Title V of the 2nd Lome Convention Between EEC and ACP States: A Critical Assessment of the Industrial Cooperation as it Relates to Africa

On October 31, 1979, representatives from fifty-eight African-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) and nine European Economic Community (EEC) States signed the second Lome Convetion. This agreement will govern the technical, commercial, and financial relations between the two groups of countries from March 1, 1980 through February 28, 1985. Lome II is the fifth in a series of conventions concluded between the EEC countries and the developing nations of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Like its predecessors, Lome II was designed to establish a model for relations between developed and developing states, and lay the foundation for a New International Economic Order. Toward this end, Lome II provided more than 5,607 million European units of account (EUA) - the equivalent of $6,924 million US - in trade and development assistance to the ACP states

Patrimonicide: The International Economic Crime of Indigenous Spoliation

In the past two decades, the organized and systematic theft of a state\u27s wealth and resources by its leaders has reached unprecedented levels in developing and less-developed states. Unlike previous acts of embezzlement by political leaders, this new wave of corruption-referred to as indigenous spoliation--involves billions of dollars and causes widespread social and economic devastation. This Article defines indigenous spoliation and presents some examples of this practice. The author describes the inadequacy of domestic law in dealing with the problem and suggests that international law should provide a remedy. Next, the author proposes a framework for holding persons involved in acts of spoliation individually liable. The author then contends that the international community, through a multilateral treaty, could enforce a prohibition against spoliation by imposing enforcement obligations on individual states. Additionally, the availability of foreign aid and commercial bank credits for developing states could be conditioned on these states proscribing acts of spoliation. The author encourages victim states to change their domestic laws to address spoliation and asserts that indigenous spoliation should be treated as a violation of human rights

Optimizing community-driven development through sage tradition in Cameroon

Powering community development requires a re-invention of traditional authority. This paper interrogates this proposition: how does sage tradition engender social resilience and what is the impact of traditional authority on the modern governance architecture? Sage tradition construed culturally as elder-led authority is anchored on wisdom and respect for elders—a pivotal asset in community development transactions. Informed by indigenous knowledge, social capital and asset-based concepts, an empirical account of strategic leadership by the elderly is proffered, uncovering indigenous governance in the North West Region, Cameroon. A pyramidal power structure validates village elders as key players in advancing social justice. They offer counsel and arbitrate in community affairs and mobilise community members for infrastructure provision—community halls, equipping schools, digging roads, building bridges and supply of fresh water. Though elder esteemed traditions prove perfunctory, findings show communities are benefiting from the accumulated, incremental cultural assets factored into local development. The paper concludes that thriving cultural assets should be amalgamated through a policy drive that taps into the utility of traditional authority, in synergy with modern state institutions to bolster social development, address poverty and social inequality

Privatisation of agro‐industrial parastatals and Anglophone opposition in Cameroon

This article focuses on the regional anglophone opposition in Cameroon which arose after 15 July 1994, when the government was forced by international donors to announce the privatization of 15 public enterprises, notably in the transport and agroindustrial sectors. The most prominent among them was the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), founded in 1946/1947. The author argues that the strong resistance of anglophones in general and the Bakweri in particular to the privatization of the CDC can only be fully understood in the context of the 'anglophone problem'. Privatization of the CDC was perceived as a further step by the francophone-dominated State towards destruction of the anglophone cultural and economic heritage. This perception was strengthened by the fact that the CDC has the reputation of being one of the rare parastatals in Cameroon which from its inception has played a significant role in regional development and which had a relatively good performance record until the economic crisis. Moreover, the Bakweri, the owners of the CDC lands, were not consulted.ASC – Publicaties niet-programma gebonde

Asserting Permanent Sovereignty over Ancestral Lands: The Bakweri Land Litigation against Cameroon

The Article focuses on the recently concluded Bakweri land case against Cameroon in the African Human Rights Commission. The Article uses this litigation as the basis for a re-examination of a host of issues relating to the enforcement of human rights, especially land rights, in postcolonial countries making the slow transition from single-party authoritarian rule to multi-party democratic states. More importantly, it takes a fresh look at the exhaustion of local remedies rule. It asks the relatively simple question: whether an indigenous people seeking to reclaim and assert permanent sovereignty over ancestral lands, forcibly expropriated from them during the period of colonial occupation and subsequently vested in the post-colonial State, should be required to comply with the exhaustion of domestic remedies rule in a country where the rule of law is in its infancy and where the judiciary is neither independent nor impartial. The Article argues that the exhaustion rule should be dispensed with where it is demonstrably clear that local courts are notoriously lacking in independence; there is a consistent and well-established line of precedents adverse to the claimant; and the respondent State does not have an adequate system of judicial protection that complainant can rely on. The Article concludes by advocating for the broadest interpretation possible of the exhaustion rule in order to (a) level the playing field for both parties - the defenseless citizen whose fundamental human rights have been violated and the powerful State responsible for the violation; (b) preserve the right of individual petition now entrenched in all international human rights instruments; and (c) give true meaning to the principle of equality-of- arms upon which all human rights contests are anchored