Ruben Um Nyobè

Who is Ruben Um Nyobè?

Ruben Um Nyobè was a Cameroonian political leader and the founding general secretary of the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), the country's first major nationalist party, established in 1948. Born in the village of Boumnyebel in the forested region south of Douala, Um Nyobè became the most prominent voice campaigning for the independence and reunification of the French- and British-administered Cameroon trust territories. In 1952 he traveled to New York and addressed the United Nations General Assembly's Fourth Committee, becoming one of the first African nationalist leaders to press an anticolonial case directly before the UN. After French authorities banned the UPC in 1955, Um Nyobè and his followers withdrew into the Sanaga-Maritime forest region and organized a resistance movement against continued French colonial rule, drawing comparisons to other anticolonial campaigns of the era. He was killed by French colonial forces near his home village of Boumnyebel on 13 September 1958, roughly two years before Cameroon gained formal independence. Long downplayed in official Cameroonian history under the Ahidjo and Biya governments, Um Nyobè has since been increasingly honored as a founding father of Cameroonian nationalism and one of the earliest African leaders to demand full independence before the United Nations.

Sources: BlackPast.org, "Ruben Um Nyobè (1913-1958)" · Wikipedia, "Ruben Um Nyobè" · JusticeInfo.net, "Cameroon: Um Nyobè, a hero and symbol of French colonial crimes"