Opposition Leaders Invoke Arms Struggle

Anti-riot police officers patrol Yaounde neigbourhood to quash CPP protest, Friday April 8,2016

Four opposition party leaders have warned President Paul Biya and his entire administration not to plunge the country into a civil war. The politicians declared that should the Biya regime continue to violently quash opposition rallies in the country, Cameroonians may be bound to take up arms.

Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, CRM; Kah Walla of the Cameroon People’s Party, CPP; Ndem Asame of the Union of the Populations of Cameroon, UPC and Nkou Nvondo of the UNIVERS, frustrated by persistent disruption of their rallies, recently wrote a scathing letter to Biya. They accused the 83-year old president of dictatorship and using unorthodox methods to intimidate, subjugate and impose on Cameroonians a regime that has outlived its usefulness.

“Over the past 26 years, President Biya has used the uniformed services to perpetuate a quasi military regime that thrives on using the dangers associated with civil war to persuade Cameroonians to accept all forms of torments in the name of peace,” the politicians stated in their letter addressed specifically to The Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Rene Emmanuel Sadi.

They told the regime, through Sadi that Cameroonians cannot be said to be enjoying peace when they are not allowed to talk to one another or group themselves together to plan a common strategy to root out an archaic regime and replace it with one that guarantees them a better future.

“The regime does not allow some Cameroonians to talk to each other. Even when they are permitted to assemble you will always witness a strong presence of uniform men who comport themselves as if they are at war with supporters of opposition parties. Indeed, the majority of Cameroonians are frustrated and very unhappy,” the letter from the opposition leaders reads in part.

They warned the Biya regime that the discontent in a majority of Cameroonians is nearing a level where it could explode into a civil war if the ruling CPDM; the administration and top officials of the regime do not desist from denying Cameroonians their fundamental rights to freedom of association and freedom to carry out public demonstrations over any national issue for which they do not agree with the regime.