© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI: 10.1163/187254609X433369

African Diaspora 2 (2009) 103-124 brill.nl/afdi

African Diaspora

Mbadamassi of Lagos: A Soldier for King and Kaiser, and a Deportee to German South West Africa

Jan-Bart GewaldAfrican Studies Centre, Research Institute for History Leiden University

gewald@ascleiden.nl

AbstractIn 1915 troops of the South African Union Defence Force invaded German South West Africa, present day Namibia. In the north of the territory the South African forces captured an African soldier serving in the German army named Mbadamassi. Upon his capture Mbadamassi demanded to be released and claimed that he was a British national from Nigeria. In addition, he stated that he had served in the West African Frontier Force, and that he had been shanghaied into German military service in Cameroon. Furthermore, whilst serving in the German army in Cameroon, Mbadamassi claimed that he had participated in a mutiny, and that, as a conse-quence, he had been deported to GSWA. Th e article covers the remarkable military career of the African soldier, Mbadamassi, who between 1903 and 1917 served both the King of the British Empire as well as the Kaiser of the German Empire. In so doing, the article sheds light on the career of an individual African soldier serving in three colonial armies; the West African Frontier Force, the Schutztruppe in Cameroon, and the Schutztruppe in GSWA. Th e article argues that beyond the fact that colonial armies were institutions of repression, they also provided opportu-nity for those willing or condemned to serve within their ranks. Furthermore the article provides some indication as to the extent of communication that existed between colonial subjects in the separate colonies of Africa at the time.

KeywordsWorld War One, Cameroon, Namibia, African Militaries, German and British Empire

RésuméEn 1915, les troupes de l’Union de l’Afrique du Sud ont envahi l’Afrique du Sud-Ouest alle-mande, l’actuelle Namibie. Dans le Nord du territoire, les forces sud-africaines ont capturé un soldat africain servant dans l’armée allemande nommé Mbadamassi. Celui-ci exigea d’être libéré et revendiqua être un Britannique du Nigeria. De plus, il déclara avoir servi dans la West African Frontier Force et avoir été enrôlé de force dans l’armée allemande au Cameroun. En outre, pen-dant qu’il servait dans l’armée allemande au Cameroun, Mbadamassi a prétendu avoir pris part à une mutinerie, ce qui avait conduit à sa déportation vers l’Afrique du Sud-Ouest allemande. Cet article couvre la remarquable carrière militaire du soldat africain Mbadamassi, qui, entre 1903 et 1917, a servi à la fois le roi de l’empire britannique et le Kaiser de l’empire

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allemand. Ainsi, l’article éclaire sur la carrière individuelle d’un soldat africain servant dans trois armées coloniales; la West African Frontier Force, le Schutztruppe au Cameroun et le Schutztruppe en Afrique du Sud-Ouest allemande. L’article soutient qu’au-delà du fait que les armées colonia-les étaient des institutions de répression, elles ont aussi off ert la possibilité à ceux qui le voulaient ou ceux qui y étaient condamnés de servir dans leurs rangs. En outre, l’article fournit une indi-cation sur l’étendue de la communication qui a existé entre les sujets coloniaux dans les colonies d’Afrique séparées de l’époque.

Mots-clés Première guerre mondiale, Cameroun, Namibie, armées africaines, les empires allemand et britannique

Introduction1

Colonial armies in Africa, as with all armies everywhere, were cruel and hard institutions, yet they also provided space and opportunities to those willing to serve within their ranks (Killingray and Omissi 1999). Th e chequered military career of a Nigerian man named Mbadamassi, who fought for both the British King as well as the German Kaiser in West and Southern Africa, is a fi ne, if somewhat unusual, example of the career of one colonial soldier. Detailing Mbadamassi’s military career, or more specifi cally the eff ects of his insubordi-nation and deportation to southern Africa, sheds light on, and provides us with an insight into, the often hidden histories of individual Africans serving in the colonial armies of Africa.2 In so doing, it is hoped that this article con-tributes in part to our knowledge of ‘the African military [which] remains but one of a series of groups about which we still know too little’ (Echenberg 1991: 1).

Clearly, Myron Echenberg’s comments related to the state of play as it existed in the early 1990s, but the essential truth of his statement remains as valid today as it was fi fteen years ago, and even more so when one looks at the

1) Th is article is based on a paper presented at the “Ethnic Soldiering and its Impact” symposium held at Leiden University, Netherlands, 13-14 January 1995. An earlier draft of this article appeared in Mitteilungen: Namibia Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft, vol. 41, no. 1-3, p. 3-21, 2000. I would like to thank the three anonymous readers, Prof. John Middleton, for comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper; Swanu Ikoro and the late Stefan Elders for their infor-mation on Nigeria and Cameroon; and the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical research (WOTRO), as well as the Special Research Project (SFB 389), Arid Climate Adaptation and Cultural Innovation in Africa, of the University of Cologne, for their funding of my research in Namibia.2) Th is is not to deny that there is an extensive body of literature on African militaries (Echen-berg 1991; Mann 2006; 2003; Parsons 2003; 1999).

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relationship between African militaries, diasporas and transnationalism.3 Indeed, a short overview of African militaries and African military communi-ties, appears almost by defi nition to demand an analysis in terms of diaspora and transnational studies. Th at is, African militaries and communities through time, would appear to have consistently characterised themselves by elements of diaspora and transnationalism.

However, this contribution, far from further developing, or probing the relevance or meaning of, the concepts of ‘diaspora’ and ‘transnationalism,’ sug-gests instead that in dealing with African militaries, these concepts are prob-lematic. How can one apply the term transnationalism to African soldiers serving in the armies of pre-colonial polities, colonial states, and post-colonial regimes? Th at is, to what extent does military service presuppose a nation-state, and is it not the case that the bulk of armies in Africa’s history have never been national armies? Today a number of African states boast national armies, however, more often than not, these armies are made up of soldiers who rep-resent specifi c, generally ethnic, sections of the nation-state. How are we to deal with the involvement of African armies in post-colonial ‘peacekeeping’ activities in ‘failed states’? To what extent do Nigerian soldiers fi ghting under Ecomog command against Nigerian mercenaries in nominally civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia constitute examples of transnationalism or diaspora? Are these terms, transnationalism and diaspora, not too coarse, and do they not presuppose too much, when dealing with African soldiers and armies in Africa? Th is contribution, which in eff ect focuses on a chance fi nd in the archives, believes that the concepts diaspora and transnationalism have an extremely important role to play in any analysis dealing with African militar-ies. Nonetheless this contribution steers a course that stays close to the pri-mary source material, believing that a superfi cial and pretentious use of terms that cannot be further developed on account of the material evidence pre-sented would not be correct and not do justice to the material.

Armies of Transnationalism?

In the 1870s when Henry Morton Stanley slashed and shot his way through the Congo basin and across the African continent, he was accompanied in his journeys by detachments of professional Swahili mercenaries recruited in Zan-zibar (Smith 1972; McLynn 1991; Bourne 1891). When the Congo Free State

3) An exception would have to be Morlang (2008).

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came to be established by virtue of military prowess in the 1880s detachments of soldiers recruited from the East African coast and southern Sudan fought under the command of professional soldiers recruited in North America and northern Europe (Konczaki 1998; Wissmann 1888; 1891; 1902; Francois 1888) Jonathan Glassman (1995), writing on the early history of German East Africa, succinctly summed up what could be referred to as the transna-tional and diasporic nature of the German colonial army that came to be established in GEA when he wrote:

As in other tales of colonial conquest, the actual fi ghting was done largely by Africans, . . . On his way to East Africa, Wissmann [German offi cial charged with commanding German Forces in GEA] stopped in Egypt to recruit several hundred Sudanese mercenaries, the remnants of the army defeated by the Mahdi several years earlier. Th ese soldiers had been idling threateningly at Cairo and Alexandria, not daring to return to their homeland, and British administrators were only too glad to have them taken off their hands. Meanwhile one of Wissmann’s Lieutenants had gone to Mozambique, where he recruited warriors from the hinterland of Delagoa bay. Decades of endemic warfare in the region had given these so-called Shangaans a fearsome reputation for military prowess, and the spread of interna-tional commerce had made them particularly willing to leave their homes for protracted periods in exchange for cash inducements (Glassman 1995: 250).

As with the Germans, the British and the French, in their military conquests of western Africa also consciously recruited their soldiers from amongst com-munities that could be referred to as being diasporic and transnational. Th us soldiers drawn from the Wolof and Hausa communities of West Africa pre-dominated in the French and British West African colonial armies respec-tively.4 Th e term Hausa came to be used as shorthand for men recruited from the Sahel and used as soldiers in the colonial armies of Great Britain, Ger-many, and Belgium. Within the West African Frontier Force, a standardised form of Hausa served as the language of command (David Killingray pers. Comm.).

By virtue of colonially imposed national borders, Africa’s colonial and post-colonial states have often seen their legitimacy challenged by transnational ethnic movements. In the colonial era national liberation movements were often able to mobilise regional support on the basis of transnational ethnic solidarity with communities formally living in other national territories. Th is pattern has continued into the present. Th e most dramatic example being the unceasing war on the borders of Uganda, Rwanda, Congo and Sudan, which characterises itself by an enormous and confusing mass of military formations

4) Th e British Army, by virtue of the Empire, made extensive use of the Indian Army in its Abys-sinian campaign and the colonial occupation of central Africa (Pankhurst 1981).

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that draw on diasporic communities and consistently operate on a transna-tional basis.5

At present an estimated 1,500to 5,000 South African soldiers serve as mili-tary contractors (mercenaries) in Iraq.6 Drawn predominantly from the rem-nants of the apartheid era South African Defence Force, which was in itself transnational in make up, South African contractors in Iraq come from across the African continent, and have served around the globe, from Sierra Leone to Indonesia and beyond.7 It is a well known fact that the French Foreign Legion is entirely dependent on volunteers drawn from around the world, accepted into the Legion on the basis of no questions asked.8 Similarly, substantial numbers of foreigners serve in the armed forces of the United States of Amer-ica for payment and the promise of American citizenship at the end of their contracts.9 In Great Britain, at the time of reviewing this paper, a large public media campaign was underway to ensure the payment of adequate pensions to the veterans of the Gurkha units, whose contemporary members continue to be deployed in all the fi elds of combat in which the British Army is involved.10

All in all, the serving of foreign nationals in African armies, although gener-ally overlooked, appears, by and large, not to be uncommon. However, the signifi cance of this oversight comes to the fore, once one begins to take stock of the extent to which issues of transnationalism and diaspora are of

5) A well-known example of these transnational diasporic armies is the former Rwandan Patri-otic Front. In the 1970s the current president of Rwanda served as intelligence offi cer to Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Army as it moved in to Uganda to topple Idi Amin, and later Milton Obote. Following the ethnic killings of approximately 150,000 Tustsi in Rwanda in 1959, thousands of refugees moved into Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi. 6) http://www.mg.co.za/article/2006-06-06-what-are-5-000-south-africans-doing-in-iraq, lists an estimated 5000. http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/18193/ , lists an estimated 1,500 South Africans in Iraq as contractors. Accessed 12 December 2008. 7) For a participant’s perspective on the most successful of South Africa’s military contractors (Barlow 2007). 8) Indeed the Legion has a multi-language website, listing everything from rates of pay to a code of honour, http://www.legion-recrute.com/en/ Accessed 12 December 2008. 9) An estimated 30,000 foreign nationals are currently serving in the United States Army deployed in Iraq: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/12/26/military_considers_recruiting_foreigners/http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,512384,00.html, Accessed 12 December 2008.10) Th e British actress Joanna Lumley, whose father served as an offi cer with a Ghurka regiment in World War Two, actively campaigns for the payment of adequate pensions for Ghurka veter-ans. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1801262.ece accessed 12 December 2008.

