Rudolf Dualla Manga Bell remembered

A roundtable in memory of the fallen hero took place on Tuesday December 30, 2014 in Yaounde.

100 years after the assassination of Rudolf Dualla Manga-King Bell, the hero lives on. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary, a roundtable was organised on Tuesday December 30, 2014 at the Advanced School of Mass Communication (ASMAC) in Yaounde.

Organised by the Centre for the Initiation into Douala Culture (CICD) in collaboration with ASMAC, the conference saw the participation of eminent professors from higher institutions of learning in Cameroon. The theme of the conference was “A Pluridisciplinary Appraisal of the Meaning of Life”. The different speakers at the conference threw light on the role played by “King Bell” in the construction of the nation of Cameroon.

One of the panellists, Professor Daniel Abwa, who dwelled on the topic “Death in the history of the living”, talked about historic figures in the fight for African independence. He argued that death is the end of life but not the end of history. According to him, the history of Cameroon must be able to promote heroes because they preferred to die than submit to the whites. “These heroes have left a heritage because they are like testimonies of victory in African history so that Africans can recognise their failure,” he emphasised.

Professor Mbonji Edjengele, on his part, talked on an anthropological approach for the protection of the living against the death. He said many individuals gave their lives to save others but the society contributes to their second death by neglecting them. Professor Simo later on dwelled on the culture of life while Professor Boyomo Assala talked on life at the frontier of death.

Rudolf Dualla Manga, the “King Bell”, President of the Ngondo General Assembly of the Sawa People, at the time, was executed on August 8, 1914 by German officials in the then Kamerun for opposing an urbanisation project for the town of Douala which was called Kamerunstadt.

The project was seen by majority of the indigenous populations as a project for expropriation and racial segregation. August 8, 2014 thus marked the 100th anniversary of the death by hanging and which was seen as a sign of breakthrough for battles which led many African countries to defend their identity, autonomy and their territory.

The commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Rudolf Dualla Manga’s death gave a fertile ground to examine the manner in which the physical suppression of heroes such as Rudolf Dualla Manga Bell, Martin Paul Samba and others was carried out and the impact of their deaths in the progressive dissolution of colonial rule. The roundtable took place in the presence of the Minister of State for Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso.