Ruben Um Nyobè may not be widely known, but he was a significant figure in the African independence movement, fighting passionately for Cameroon’s independence from French colonial rule. His vision for a free and united Cameroon, along with his political activism, made him both a revered figure in the country’s nationalist movement. He was the first African political leader to advocate for his country’s independence before the United Nations General Assembly, directly challenging French colonial rule. This bold stance ultimately led to his assassination by the French military in 1958.
Ruben Um Nyobè was born in 1913 in the small village of Song Mpeck, located in what was then French Cameroon. Raised in a rural, colonial environment, he was exposed to the realities of French domination early in life. After receiving an education in missionary schools, Um Nyobè became politically conscious and began to understand the systemic nature of the oppression and exploitation of African peoples under colonialism.
At the age of 26, Um Nyobè completed his bachelor’s degree at a university in Édéa, a city where he would begin to shape his future in both law and politics. Shortly after graduating, he married Martha, and in 1944, stayed in Édéa to pursue his passion for law.
Um Nyobè’s early political involvement began at the end of the 1930s when he joined the Jeunesse Camerounaise Française (JeuCaFra), an organization created by the French colonial administration to counter Nazi propaganda during World War II. However, Um Nyobè’s views quickly evolved beyond the aims of this group. Following the war, Um Nyobè found a new political home in the Cercle d’études Marxistes, a Cameroonian nationalist group founded in Yaoundé by Gaston Donnat, a French teacher and trade unionist. The group’s mission was to combat Nazism, racism, and colonialism with equal intensity. This period marked a significant ideological shift for Um Nyobè, as he began to see the fight against colonialism as part of a global struggle against oppression and exploitation.
In 1947, Um Nyobè’s was admitted into the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), a union that fought against the partition of Cameroon into Anglophone and Francophone regions by French and British colonial authorities in 1947.
The union was not only involved in labor rights but also took a strong anti-colonial stance. Um Nyobè and his colleagues openly denounced the Catholic Church, which had often supported colonization and even justified slavery. By challenging both colonial authorities and religious institutions, Um Nyobè set himself apart as a leader who was willing to confront entrenched systems of power. His efforts helped unite diverse ethnic groups across Cameroon, rallying them around the cause of national liberation.
As his influence grew, Um Nyobè earned the title “Mpodol Ion,” which in the Bassa language means “Speaker of the Nation” or “Spokesman.”
Um Nyobè, who believed that independence should be accompanied by social and economic justice, advocated for land reform, labor rights, and the redistribution of wealth to benefit the poor and marginalized. His ideas were rooted in a deep sense of social justice, and he sought to create a nation where all Cameroonians, not just the elites who had collaborated with colonial powers, could live with dignity and freedom.
Um Nyobè’s activism came at a time when tensions between the colonial administration and the growing nationalist movement were reaching a breaking point. One of the significant flashpoints was a strike demonstration in Douala in September 1945, which French settlers violently suppressed by opening fire on the protesters. While colonial authorities claimed that eight people were killed and 20 wounded, the actual death toll has been widely disputed, with many believing it was much higher.
This event was a turning point in the fight against colonialism. The crackdown on the Union and its leaders grew worse, and many older activists were arrested. It was during this time that a new group of leaders, including Um Nyobè, started to emerge. In 1947, he became the Union’s general secretary, making him one of the key leaders in the nationalist movement. Soon after, he began working to form a Cameroonian political party to lead the struggle for independence.
In 1948, Um Nyobè co-founded the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), a political party committed to achieving the immediate and unconditional independence of Cameroon. After a vote, he became the party’s general secretary, while Félix-Roland Moumié was elected president. The UPC was not only a political party but also a movement that connected a wide spectrum of nationalist activists, trade unionists, intellectuals, and rural communities. It called for the unification of British and French Cameroon into a single, independent state and demanded social and economic reforms to benefit the indigenous population.
Under Um Nyobè’s leadership, the UPC became the most prominent political force in Cameroon advocating for immediate independence from French rule. The party’s platform called for the unification of French and British Cameroon and the establishment of a socialist-oriented government that would represent the interests of all Cameroonians, especially the working class and rural populations.
Um Nyobè also continued his international advocacy, taking the Cameroonian cause, and other colonized African countries to the United Nations. He delivered several speeches at the UN in 1952 and in 1954, arguing that colonialism was a violation of basic human rights and that the French were illegally occupying Cameroon.
His speeches at the UN garnered significant attention but also elevated him as a major threat in the eyes of French colonial authorities, who feared that his demands for independence could spark similar uprisings across other French-controlled territories in Africa.
In 1955, as the UPC’s popularity surged, the French administration banned the party, accusing it of inciting rebellion, and a crackdown on its leaders began. This pushed the UPC underground, and what had been a peaceful political movement turned into an armed struggle.
This uprising was met with brutal repression from the French military, which deployed troops to Cameroon to crush the insurgency. French forces targeted UPC members, sympathizers, and villages suspected of harboring rebels, leading to a prolonged period of violence.
Um Nyobè, now an underground leader, continued to coordinate the UPC’s activities while evading capture by French forces. He moved between rural areas, mobilizing support and trying to maintain the momentum of the independence struggle.
On September 13, 1958, Ruben Um Nyobè’s revolutionary journey came to a tragic end. While hiding in the dense forest of Boumnyebel, a region that had become a stronghold for UPC militants, he was tracked down and killed by French forces. His assassination marked a significant turning point in Cameroon’s struggle for independence, as it dealt a severe blow to the UPC movement. Two years later, in October 1960, the party’s president, Félix Moumié, was poisoned in Geneva by the French secret service and died on November 3 of that year.
After his assassination, the French colonial administration tried to suppress Um Nyobè’s legacy by immersing his body in concrete and burying it in an unmarked grave. They also destroyed most of his writings and photographs, and until the 1990s, Cameroonians were forbidden from publicly speaking his name.
However, his contribution to the anti-colonial struggle could not be forgotten. Over time, his image was rehabilitated, and he came to be celebrated as one of the founding fathers of Cameroonian independence. Today, Ruben Um Nyobè is remembered as a national hero and an emblem of resistance against colonialism.