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importance to coming to an understanding of the nature of African militaries in the past and the present. Th e reconstruction of part of the life history of an African soldier is not unique, there have been others, but they have generally failed to take into account the transnational or diasporic aspects of these lives. Th e example of Mbadamassi, as a soldier for both King and Kaiser, illustrates how African militaries and communities through time, have consistently been characterised by experiences that could be referred to as being of a diasporic and transnational nature.

Setting the Scene

In July of 1909, in a small garrison town known as Banyo situated in the foot-hills of the Adamawa plateau in what was then German Cameroon, a mutiny took place. A contingent of approximately fi fty African soldiers, in service with the German Schutztruppe [protectorate troops] in Cameroon, refused to carry out the orders of their offi cers. In due course the mutiny was quashed, and the soldiers were sentenced to between four to fi fteen years of penal servi-tude in irons, Kettenhaft, and lifelong banishment from the Cameroons, to the German colony in South West Africa, present day Namibia.11

In itself there is nothing remarkable about the deportation of people from one German colony to another. Following the Herero German war (1904-08) there were numerous discussions on the feasibility of transporting Herero POWs, as labourers, to work on the plantations being established on German possessions in the Pacifi c Ocean.12 Herero leaders who continued to lead bands of followers in contravention of German colonial law on the boundaries of German settler territory, were, if captured alive, liable to be deported to Cam-eroon.13 Such, too, was the fate of approximately eighty followers and imme-diate family of the great Nama leader Hendrik Witbooi, who was killed fi ghting the Germans in 1905.14 Also eligible for deportation to another col-

11) Namibian National Archives Windhoek (NNAW), BLU 31, Meutere Kamerun, Governor Hintrager in Windhoek, 5/1/10, to district commission in Lüderitzbucht.12) See articles in the Deutsche Kolonialzeitung: Organ der Deutschen Kolonialgesellschaft, for the years 1904-09.13) NNAW, BSW 74, folio 69, Banishment order signed by Governor Seitz in Windhoek, 9/8/11 & (Gewald 1996: 255-7).14) Witbooi’s people were deported to Cameroon and later Togo, where totally unaccustomed to malaria, and without any form of acquired immunity, they literally died like fl ies on the West African coast. By 1913 more than half of those deported had been killed by dysentery, malaria

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ony were those African men who dared to cross the colour bar and have intimate relations with European women.15 Neither was this policy of banish-ment and deportation limited to the German Empire. Within the British Empire the Asantehene Nana Prempeh I and the Zulu King Cetshwayo were deported from their respective territories following their defeat at the hands of British armies.

What was remarkable about the deportation of the Cameroonian soldiers was that, amongst the deported there was a man who bore the Hausa name, Mbadamassi. A man who had not only served the Kaiser of Germany, Wil-helm II, as a soldier in the Cameroons, but had also served the Kaiser’s uncle, the King of Great Britain, Edward VII, as a soldier in the King’s neighbouring colony of Nigeria. Mbadamassi’s case was not unique, there are numerous cases of men who upon capture in East Africa joined the opposing side, how-ever they do not often leave a paper trail and we do not often get the chance to follow them through the archives (Clarke 1964: 502). Th e remainder of this article will reconstruct aspects of the life history of Mbadamassi on his travels, from Nigeria to his eventual capture and imprisonment, as a German soldier, by the Union forces of General Louis Botha in German South West Africa in 1915.

From Lagos to Old Calabar

Given his name, Mbadamassi could have been born in north western Nigeria, within the Hausa heartland of the Sokoto Caliphate, at some time in the 1880s. However, given that Mbadamassi’s mother and brother both lived in Lagos, where his brother Mbarui was a trader, it is more likely that he was born in the Yoruba heartland of south western Nigeria. Here, in Lagos, he would have been born into one of the emigrant Hausa merchant families which had moved into Yorubaland in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.16

and a host of other tropical diseases. Finally, following a series of transfers that took them all the way to Monrovia, Liberia, the surviving 42 Witbooi followers were returned to Namibia. NNAW, BSW 74, District magistrate Duala, 22/9/13, to District magistrate Swakopmund, and German Consul Monrovia.15) Such was the case of mission evangelist Anton, who fathered a child with the German maid servant of a settler farmer in the Omaruru district. Anton was ordered to be deported to Camer-oon. NNAW, BOM 34, Geheim, Governor Seitz in Windhoek, 16/2/14, to Magistrate Görgens in Omaruru; & Governor Seitz in Windhoek, 11/2/14, to missionary Olpp in Karibib.16) NNAW, ADM 99, Document entitled, Copy of statement by Native “Ballamassey”.

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Mbadamassi was literate, and at the time of his capture by South African troops in 1915, he was able to speak German and what is referred to, in the documents, as ‘only a little broken English.’ Th is was probably ‘Pidgin,’ that served as the Lingua Franca along most of the west African seaboard. Although, at his capture, there was ‘no interpreter available to interrogate him in his own language’ Mbadamassi would, at least, also have spoken Hausa and Yoruba.17 Hausa was the language of command in the West African Frontier Force. Mbadamassi’s literacy was undoubtedly the result of a certain amount of for-mal schooling, which he would have enjoyed as the son of a merchant family, during his youth in Lagos.18

Shortly after the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Mbadamassi enlisted in the Southern Nigeria Regiment of the West African Frontier Force. Along with 500 fellow recruits, Mbadamassi was transferred more than 500 kilome-tres eastward, from Lagos, in south western Nigeria, to Old Calabar, in south eastern Nigeria. In Old Calabar, Mbadamassi served for three years under the direct command of Colonel McNally and Major Henniker.19 Mbadamassi must have been a good and thrifty soldier, for by 1903 he had saved £35, which was taken from him and placed in a bank by a certain Major Orlanger. Furthermore, in 1903, he was granted permission to go on leave to visit his mother and family in Lagos.

After having had his ticket booked for him by Major Moorhouse, Mbad-amassi boarded a German Woermann steamer at Calabar for Lagos. Mbad-amassi’s own words indicate most clearly what happened next:

. . . instead of being landed at Lagos I was taken to the Comeroons [sic] when a German Offi cer came out to the ship and told the Captain that he wanted the black men on Board for German soldiers, there were a number of other boys from Sierre Leone [sic].

We were all taken to the German barracks and put into German soldiers clothes.20

17) NNAW, ADM 99, Commandant, Prisoners of War Camp, Aus 7/12/15, to Th e Secretary for the Protectorate in Windhuk.18) For an interesting introduction to life in Lagos between 1870 and 1920 (Doortmont 1994).19) NNAW, ADM 99, Document entitled, Copy of statement by Native “Ballamassey”. Mbad-amassi’s recollection of the names of his offi cers, was substantiated by a letter from, M.C. Moor-house, secretary, southern provinces, Lagos, Nigeria 14/2/16, to the secretary for the Protectorate of South-West Africa, Windhuk.20) NNAW, ADM 99, Document entitled, Copy of Statement by Native “Ballamassey”.

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In German Service in Cameroon

It is clear that the Schutztruppe in Cameroon Shanghaied and recruited poten-tial soldiers from neighbouring colonies and even further afi eld. Th e records of those deported to Namibia, indicate that this was the case. Another British subject and fellow mutineer deported to Namibia was a man named Bangura from Sierra Leone, and it is likely that the man named, John Major, also came from a British colony.21

To what extent Mbadamassi’s transfer, from the service of the King into the service of the Kaiser, was voluntary or enforced is unknown. During his posting to Old Calabar, which was very close to the Cameroonian border, Mbadamassi would have been kept well informed of aff airs in the German territory. It is possible that Mbadamassi enlisted voluntarily into the German Schutztruppe, Mbadamassi’s continued correspondence with his brother, Mbarui, in Lagos, after his change of uniform, would seem to support this line of reasoning. If Mbadamassi had been opposed to his enlistment as a soldier of the Kaiser, then he would most certainly have informed his brother of this, and his brother could have mobilised the then already vociferous local Nigerian press in support of his brother. However, there is no indication that this occurred and it is safe to assume that Mbadamassi’s change of uni-form, though possibly initially not voluntary, was accepted and met with his approval. A further factor that serves to show that Mbadamassi’s recruitment did not meet with total disapproval on his part, is the fact that in 1911 Mbarui, Mbadamassi’s brother, is mentioned in the German records as being ‘a Non-Commissioned Offi cer’ serving in the German colonial army and stationed ‘at Duala.’22

If little seems to be known about Mbadamassi’s life in Nigeria, then even less is known of his sojourn in Cameroon. What is known is that in the two years immediately prior to Mbadamassi’s participation in the mutiny at Banyo in 1909, the German army had been involved in extensive operations in the northern half of the colony.23 It is safe to assume that Mbadamassi was involved in these campaigns which in some instances were directed against the kingdom

21) NNAW, BLU 31, Court martial sentence of Bangura EM 577 Sierra Leone, Duala 16/12/10, ratifi ed 18/12/10. As regards John Major, see: BLU 31, Medical report by Ekhart[?] in Duala, 22/3/10, sent to Kommando in Soppo; & Liste über Namen & Strafzeit des Kamerun Meuterer.22) NNAW, ADM 99, Document entitled, German record of Mbadamassi of Lagos.23) See, Deutsches Kolonialblatt, 1907 & 1908. Indeed a number of those deported along with Mbadamassi were described as being Fulla, Fulani, and as coming from the regions around Garua in northern Cameroon.

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of Bornu. Given that Mbadamassi was a Hausa speaker, it is probable that Mbadamassi’s language skills were made use of by his commanding offi cers. Once again, as he had been whilst serving in Nigeria, it appears that Mbad-amassi was a good and thrifty soldier. When, following six years of service in the German army, he was deported to German South West Africa, Mbad-amassi had no less than 500 marks to his name in a bank account in Douala, and a further 60 marks held in trust by his brother, Mbarui.24 Furthermore, during the course of his six year army service in Cameroon, Mbadamassi had found the time to get married.25

Mutiny and Deportation to German South West Africa

In July 1909, in the middle of the rainy season, the garrison town of Banyo, at the foothills of the Adamawa plateau, was cut off from the outside world. It was at this stage that Mbadamassi and 50 of his fellow soldiers mutinied; ‘. . . owing to bad treatment we revolted, we were then put in chains, eventually we were all sent to German South West Africa, . . .’26 As Mbadamassi stated, the mutiny was put down, and the mutineers were put in chains. In December of 1909 the Governor of the German colony of Cameroon requested permis-sion, from his colleague in German South West Africa, to be allowed to banish the mutineers to German South West Africa.27 Permission was granted, the quartermasters of the German Schutztruppe in Berlin permitted the transfer of ‘5 sets arm irons; 14 sets neck irons; and 38 sets leg irons’ from Cameroon to GSWA, and in early April 1910 the mutineers were shipped to the harbour of Lüderitzbucht in German South West Africa.28 Th e deported mutineers were not alone, twenty-one women and seven children accompanied the forty-nine men on their deportation from Cameroon. Amongst these women and

24) NNAW, ADM 99, Document entitled, German Record of Mbadamassi of Lagos.25) NNAW, BLU 31, Medical report by Eckhard in Duala, 4/4/10, refers to “the woman Njaja of Badamassi” as been affl icted by “Tripper” at the time of her embarkation to Namibia.26) NNAW, ADM 99, Document entitled, Copy of Statement by Native “Ballamassey”.27) NNAW, BLU 31, Telegram Windhuk, 23/12/09, to Lüderitzbucht.28) Of the mutineers, a man known as Shonde was not deported on account of his having contracted Leprosy. NNAW, BLU 31, Kaiserliche Schutztruppe für Kamerun in Soppo, 25/3/10, to Kommando der Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika. As regards leg irons see, BLU 31, Reichskolonialamt Kommando der Schutztruppe in Berlin, 7/1/10, to Kaiserliche Schutztruppe für Südwestafrika.

