From Emotion to Clarity: Replacing Old Vocabulary With Accurate Legal Language

The result has been predictable: confusion, argument, and contradiction.

Clarity begins when we replace inherited vocabulary with accurate legal terminology.
Below is a guide to the most common expressions used in our community—and the correct legal language that should replace them.

1. “Reunification”

Correct Term: “Attempted Political Union That Was Never Completed.”
Two territories cannot “reunify” if they were never united before.
There was no prior union, and no treaty exists.

2. “Integration” / “Joined Cameroon”

Correct Term: “Union Treaty That Was Never Signed, Ratified, or Deposited.”
Integration requires a treaty.
No treaty was created.

3. “The Federal Republic Was Dissolved”

Correct Term: “You cannot dissolve what never legally began.”
Without a treaty, there was no legal federation to dissolve.

4. “We separated in 1984”

Correct Term: “Biya restored the 1960 state identity of La République du Cameroun.”
The 1984 name change reflects a legal return to the pre-1961 state.

5. “Exchange of Notes = Union”

Correct Term: “Exchange of Notes = Administrative Notification, NOT a Treaty.”
A letter cannot replace a treaty of union.

6. “Ahidjo united the country”

Correct Term: “Ahidjo attempted to form a union without a binding legal instrument.”
Intent is not a treaty.
Discussion is not ratification.
Foumban was not a merger.

7. “Reunification Fathers”

Correct Term: “Delegates to an Uncompleted Constitutional Conference.”
Foumban produced no signed or ratified document.

8. “The Union Treaty was stolen or hidden”

Correct Term: “No treaty exists in the UN, UK, or LRC archives because none was ever created.”
The absence is factual, not conspiratorial.

9. “We are fighting for justice”

Correct Term: “We are asserting jurisdiction and legal status.”
Justice follows only after jurisdiction is established.

10. “We want independence”

Correct Term: “We are completing an uncompleted decolonization process.”
Independence is emotional.
Decolonization is legal.

11. “We want separation or secession”

Correct Term: “You cannot secede from a country you were never legally merged with.”

12. “Ambazonia vs Cameroon”

Correct Term: “Two sovereignty paths that never legally merged.”
This reduces tension while maintaining accuracy.

13. “Anglophone Crisis”

Correct Term: “A governance crisis caused by an uncompleted union.”
The issue is legal and administrative, not linguistic.

14. “Southern Cameroonians are Cameroonians”

Correct Term: “We became Cameroonians by learned acceptance, not legal legitimacy.”
Identity was adopted through practice, not through a treaty.

15. “La République owns Southern Cameroons”

Correct Term: “LRC administers the territory without legal title.”
This constitutes administrative occupation under international law.

16. “National unity”

Correct Term: “A national narrative without legal foundation.”
Unity is a political slogan, not a legal category.

17. “Biya dissolved the federation”

Correct Term: “He reorganized a political structure that had no treaty base.”
A structure built without a treaty cannot be dissolved through referendum.

18. “Our history is complicated”

Correct Term: “Our history was never explained using proper legal vocabulary.”
We inherited confusion, not clarity.

19. “Elders know the truth”

Correct Term: “Elders lived the events but were never given the legal framework to interpret them.”

20. “Cameroon is indivisible”

Correct Term: “A political slogan cannot override international law or the absence of a union treaty.”

21. “They united like Germany”

Correct Term: “Germany signed a ratified reunification treaty. Cameroon never did.”

22. “Self-defense”

Correct Term: “Legal status assertion under uncompleted decolonization.”
A calmer, more precise formulation.

23. “Liberation movement”

Correct Term: “Status clarification movement.”
This reduces tension and increases legitimacy.

24. “France controls everything”

Correct Term: “Domestic governance failure created a legal vacuum exploited by foreign interests.”

25. “We want our country back”

Correct Term: “We want the completion of our international legal status under Article 76(b).”

Final Summary: Replace Emotion With Law

Outdated vocabulary (emotional, imprecise):
Reunification
Secession
Integration
Independence
Anglophone / Francophone
Federation
Occupied by force
Betrayal
Colonial mentality

Correct legal vocabulary (modern, accurate, respected internationally):
Uncompleted union
Absence of treaty
Jurisdiction
Sovereignty path
Trusteeship
Article 76(b)
Administrative occupation
Legal identity
Status clarification
Foundation of law