African Union to hold talks with the Republic of

Cameroon on the relations between the two independent states done to stop the dominant state from

changing the status quo?

What is the opinion of Camerounian and Southern Cameroonian lawyers (barristers, solicitors, jurists

law professors and researchers) on this and related issues? Do they believe that it is proper for a member

state of the United Nations and a regional organizations such as the African Union to undermine the

provisions of their Charter and Resolutions with impunity regarding, notably:

1. The ban on colonialism in all its forms;

2. The respect of the territorial integrity of states as defined by their boundaries at independence;

3. The breach of trust by administering authority at the expense of millions of inhabitants of some trust

territories such as Southern Cameroons under UK trusteeship;

4. The Geneva Convention on Human Rights, especially the ban on torture;

5. Instruments governing enforceable international agreements - that they be signed, ratified and filed at the

General Secretariat of the United Nations - to be enforceable;

6. The brazen conflict of interests manifested by certain former great powers/colonial masters who disposed of

UN trust territories and their inhabitants (both as property) to third parties to hold the in trust for their usus, fructus

and abusus; territories where they, with the new peer  trustee, dominate the people and exploit their resources with impunity, thanks to their leverage as great powers and permanent members of the Security Council. What more

compelling proof of this than the assertion by President General de Gaulle who as alleged declared that Southern Cameroons was a little gift of Her Majesty the Queen of England to France. As one good turn deserves another, France through its former ward and surrogate, Republic of Cameroun, now allows the Queen and her subjects to get a good piece of the pie - to share in the booty - while the real owners wail and curse with handcuffs.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Fon Christoper Achobang <foncachobang@yahoo.co.uk>
To: editor@modernghana.com; Franklin Bayern Herakles <publicrelations@heraklesfarms.com>; BRUCE WROBEL <wrobel@heraklescapital.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 8, 2012 2:01 PM
Subject: [cameroon_politics] Herakles Farms Steps Up Deception of Cameroon Public

 

Herakles Farms Steps Up Deception of Cameroon Public By Christopher Fon Achobang In 2009, Herakles Farms (HF) through its Cameroon affiliate Sithe Global Sustainable Oils Cameroon PLC (SGSOC) signed an establishment convention with Cameroon government to produce 440,000 tons of palm oil annually from over 73,000 hectares of pristine rainforest for a period of 99 years. As some of us who read the Establishment Convention, which had been intended to be top secret, conclude, the Cameroon people, government and humanity were going to be losers as none of the terms gave Cameroon anything in return for losing so much forest and ecosystem. Humanity too loses because one of its lungs will be infected by the deforestation cancer. While bickering and debates are ongoing about the suitability of the project, HF has attempted to maneuver difficult turns on its road to acceptability by fabricating Environmental Impact Assessment reports, using soft corruption to buy support from local communities who are 98 percent opposed to the project, and deceiving public opinion to make project look like a partnership between Cameroon government and the United States of America. HF has just hoisted two flags on the building hosting its head offices in Limbe, Cameroon. What is the intention of a private company hoisting two flags of two countries on its private offices? Is it a sign of partnership or a flagrant attempt to mislead? As I am conversant with the advent of HF to Cameroon, its activities and the Cameroon business set up, HF has hoisted the two flags in bad faith. It is a blatant attempt to mislead the public and sway public opinion to support project through intimidation. After granting scholarships to over 25 students from concession areas in Nguti, Mundemba and Toko, digging boreholes which do not yield water in Fabe and Meangwe II, organizing an illegal medical campaign that saw the operation of dozens of local people in insalubrious makeshift surgical conditions, and outright bribing of elites and members of the administration, HF steps up deception of Cameroon public opinion by hoisting its flag alongside that of the United States of America. Let it be known that the governments of the Republic of Cameroon and the United States of America have signed no partnership agreement to float a company called Herakles Farms in Cameroon. This drive to crooked public relations is out of taste and further portrays HF as an impostor and dishonest person to do business with. Instances of dishonesty by HF are legion. After obtaining a provisional Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, from local communities to present to government as proof that the communities are ready to work with HF, it disappeared and never went back to negotiate the final conditions for the land concession. HF has been intimidating people that government will sanction them if they failed to surrender land for the project posing as a government project. The company has also gone into the forest to demarcate it unilaterally without government surveyors. For the records, no Cameroon private company floats the flag of Cameroon on its offices. Some schools do hoist flags from all over the world to indicate their admiration for the educational systems of those countries. Some do it just for purposes of educating their pupils. Some bilateral co-operations exist between Cameroon and other countries where there is agreement to undertake a common project. Such is the case with the JICA (Japanese International Co-operation Agency) and the building of schools for the Cameroon Ministry of basic education.  This co-operation is celebrated with the hoisting of the flags of Japan and Cameroon in front of these schools. HF and its affiliate SGSOC are private companies and should not hoist the flags of the United States of America and Cameroon in front of its offices, even in show of patriotism. The Establishment Convention betrays HF as a leech ready to suck Cameroonians to anemia.  Such a greedy anti-people company cannot pretend to love Cameroon by any stretch of imagination.  Fon Christopher Achobang Department of Linguistics Faculty of Arts University of Buea P.O. Box 63 Buea (Senior Translator), English-French-English Expertise; International Business Translation; Literary Translation, Medical Translation; Legal Translation, Editing; Proofreading; Translation lecturer. (Senior Reporter, Social Commentator, Human rights activist) The Cameroons Tel, (237) 99365954        (237) 33160489

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