West Cameroon Crisis: Over 700 arrested in ongoing ghost town against La Republique du Cameroun ⁰

As many as 70 West Cameroonians were arrested yesterday Sunday the 5^th of February 2017 in Bamenda and Buea by plain cloth police officers deployed from French Cameroun as part of an ongoing protest calling on the Biya administration to accept a return to the 1961 federal structure which would deliver fairness and put an end to the marginalization of Anglophone Cameroonians.

An estimated 4 million Southern Cameroonians have signed up to hold sit-ins and commit other acts of civil disobedience as demanded by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium until all demands made by the body are met by the Francophone political elites. A majority of Southern Cameroonians boycotted the final match of the Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON as a sign of protest and solidarity with all those raped and killed including the many hundreds now in detention centers in French speaking Cameroun. Our chief intelligence officer has revealed that over 700 Southern Cameroonians have so far been arrested.

The Biya Francophone regime issued a political statement at the end of the AFCON final which saw Cameroon beating Egypt by 2 goals to 1 in Libreville Gabon. The Cameroonian footballers were ordered to wear jerseys bearing the message “Forever Cameroon” reportedly seen in West Cameroon as a sign of bad faith and incessant provocation.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has announced a massive ghost town protest beginning today Monday, the 6^th of February and the supreme Anglophone body says, the civil disobedience campaign will be intensified to stifle 11 of February nationwide celebration.  Academic establishments remain closed in West Cameroon despite numerous vicious attempts to get them running again by the Francophone government.

Yaoundé has blatantly refused to dialogue and is currently carrying out a form of ethnic cleansing in Southern Cameroons. Recently, senior political elites from the South West region encouraged the semi Bantus and Bantu tribes to launch attacks against the Tikars of the North West region. The group that was led by former Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge made a mockery of themselves by trying to trivialize the Southern Cameroons revolution.

Also joining the protest are both Francophone and Southern Cameroons indigenous business community leaders whose businesses have been paralyzed ever since the Biya regime shut down internet services in the Anglophone regions.  Both the Roman Catholic and the Presbyterian Churches in Cameroon have joined in calling on the Francophone dominated government to stop the extra judicial killings and arbitrary arrest going on and proceed with genuine dialogue to resolve the matter.

Meanwhile, some renowned Francophone political commentators have opined that at 83, President Biya is no more physically and mentally fit to run the country. They emphasize what they say are the political and economic benefits to Cameroon as a nation, if there were to be real dialogue with the leadership of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Tension is reportedly mounting and there are already calls for an armed struggle as the Biya Francophone administration remains undecided whether to approve dialogue with the leadership of Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.  The interim leaders of the Consortium were quoted as saying that “This is the first real Southern Cameroons ghost town of this scale against marginalization in ages.”

We are keeping a watchful eye on today’s ghost town operations and we will bring to you all the latest developments as we have it.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai