17, January 2017
Anti-Francophone rebellion brewing in Southern Cameroons 0
An anti-Francophone rebellion is brewing in Southern Cameroons, where the embattled government of the 83 year-old Paul Biya continues to bring in new anti Anglophone measures and militarizing the English regions of the country. Now, even elected local officials are joining the fray in a seemingly random but increasingly prevalent wave of civil disobedience in West Cameroon.
Working under the direct supervision of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and on the theory of strength in numbers, the Anglophone teachers and lawyers have paralyzed business and academic activities in British Southern Cameroons. Southern Cameroons have observed a successful civil disobedience campaign for three days and there are speculations that the Consortium intends to step up the fight against Anglophone marginalization.
Furious at the success of the ghost town operations, the chairman of the so-called Ad Hoc Committee announced late yesterday that dialogue with the Anglophone leaders has come to an end. Prof. Ghogomu Mingo Paul in his statement launched a scathing attack on members of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society.
Anglophone lawyers, teachers’ trade unions and campaigners have tried to get the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government to implement a two state federation that will guarantee political and economic freedom to West Cameroonians. However, the regime in Yaounde has remained defiant and is reportedly planning to suspend thousands of Anglophone civil servants while maintaining a huge military presence in the English regions.
State buildings are empty ever since Monday the 16th of January 2017 and municipalities have stalled in ordering strikers back to work. The Southern Cameroon strikes are becoming so frequent that everyone from council workers to motor taxis, medical doctors to buy’am sell’am, has walked off the job at some point. Ghost town operations today were again successful following an appeal from the Consortium that West Cameroonians should remain calm and discipline.
Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report
17, January 2017
CPDM Government bans Consortium, SCNC 1
Some senior political commentators have accused the Paul Biya-led One Cameroon regime of toying with the nation’s unity and future. Their comments were made public earlier today when state radio and television announced a ministerial order from the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization banning the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and the Southern Cameroons National Council.
The decision by Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi came after a declaration by the chairman of the so-called Ad Hoc Committee; Ghogomu Mingo Paul that the new generation of Anglophone leaders have unanimously resolved to resist any further dialogue with the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government.
Ghogomu Paul ignored claims by the Anglophone Consortium that the Yaounde regime was gambling with Cameroon’s future by continuing to maliciously deploy the military in the Southern Cameroons region and implementing sinister divide and rule tactics against Anglophone’s key actors.
The Minister Rene Sadi’s order has shut the door to the advice that was given to President Biya to personally and visibly head a holistic solution-seeking strategy that will prove his commitment to a robustly sustainable peace with British Southern Cameroonians.
Our chief political correspondent in Yaoundé opined that for there to be true unity, stability and progress in the country, President Biya should engage the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium with new faces who are not going to be wasting time establishing so-called Ad Hoc Committees that will not resolve pertinent issues sustainable.
At the time of filing this report, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society had not reacted to the ministerial order published by the Yaounde regime.
By Chi Prudence Asong