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children was the wife of Mbadamassi, who upon arrival in Lüderitzbucht, was declared to be sick.29

Forced labour in German South West Africa

At this stage, the Lüderitzbucht area was booming. Following the discovery of diamonds two years previously, there was ample work and an extreme labour shortage. Instead of the Cameroonian mutineers being put to work en masse on a single specifi c task, they were split up and divided amongst various gov-ernment services in need of labour. Th e Cameroonians, on account of their long association with the Germans, were sought after for their acquired Ger-man language and technical skills. A large number of the Cameroonians, par-ticularly those who were not accompanied by wives, were employed on the ships and tugs of the German Navy and the harbour service at Lüderitzbucht. Th is is not to say that conditions for the Cameroonians were particularly rosy. Th e case of six Cameroonians taken on board the naval cruiser SS Panter as labourers, probably to shovel coal from hold to hold, are a case in point. Within a month of being taken on board one of the men had died of dysentery.30

Th ough a substantial number of the deportees had been accompanied by their wives and children, the colonial authorities refused to pay or feed those who had accompanied the men to German South West Africa. Similarly when the Cameroonian men were transferred from one area to another, they had to cover the costs of the transport of their wives should they wish to accompany them.31 As a result, most of the women were set to work as domestic servants in the Lüderitzbucht area. Life for these women cannot have been pleasant. Within a year of their arrival in GSWA, a number of the women applied to the Governor for permission to be allowed to return to Cameroon. Whether any women returned to Cameroon at this stage is unknown.32

29) NNAW, BLU 31, Telegram Windhuk to Lüderitzbucht ?/4/10.30) NNAW, BLU 31, Letter from Harbour authorities in Lüderitz 14/10/10 requesting the ser-vices of a Cameroonian on the tug ‘Okahandja.’ Letter 13/1/11 noting that 6 Cameroonians have been taken on board the cruiser ‘Panter,’ on 22/2/11, of these six men, one named Uemp-fende died of dysentery.31) NNAW, BLU 31, Cameroonian Schumba who was working at the farm Weissbrunn requested that his wife join him 19/6/11. Would have to pay M 5.50 to cover the costs of her journey.32) NNAW, BLU 31, Governor in Windhuk, 24/4/11, to Bezirksamt Lüderitzbucht.

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A Cameroonian Colony in Kavango

For his part, the German governor, Th eodor Seitz, clearly a fi rm believer in the benefi cial eff ects of social engineering, set up plans to settle a number of the Cameroonians in the Kavango region, in the extreme north eastern reaches of German South West Africa. Here, where the climate was believed to be more akin to that in Cameroon, the mutineers were to be allowed to cultivate their fi elds, and, ‘if they conduct themselves well, they can later become soldiers again.’33 Seitz hoped that in so doing it would be possible to create a, ‘tribe of useful police men for the region.’ In this manner German colonial rule could come to be enforced in the area.34 Unfortunately for Seitz, according to Ger-man law, though he could force the mutineers, he could not force the wives of the mutineers to accompany their husbands to the Kavango. In the event six men were selected and sent off from Lüderitzbucht to Kuring Kuru, in the Kavango region, via Swakopmund and Grootfontein.35

Mbadamassi in German South West Africa

Fortunately for Mbadamassi he was not selected for transport to the Kavango. Instead, less than a year after his arrival in German South West Africa, and probably on account of his being literate, Mbadamassi was transferred from Lüderitzbucht to Swakopmund, where he was put to work in the supply depot.36 Following his transfer to the supply depot in Swakopmund in 1911, Mbadamassi made a statement, to the colonial authorities in German South West Africa, to the eff ect that he had 500 marks in an account with the bank of the Basel Mission in Douala, Cameroon. It is probable, that it was in seek-ing to defray the travel costs of his wife from Cameroon to GSWA, that Mba-damassi requested the colonial government to ensure that the funds be made over to him in South West Africa. In reply to requests from the colonial authorities in German South West Africa, the authorities in Cameroon let it be known that Mbadamassi’s statement had been correct, but that the money

33) NNAW, BLU 31, Governor Seitz in Windhoek, 30/11/10, to magistrate in Lüderitzbucht. JBG’s translation.34) NNAW, BLU 31, Governor Seitz in Windhuk, 17/5/11, to the Magistrate Lüderitzbucht. JBG´s translation.35) NNAW, BLU 31, Auszug aus dem Strafregister uber die nach dem Norden zu transportierenden Kameruner Meuterer; & Magistrate in Lüderitzbucht, 30/6/11, to Governor in Windhoek.36) NNAW, ADM 99, Document entitled, German record of Mbadamassi of Lagos.

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would be retained by the Cameroonian colonial authorities to defray the legal costs of Mbadamassi’s trial.37 Fortunately for Mbadamassi, the 60 Marks which were being held in trust for Mbadamassi by his brother Mbarui, the non-commissioned offi cer in Douala, could be and were transferred to Mba-damassi in Swakopmund.38

Shortly before war broke out in 1914, Kolmanskuppe, which is at present a ghost town smothered in dunes, was the richest town in the territory. It was here that in 1908 diamonds had literally been found lying on the ground, waiting to be picked up. Less than six years after the fi rst discoveries, Kolman-skuppe had grown into a mining boom town, attracting migrant workers from as far afi eld as the eastern Cape and southern Angola (Beinart 1981). In early 1914, Mbadamassi was transferred from Swakopmund to Kolmanskuppe, where he was employed in the quartermaster’s offi ce of the town.39

Serving the Kaiser in World War One

Unfortunately for Mbadamassi, his continued career at the quartermaster’s offi ce, the most valuable source of goods in an army, was soon to be termi-nated. In 1914, when the First World War broke out, the Cameroonian muti-neers were mobilised, put under arms and once again taken into the German army as soldiers. Th e Cameroonians were mounted on riding oxen and ini-tially deployed in the southern reaches of the territory. Here they were employed in guarding captured South African soldiers. As the German army abandoned southern Namibia they were deployed as guards on the settler farms around Goanikontes in the Swakop river valley. Once the German army abandoned central Namibia, the Cameroonians were employed as guards for those African communities which had been interned by the Germans at Grootfontein.40

