In African-on-African Colonization: The Ill-Fated Ambazonia-Cameroun Political Partnership, Carlson Anyangwe offers a comprehensive historical, legal, and political examination of the relationship between Ambazonia, formerly the British Southern Cameroons, and the Republic of Cameroon. Building on decades of scholarship and political engagement with the Southern Cameroons question, Anyangwe advances the provocative argument that the incorporation of Southern Cameroons into Cameroon in 1961 produced a form of “African-on-African colonization.” While colonialism is conventionally understood as a European project, Anyangwe contends that postcolonial Africa has generated its own forms of domination in which one African state exercises political, cultural, and economic control over another people. Through extensive historical documentation and legal analysis, he argues that the Ambazonia-Cameroun partnership was fundamentally unequal from its inception and ultimately evolved into a system of internal colonial rule.
The book is organized into four major parts that guide readers through the historical foundations, territorial questions, political developments, and contemporary implications of the Ambazonian struggle. The opening section reconstructs the historical evolution of Ambazonia from the precolonial period through German colonization, the partition of Kamerun after the First World War, and the British administration of Southern Cameroons under the League of Nations and later the United Nations Trusteeship system. Anyangwe emphasizes the distinct political trajectory of Southern Cameroons, arguing that its institutions, legal traditions, and political culture developed separately from those of French Cameroun. This historical divergence forms the basis of his claim that the two territories entered the 1961 union as distinct political entities rather than as regions of a single nation.
The second section addresses questions of boundaries and territorial sovereignty. Anyangwe devotes considerable attention to land and maritime borders, tracing the legal instruments that defined the territory of Southern Cameroons during the colonial period. He argues that these boundaries possess continuing legal significance and constitute evidence of Ambazonia’s separate international personality. Through detailed examination of treaties, colonial records, and international legal documents, the author seeks to demonstrate that Ambazonia possesses the territorial attributes commonly associated with statehood.
The political dimensions of the Ambazonia-Cameroun relationship constitute the focus of the book’s third section. Anyangwe revisits the events leading to the 1961 United Nations plebiscite and the subsequent federal arrangement established between Southern Cameroons and the Republic of Cameroon. He contends that the federal framework represented a negotiated partnership between two equal entities. However, this arrangement proved short-lived. According to Anyangwe, successive constitutional changes gradually eroded the autonomy of Southern Cameroons and facilitated the concentration of power within the Francophone-dominated state. Particular attention is devoted to the 1972 referendum that abolished the federal system and replaced it with a unitary state. For Anyangwe, this moment marked a decisive turning point in the transformation of the partnership into a relationship of domination.
The final section explores what the author describes as the unfinished project of decolonization. Drawing heavily on principles of international law, self-determination, and human rights, Anyangwe argues that the Southern Cameroons question remains unresolved. He examines petitions submitted to international organizations, legal challenges mounted by Ambazonian activists, and the emergence of contemporary separatist movements. The author presents self-determination not merely as a political aspiration but as a legal entitlement grounded in international norms. In doing so, he situates the Ambazonian struggle within broader global debates concerning decolonization, minority rights, and state legitimacy.
One of the book’s principal strengths lies in its interdisciplinary approach. Anyangwe combines historical research, constitutional analysis, and international law to construct a detailed account of the Ambazonian question. The breadth of archival and legal material assembled in the volume makes it a valuable resource for scholars interested in Cameroon, African nationalism, and self-determination movements. The book is particularly effective in demonstrating the historical complexity of the relationship between Southern Cameroons and Cameroon and in challenging simplified narratives of national unity.
At the same time, the book’s explicitly normative position may invite debate. Anyangwe writes not only as a scholar but also as a long-standing advocate of the Ambazonian cause. Consequently, the analysis is primarily oriented toward substantiating the claim that Southern Cameroons constitutes a colonized territory entitled to independence. Readers seeking a more balanced engagement with competing interpretations of Cameroonian history may find the treatment of alternative perspectives limited. Greater attention to the arguments advanced by defenders of the Cameroonian state might have strengthened the book’s analytical reach.
Ultimately, African-on-African Colonization makes a significant contribution to contemporary debates on postcolonial statehood, nationalism, and self-determination in Africa. By introducing the concept of African-on-African colonization, Anyangwe expands discussions of colonial domination beyond the conventional European African framework and encourages scholars to reconsider the persistence of unequal political relationships within independent African states. Whether readers agree with his conclusions or not, the book offers a provocative and meticulously documented intervention that will be of considerable interest to scholars of African history, political science, international law, and postcolonial studies.
