Trusteeship Council

The Trusteeship Council held its tenth special session at UN Headquarters on December 4 and 16, 1959. Following the adoption of its agenda, the Council entered into consideration of the report of the UN Plebiscite Commissioner on the plebiscite in the northern part of the trust territory of the Cameroons under United Kingdom administration. In introducing the first part of the report, Mr. Abdoh, UN Plebiscite Commissioner, reviewed the history of his consultations with the United Kingdom government on arrangements for the organization of the plebiscite. He observed that, as a result of being administered for many years as an integral part of the northern region of Nigeria, the Northern Cameroons had previously had very little reality as a separate administrative entity; in fact, boundaries with the northern region of Nigeria had little significance, and tribal groups extended from that region into the trust territory and even beyond, to the Cameroons under French administration. Communications in the Northern Cameroons were poor, but, despite adverse conditions, the UN plebiscite staff had travelled extensively and had been able to meet both the people and their leaders. Mr. Abdoh added that he wished to stress the peaceful and orderly way in which polling had been conducted throughout the territory, and mentioned the results of the plebiscite, viz.: out of the 113,859 votes cast, 70,546 had been in favor of deciding the future of the Cameroons at a later date (alternative b), while 42,788 had indicated a preference for the Northern Cameroons' becoming a part of the northern region of Nigeria when Nigeria became independent (alternative a); 525 votes had been rejected. Approximately 80 percent of the estimated number of potential electors, and nearly 88 percent of the voters actually registered, had participated in the balloting; thus the greater part of the eligible population had taken part in the consultation, freely expressing their wishes in regard to the alternatives offered in the plebiscite. Mr. Abdoh had, however, felt it his duty to inform the Council of the view, which seemed to be prevalent among those who had voted for the second alternative, that the plebiscite had offered the people an opportunity of registering what was in effect a protest against the system of local adminstration, the introduction of reforms into which was apparently long overdue.