In July of 1915, a South African offi cer reported that his troops had cap-tured 41 ‘Cameroon troops’ at Grootfontein. Th e Offi cer, who had placed the

37) NNAW, ADM 99, Document entitled, German Record of Mbadamassi of Lagos.38) Ibid. Given that the mutineers were paid 10 pfennig per day of work, the £60 would have been a welcome addition to Mbadamassi’s fi nancial standing.39) NNAW, BLU 31, Nachweisung über die Arbeitsverteilung der Kameruner im Monat Mai 1914.40) Amongst those interned were the Bondelswarts, and the Basters of Rehoboth, who, following the outbreak of the war, had rebelled against Imperial Germany. A large number of the Basters had been conscripted into the army, and following the outbreak of the rebellion they were promptly interned.

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Cameroonians under armed guard at Otavifontein, asked his superiors, ‘what am I to do with them?’41 Th e reply, in keeping with white South African ideas on the position of black Africans, was as follows:

. . . following consultation with [General Louis] Botha, they are to be interred with the regular German troops and employed in sanitary work etc.42

Interned at Aus

It was decided that the Cameroonian soldiers were to be interned with the regular German troops at the internment camp in Aus, in southern Namibia, whilst their wives and children were to be sent to the ‘Native Refugee Camp’ at Usakos, where ‘refugees’ were put to work on the railways.43

Immediately following the occupation of Namibia by South African troops, eff orts were undertaken to ensure that with the end of the war, Namibia was to be handed over to South African control. In line with this intention, offi cial policy with regard to the black African inhabitants of the country was formu-lated in such a way as to show and highlight the virtues of South African rule, as opposed to the drawbacks of German rule, for the country’s black inhabit-ants. In keeping with this policy, following the internment of the Cameroo-nians in Aus, the Head Offi ce of the Native Aff airs Department in Windhoek sent the following message to the Offi cer commanding the internment camp at Aus:

. . . it will be seen that these people could hardly be regarded as on the same footing as ordi-nary refugees at the time they were found with the German troops but if you now fi nd that their general attitude is not unfriendly to us & they are not likely to prejudice military

41) NNAW, ADM 99, Telegram Major Leisk in Otavifontein, 22/7/15, to Major Pritchard in Windhoek.42) NNAW, ADM 99, Telegram Major Pritchard in Windhoek, 23/7/15, to Major Leisk in Otavifontein. Th e South African troops, being derived from a settler society themselves, brought along very specifi c ideas on the virtues of racial segregation. General Louis Botha was the offi cer commanding South African troops in Namibia and later became the Prime minister of South Africa. Following the Boer war, in which he had fought for the Boer republics, he returned to his farm to discover that his farm lands had been retaken by the Bagatla living in the area. As such Botha was very keen to prevent this from happening in Namibia. Consequently German settlers were soon allowed to return to their farms and the army operated in such a way as to make sure that the Native knew his place. 43) NNAW, ADM 99, Telegram Manning on behalf of Major Pritchard in Windhoek, 24/7/15, to Lieutenant Collard in Otavifontein.

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administration if liberated, I should be glad if you would notify this offi ce with a view to their being set free at once.44

It was in response to this message that Mbadamassi fi rst came to the attention of the South African authorities. In September 1915, the offi cer commanding the internment camp in Aus sent a copy of a statement by the ‘Native “Balla-massey” interned here.’ Th e offi cer noted that, ‘Th e Boy’s statement is cor-roborated by another Lagos boy, and I should imagine be easily verifi ed by reference to Police or Military records at Old Kalabar.’45

Once again, during his stint of military service for Imperial Germany in German South West Africa, Mbadamassi had been a good and thrifty soldier. And once again Mbadamassi was cheated of his hard earned money. In his statement Mbadamassi reported that when the war had started, he had been ordered, by a German offi cer named Kuhn, to surrender his bank book, with the words that ‘I could get my Bank Book “after the war”’46 Mbadamassi, who at this stage was still interned in the camp at Aus, where he and his fellow Cameroonian brothers in arms were employed in cleaning the latrines of the interned German soldiers, was interrogated as to the validity of his statement. Mbadamassi stated that when the war started he was at Omaruru, where ‘. . . Lt. Kuhn of [the] German Forces took the book from me. Sgt. Major Puhlmann of the Police was present . . .’47 Th e irony of the matter was that Sgt. Major Puhlmann had been interned in the camp at Aus, and whilst Mbadamassi and his comrades had been retained to clean latrines, Puhlmann had been released on parole, and was residing at Lüderitzbucht.48 Mbadamas-si’s claim was further investigated and in May 1916 a police sergeant in Kalk-feld submitted the following statement to the offi cer commanding police in Omaruru:

. . . I found that a man named Köhn lives on Schillers farm, Lemputz. Th is man has never been an offi cer in the German army, but I gather that he was an under offi cer [i.e. non-commissioned] and was discharged for misconduct. He was in the German paymasters offi ce at Okahandja. He says he knows nothing of Bellamassy or of any bank book.49

44) NNAW, ADM 99, Telegram, Head Offi ce Native Aff airs Department Windhuk 18/8/1915 to the O.C. Troops S.A.M.R. Aus.45) NNAW, ADM 99, Camp Commandant, Aus, 20/9/15, to Th e Native Commissioner Windhuk.46) NNAW, ADM 99, Document entitled, Copy of Statement by Native “Ballamassey”.47) NNAW, ADM 99, Commandant, Prisoners of War Camp, Aus, 7/12/15, to Th e secretary for the Protectorate Windhuk.48) Ibid.49) NNAW, ADM 99, Sgt. Grotsword [?] in Kalkfeld, 24/5/16, to Offi cer commanding police Omaruru.

