Castor Osendé Afana
| Castor Osendé Afana | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 1930 Ngoksa near Sa'a, Centre Region, Cameroon |
| Died |
15 March 1966 (aged 35) Ndélélé, Cameroon |
| Nationality | Cameroon |
| Occupation | Economist |
Castor Osendé Afana (1930 – 15 March 1966) was a Marxist economist and militant nationalist who died in 1966 while fighting as a guerrilla against the government of Cameroon.
Castor Osendé Afana was born in 1930 in Ngoksa near Sa'a, in the Centre Region of Cameroon. In 1948 he was admitted to the seminary at Mvolyé, where he became a strong friend of Albert Ndongmo, the future Bishop of Nkongsamba. He left the seminary in 1950 and became a militant nationalist. At that time Eastern Cameroon was under French colonial rule, and would not gain independence until 1960. Afana joined the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC), a left-wing movement agitating for independence and led by Ruben Um Nyobé.
Osendé Afana went to Toulouse, France to study Economic Science, and by 1956 was a vice-president of the Black African Students Federation in France (Fédération des étudiants d'Afrique noire en France – FEANF), and was managing director of the FEANF organ L'Etudiant d'Afrique noire. As a UPC militant he ensured that the issues of Cameroon were well-covered. While he was managing director, the moderate viewpoint of the magazine shifted to a harder and more incisive tone. In 1958 Osendé Afana was General Treasurer of FEANF, as well as being responsible for the UPC in France.
In 1958, after Ruben Um Nyobé died, Osendé Afana decided to abandon his thesis and rejoin the leadership of the UPC, proposing himself as a candidate for the new Secretary General. Nyobé's successor, Félix-Roland Moumié, told him "There is no longer a Secretary General. There was one, he is dead, that is it." However, Osendé Afana was designated UPC representative at the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Conference in Cairo in December 1957 – January 1958. The conference was dominated by supporters of the Chinese version of communism, and later Osendé's Maoism was to arouse suspicions with the UPC leadership in Accra. Osendé Afana completed his studies in Paris in September 1962 and travelled to Accra.
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