Batonnier YONDO BLACK (August 10, 1938 – Oct. 16, 2025): How The YONDO BLACK Affair Influenced Certain Decisions, In The Creation Of The SDF (PART 2)

 Following Inter. Pressure, Gov’t Issued A Statement On March 13, 1990, Claiming That YONDO BLACK And Co Were Not Arrested Because They Wanted To Create A Political Party. That No Nobody Could Be Arrested For Wanting To Create A Party.

 On March 16, 1990, SDF Founding Fathers Showed Up At  Mezam SDO’s Office, And Deposited Their File. Biya Regime, Taken By Surprise, Was Furious, But Could Not Arrest The Founding Fathers.

There was strong criticism of the Biya regime by the international community for having arrested Batonnier Yondo Mandengue Black Albert and members of his Group, for wanting to create a political party, whereas the Constitution of Cameroon made provisions for the existence of more than one political party in the country. For one thing too, the credentials of Yondo Black as a prominent international lawyer, and former President of the Cameroon Bar Council, drew much international attention to what happened in Cameroon, which became widely known as The Yondo Black Affair.

So strong were the international criticisms of the Biya regime for the arrest of Yondo Black and members of his Group for working on a project to create a political party, that, a Government Statement was issued in the nation’s capital, Yaounde, on Tuesday, March 13, 1990. In the Statement,  the regime was forced  to  LIE that Barrister Yondo Black and  Co were not arrested because  they wanted to create a political party, but rather  because they were involved in criminal activities.  The Government Statement which was published in the  official media, Cameroon Tribune on Wednesday, March 14, and which was  relayed by ‘Radio France Internationale’, FRI, claimed that NOBODY COULD BE ARRESTED IN CAMEROON FOR WANTING TO CREATE A POLITICAL PARTY.

Cameroon Tribune’s ‘Facts’ That, Were In fact, Lies

Thanks to the US based Cameroonian journalist and prolific writer, TANDE DIBUSSI, THE MENTOR News was also able to lay hands on a copy of the front page of the then English edition of the National Bi –Weekly, Cameroon Tribune, of Friday, March 16, 1990 (No. 1002). It contained the newspaper’s comments on the Government Statement on the arrest of Yondo Black and members of his Group.

The title of the lead story (on the front page) read: “Arrest And Detention Of Lawyer Yondo And Co”. Then, followed what the paper termed, “The Facts”.  According to Cameroon Tribune, the purported facts of the matter as contained in the Government Statement issued on Tuesday, March 13, 1990, were as follows:  “Barrister Yondo Mandengue Black Albert and nine other Cameroonians currently being held by State security forces are to stand trial for HOLDING CLANDESTINE MEETINGS, INSULTING THE HEAD OF STATE, AND FOR INCITING REVOLT; and NOT FOR ATTEMPTING TO CREATE A POLITICAL PARTY”.

Cameroon Tribune went on to comment that: “Contrary to speculations by some foreign media organizations – news agencies and radio stations – that the accused are being persecuted for their political beliefs, the (Government) Statement clarifies the circumstances of their arrest, the state of investigations and reaffirms Cameroon’s commitment to the guarantee of the rights and responsibilities of all its citizens who are equal before the Law. Consequently, Barrister Yondo Black and Co will be tried for the charges leveled against them, without fear or favour”.

Of course contrary to Cameroon Tribune’s claim, the right facts of the matter were that Yondo Black and Co, were arrested for wanting to create a political party, and not because of the false allegation of insulting the Head of State, inciting revolt, and so on.

Gov’t Statement On The Yondo Black Affair, Opened The Door For The SDF Founding Fathers

As aforementioned, the Government issued a Statement on the Yondo Black Affair on March 13, 1990, published in Cameroon Tribune the next day (March 14), claiming that Yondo Black and members of his Group were not arrested because they wanted to create a political party, and that no Cameroonian could be arrested for wanting to create a political party. The Government Statement unconsciously opened the way for the SDF Founding Fathers that had put everything on hold, to exploit the opportunity of the declaration. The Founding Fathers hastily put the finishing touches in the documents of their new party,  for the file to be deposited with the administration for registration or legalization.

The SDF Founding Fathers of course knew that the Biya regime was not being honest, in the declaration that Yondo Black and members of his Group were not arrested because they wanted to create a political party. But then the Founding Fathers also rightly thought that the Biya regime had by that Government Statement, put itself in a situation where it would be difficult to arrest them, when they deposit their party’s file with the administration, for legalization, since the regime had just sworn to the world that no Cameroonian could be arrested I for wanting to create a political party.

SDF Delegation Deposit Party’s File, Tree Days After Gov’t Statement, On Yondo Black Affair

Meanwhile, following the aforementioned Government Statement on the Yondo Black Affair, issued on March 13, 1990 and published in Cameroon Tribune the next day (March 14), an SDF delegation led by its Pioneer National Chairman, Ni John Fru Ndi, and with Batonnier Ben Muna in the frontline, on March 16, 1990, took the Mezam SDO and his collaborators by a surprise, that plunged them into a big confusion. The SDF delegation surfaced at the office of the SDO to deposit the SDF file. That was barely three days after the Government Statement was issued, and two days after it was published in Cameroon Tribune, that nobody could be arrested in Cameroon, for wanting to create a political party.  It should also be noted that the conspicuous presence in the SDF delegation of Batonnier Ben Muna, a renowned international lawyer, as one of the Founding Fathers of the SDF, further scared off the regime from thinking of any possible arrest.   

As can be seen, the Yondo Black Affair had a big impact on last or final phase of the creation of the SDF, which ended when the file of the new party was deposited at the office of the Mezam SDO. From the look of things, it was certain that if the SDF Founding Fathers had showed up at the office of the Mezam SDO to deposit the file, when the Yondo Black Affair was not up, they would have been arrested and thrown into jail on fake charges.  Perhaps the SDF Project might have just died at that point. It should be noted that at that point, the Bamenda population did not know anything about the political project to create a political party, the SDF.

The Gov’t Refused To Legalize The SDF Throughout 1990

Meanwhile, despite the fact that the Founding Fathers of the SDF, in line with the Constitution, deposited the file for the legalization of their party at the office of the Mezam SDO in Bamenda on March 16, 1990, and went ahead still in line with legal provisions to launch the party on May 26, 1990 which ended with the killing of six civilians by Government troops, the Government still refused to legalize the SDF throughout that year (1990). The Government continued to consider the SDF as an illegal party throughout 1990. This was a clear indication of how unprepared the Biya regime or government was, to accept multiparty politics, even though the Constitution of the country authorized the creation or existence of other political parties besides the ruling party, the CPDM.

The arrest of Batonnier Yondo Black and members of his Group that were working on a project to create a political party, and the refusal to legalize the SDF throughout 1990, clearly showed that the provisions in the Constitution authorizing the existence of more than one party in Cameroon, were just in the Constitution for fancy, or better still to give a false impression to the international community that Cameroon was opened to democracy or multiparty politics.

SDF Was Forced To Submit A New File In 1991 For Registration

Meanwhile, in December 1990, the Cameroon Government got the one party (CPDM) National Assembly to adopt a set of Laws that were dubbed Liberty Laws, one of which was on the creation and organization of political parties.  The Liberty Laws went into effect from January 1, 1991. Still unwilling to recognize the file that the SDF Founding Fathers deposited at the office of the Mezam SDO on March 16, 1990, the Biya Government played a fast one by stating that with the coming of the new Law, any political party that had existed in the country, before, had to register afresh. This meant that even the ruling CPDM, had to register afresh. After some hesitation, the SDF leadership realized they had no choice in such a situation, than to submit a new file for the party’s registration just, as the CPDM Party claimed to have done. So SDF that was created in early 1990, was only, officially recognized or legalized in 1991.

The new Law also forced the SDF leadership to coopt some Founding Fathers of the party, especially from some other regions. The original Founding Fathers of the SDF were all from the Northwest Region, then known as Province. The old Law was silent on the origins of the founding members of a political party.   But the new Law made it clear, that the founding members of a political party, could not all come from the same Province. That is how the SDF came to have two categories of Founding Fathers – the Original and the Coopted Founding Fathers.  However, to one of the Original Founding Fathers of the SDF, Vincent Feko, the Real Founding Fathers of the SDF, were the Original Founding Fathers.