118 J.-B. Gewald / African Diaspora 2 (2009) 103-124

A former German lieutenant named Kundt was found residing at Okatumua, who stated that he knew a ‘native German soldier named “Mbadamassi.” ’ Furthermore, he stated, that a number of these soldiers had bank books which had been handed over to the government secretary Rudolf Willich at the out-break of the war.50 When questioned, Willich stated, ‘I know this boy well, in my opinion he is not right in his mind.’51 Similarly the representatives of the Landwirtschaftsbank für Deutsch-Südwestafrika let it be known that following the cessation of hostilities, the capture of documents by the South Africans, and the fact that Willich was neither in their service or any longer a serving offi cer, they were unable to substantiate Mbadamassi’s claims.52

Interned in Aus, the Cameroonians requested that their wives be allowed to join them, ‘on the grounds that their wives are sick and can get no attention and that they are starving.’53 Th e South African authorities were against the transfer of the women on the grounds that, ‘. . . these boys . . . are naturally unable to provide for them.’54 Th ough offi cially prohibited from joining their husbands, three women were able to convince the authorities in Usakos to transfer them to Aus. Th eir unannounced arrival in Aus, in early December 1915, evidently surprised the camp authorities, who sent the following urgent telegram to Windhoek:

. . . three native wives arrived here this morning these women cannot be accommodated here not understood why this was allowed pending information. . . [?] my minute kindly take urgent action.55

Th e movement of these three Cameroonian women from Usakos to Aus indi-cates that they had a clear understanding as to where their husbands had been detained. Furthermore it shows very clearly how in this instance these women, in a country with languages unrelated to their own, were able to manipulate the colonial authorities to their own advantage. A report on the incident noted that, ‘With regard to the three women who arrived at Aus, the . . . offi cial states that, on their own request, they were provided with free Railway Warrants to Luderitxbucht [sic], there to join their husbands as alleged. Th ey must have

50) Ibid.51) NNAW, ADM 99, Statement made by Bruno Willich, in Windhuk 29/6/16.52) NNAW, ADM 99, Landwirtschaftsbank für Deutsch-Südwestafrika, Windhuk 26/6/16, to Captain Geary Windhuk.53) NNAW, ADM 99, Commandant Prisoner of War Camp, Aus, 24/11/15, to Th e Director of Native Aff airs, South West Protectorate, Windhuk.54) Ibid.55) NNAW, ADM 99, 6/12/15 Intern to Commissioner native aff airs.

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left the train at Aus station and proceeded to the real residence of their hus-bands.’56 Given the distance between Aus and Usakos, approximately 700 kilometres, and the unknown environment in which they were travelling, this feat is quite remarkable.

Seeking the King’s Protection

Mbadamassi’s statement, upon his capture in July 1915, that he was a British subject, had led to an investigation on the part of the South African and Nige-rian authorities. In November 1915, the Administrator’s offi ce in Windhoek requested from the Nigerian administration if it would, ‘be so good as to cause investigation to be made with a view to establishing the truth or otherwise of the allegations . . ., made by a native, Ballamassey, taken as a Prisoner of War in the recent military operations in this protectorate.’57 It would appear that even in those days the wheels of Nigerian bureaucracy ground very slowly. It was not until February of the following year that the Nigerian administration replied, and it was not until April 1916 that the South African administration in Namibia received this reply. In reply to the South African request, the Nige-rian administration stated, amongst other things, that:

Th ere are several points in his statement which on the face of them make his story quite possible, if not probable. Th e names of the offi cers he gives were serving in the then South-ern Nigeria Regiment of the West African Frontier Force at Old Calabar in the years 1902, 1903 and 1904 and about that time passages were frequently given by German steamers to natives proceeding on leave.58

For their part, the South African authorities in Windhoek, had mislaid the fi les relating to Mbadamassi, which had been held by the Native Com-missioner in Windhoek, a post which had been abolished in early 1916. Th e offi cer in charge of the prisoner of war camp in Aus, was requested to forward all information that he had, which related to Mbadamassi, to

56) NNAW, ADM 99, J. Coetzee, for native commissioner in Windhuk, 11/12/15, to Th e Camp Commandant, Prisoner of War Camp, Aus.57) NNAW, ADM 99, Th e Administrator’s Offi ce Windhoek, 25/11/15, to His excellency Th e governor General Lagos Nigeria.58) NNAW, ADM 99, Moorhouse, Secretary’s Offi ce, Southern Provinces, Lagos, Nigeria, 14/2/16, to Th e secretary for the protectorate of South-West Africa, Windhoek. It is not known whether this Moorhouse was the same man who in 1903 booked Mbadamassi’s fateful passage to Douala.

120 J.-B. Gewald / African Diaspora 2 (2009) 103-124

Windhoek.59 Finally in September of 1916, fourteen months after his capture at Grootfontein and a year after Mbadamassi’s statement that he was a British subject, the Secretary for South West African Protectorate wrote to the offi cer in charge of the internment camp in Aus. Th e Secretary stated, that on the basis of the evidence collected, there seemed to him to be, ‘. . . a suffi ciently good case for Ballamassey’s release.’60 Th e secretary concluded his letter by remarking that at the same time ‘it might be as well . . . to bring under review the cases of the other interned Cameroon Natives.’61

In September of 1916 the order for Mbadamassi’s release came through. It was decided that Mbadamassi and his wife were to be sent to Lüderitzbucht as, ‘it is surmised that the probability of their obtaining work in . . . [Lüderitz] is greater than in other parts of the protectorate.’62 In November of 1916 it was reported that Mbadamassi and his wife had left Aus for repatriation to Lagos via Lüderitzbucht.63 However Mbadamassi was not immediately repa-triated and was reported as having found employment in Lüderitz.64

Repatriation

In early 1917, Walter Long MP, Colonial Secretary 1916-18, let it be known to the Governor General of the Union of South Africa, Lord Buxton, that ‘. . . I have the honour to . . . inform . . . that the Governor General of Nigeria and the French Govt. state that there is no objection to the repatriation to the Cameroons of the German Native soldiers in SWA who belong to the British and French spheres of occupation respectively.’65 Th ough the impending repa-triation of the Cameroonian soldiers was one undoubtedly greeted with plea-sure by the Cameroonians, it was not one that was greeted with much enthusiasm by the camp authorities. Th e Cameroonians had been employed

