[1][2] He attended public school in Bafoussam, and then l'Ecole Primaire Supérieure de Yaoundé where he obtained a Diplôme des Moniteurs Indigènes (DMI) in November 1943 and began work as a teacher.

[4] On 20 June 1955 the UPC leader, Ruben Um Nyobé, was sentenced in his absence to six months in prison and a large fine.

Most of the UPC leaders moved to Kumba in the British-administered Southern Cameroons to avoid being jailed by the colonial power.

[6] Ruben Um Nyobé remained in the French zone in the forest near his home village of Boumnyébel, where he had taken refuge in April 1955.

[5] This village lies just east of the Sanaga-Maritime area of the Littoral province on the road connecting Edéa to Yaoundé, the capital.

In July 1957, under pressure from the French, the British authorities in western Cameroon deported Ernest Ouandié and other leaders of the UPC to Khartoum, Sudan.

Led by General Max Briand, who had served previously in Algeria and Indochina, these troops conducted a pacification campaign in the Bamiléké territory of the West, Centre and Littoral provinces.

[16] Moumié was poisoned by French agents using thallium on 13 October 1960 and died on 4 November 1960, leaving Ouandié as head of the UPC.

In January 1964, public executions of fifteen captured rebels were staged in Douala, Bafoussam and Edéa as part of the celebrations of the fourth anniversary of independence.

Ndongmo claimed that his actions were consistent with President Ahidjo's instructions, but it seems clear that he sympathised strongly with the rebels although he did not approve of their methods.

[9] Ndongmo was called to go to Rome to answer some questions about business dealings, but before leaving he sent Ouandié and his secretary to take refuge with his catechist on the outskirts of Mbanga.

[9] On 29 August the Cameroon Times ran a lead story titled "Bishop Ndongmo arrested for alleged subversion."

[16] In France, most of the major media (AFP, Le Monde...) reproduced without hindsight the version presented by Ahmadou Ahidjo's government.

On the other hand, Henri Curiel's Solidarity network was very active, mobilising lawyers and intellectuals to try to organise the legal and media defence of the accused, and approaching French diplomats to convince them to intervene.

Despite the lack of interest from the media, several personalities joined the committee: former minister Pierre Cot, writer Michel Leiris, philosopher Paul Ricœur and linguist Noam Chomsky.

[27] Bishop Ndongmo was also tried for treason by a military tribunal in January 1971, found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad.

[9] In January 1991 on the weekend following the 20th anniversary of Ouandié's death there were moves by opposition groups to lay flowers on the place where he had died.

[3] In January 2012 the reconstituted Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC) protested that Ouandié's grave had been desecrated.