59) NNAW, ADM 99, Deputy Secretary for the Protectorate, in Windhuk, 26/4/16, to Th e Offi cer Commanding Union Troops, S.W.A. Protectorate, Windhuk.60) NNAW, ADM 99, Secretary for the Protectorate, Windhuk, 13/9/16, to the Offi cer Com-manding Union Troops in the Protectorate.61) Ibid.62) NNAW, ADM 99, Major Herbst in Windhoek, 26/9/16, to the magistrate Lüderitzbucht.63) NNAW, ADM 99, O.C. Union Forces in Windhoek, 11/11/16, to the Secretary for the protectorate Windhoek.64) NNAW, ADM 99 Draft letter, not dated, Secretary for the Protectorate to Th e secretary for Defence Pretoria.65) NNAW, ADM 99, Walter Long, Downing Street 17/4/17 to Gov Gen Buxton.

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in cleaning latrines, and as the offi cer commanding the camp at Aus reported:

It is regretted that the repatriation of these Prisoners of War must take place as they are performing a service at a very much cheaper rate than will be possible with Protectorate native labour.

Previous experience with the Protectorate native’s capacity for work would suggest that at least 30 to 35 would be required to replace the 23 Cameroons.66

However, once authorisation was given for the employment of twenty-fi ve Ovambo to replace the Cameroonian soldiers, permission was granted to release the Cameroonians.67 In late September 1917, two years after their cap-ture at Grootfontein, the Cameroonians were released from the Camp at Aus and taken by rail to Lüderitzbucht. At Lüderitz the Cameroonians were joined by Mbadamassi and his wife, whereafter in early October 1917, under guards drawn from the West African Frontier Force, they were placed on a steamer bound for Sierra Leone.68

Conclusion

Unfortunately we do not know what became of Mbadamassi and his wife. Did they settle in Sierra Leone, where he would have found many others from Yorubaland? Or were they repatriated to Cameroon, where along with his brother, Mbarui, he may have continued living as a trader? Or did the three of them return to Lagos?

Mbadamassi’s chequered career indicates that extensive contacts existed and could be maintained over great distances, even under the most trying of con-ditions, in the colonial period. Th ough deported to Namibia, Mbadamassi was able to continue a fi nancial correspondence with his family, both in Nige-ria and Cameroon. Th e maintenance of contacts between people in Africa’s separate colonies is a factor that still awaits detailed research. Bearing in mind the extensive movement of people between Germany’s African colonies, as well as Germany’s extensive use of Kroo dock and shipmen from Liberia,

66) NNAW, ADM 99, Offi ce of the Commandant, Prisoners of War Camp, Aus, 29/6/17, to the Staff Offi cer to O.C. Union Forces, Protectorate, Windhuk.67) NNAW, ADM 99, Headquarters Union Forces, Windhuk, 30/8/17, to Th e commandant P.O.W. Camp, Aus.68) NNAW, ADM 99, Quartermaster-General, Artillery Barracks, Pretoria, 28/9/17, to Th e Sec-retary for the Protectorate; Telegram from Troops to Intern Aus 22/9/17.

122 J.-B. Gewald / African Diaspora 2 (2009) 103-124

there must be a wealth of information to be found; information which may provide us with greater insight into the manner in which Africans perceived of the colonial state and its institutions.

Th ough we are able to document and follow Mbadamassi’s military career, we are given but little insight into what he felt and thought of the institutions in which he served. Unfortunately no letters personally written by Mbad-amassi could be found. Clearly Mbadamassi had an eye for serving in those sections of the military which held the promise of profi t. Mbadamassi’s asso-ciation with supply depots and pay masters, as well as his ability to save quite considerable amounts of money, both in Namibia and Cameroon, indicate not only that service in the army could provide a profi table existence, but also his undoubted talent in seeking out avenues of opportunity. However, clearly there is more to life than mere profi t. Th e case of Mbadamassi throws up the important question, how did Africans serving in colonial armies perceive of these armies? In the case of Mbadamassi, where it seems likely that the man voluntarily joined the German army, and that on account of his example his brother also enlisted, we can only infer what his thoughts and those of his peers might have been. However, it would hardly be surprising, if it turned out that African soldiers serving in the colonial armies prior to 1914 consciously compared and sought out military careers which were more to their liking.

Th e role of Imperial troops drawn from all over the British Empire to fi ght in World War One in Africa demonstrates the importance of transnational groups in the establishment of Empire. Edward Paice (2007), in his recent book, Tip & Run, mentions a number of military units that fought for the British in WWI in East Africa. Many of these units were recruited from groups, whose unity was imposed upon them by virtue of ascribed ethnicity and language. Examples would include, amongst others, the following units, King’s African Rifl es, Kashmir Rifl es, and the Rhodesia Native Regiment. Th ese units, were demonstrably multi-ethnic, yet subjected to strictures that sought to enforce unity in the service of Empire.69 Th e West African Frontier Force actively recruited soldiers from an ill-defi ned group of people known as Hausa. Th e language of command within the WAFF was a form of stan-dardised Hausa. In its service throughout the Empire, what it meant to be Hausa, WAFF, and a soldier for the King would have been continually re-defi ned and refi ned. Th e case of Mbadamassi, recruited as a ‘Hausa’ into theWest African Frontier Force, and later dragooned into the German Schutz-

69) It would be intriguing for those who might want to, to look at the role of militaries in creat-ing new ethnicities in the light of Hardt and Negri (2000).

J.-B. Gewald / African Diaspora 2 (2009) 103-124 123

truppe, illustrates in the life of a single person the interplay between Imperial perceptions of a transnational group, in this instance Hausa, and the active use of a transnational group in the establishment and maintenance of Empire.

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