Protest in Response to Further Delay - Nfor Still in Detention

The National Vice Chairman of the Southern Cameroons National Council, SCNC, Nfor Ngala Nfor, writing from the Bamenda Central Prison, has reacted angrily to the declaration of the President of the Cameroon Association of Human Rights Democracy and Peace, CAHRDP, Simon Ndeh Chi.

Ndeh Chi had in an article published in The Post of February 9, condemned SCNC's call that Southern Cameroonians should boycott the upcoming elections.It would also be recalled that Ndeh described the SCNC call for a boycott of the legislative and municipal elections as unpatriotic and unreasonable. Ndeh also pledged that his organisation has as primordial role to sensitise and educate the population of Cameroon on the importance of getting their names on the voters' registers.

Part of Nfor Nfor's rejoinder reads: "While congratulating Ndeh and his CAHRDP for their ambitious programme, we, however, regret his misunderstanding of the SCNC position on La République du Cameroun's elections.

We have not called Southern Cameroonians to boycott the elections. It is a political party that boycotts an election, for it has legal and legitimate stakes in the elections. But the SCNC has nothing to do with NEO and ELECAM or La République du Cameroun's elections in general."

Nfor Nfor says the simple message to Southern Cameroonians is that they are not citizens of La République du Cameroun and, as such, they have nothing to do with elections of a foreign country.

"In case Ndeh Chi is hungry for some election money from Yaounde as he says it is the duty of his organisation to campaign for voters' registration, it is their democratic right to join the band wagon as we hear there is much of the money in circulation around just for the asking," says the rejoinder.

SCNC's stand and campaign, Nfor goes on, is the evident mark of what he calls nationalism, patriotism and reason fortified by international law, international treaties governing the boundary that separates Southern Cameroons from La République du Cameroun just as the latter is separated from Gabon, Congo Brazzaville and Chad by international boundaries that must be respected.

"Southern Cameroonians by not registering to vote in the June elections organised by La République du Cameroun are body, soul and mind voting for the restoration of their statehood and independence, as well as calling La République du Cameroun to withdraw its occupation forces and administrators from Southern Cameroons and give peace a chance in the sub-region," further states the prison letter.

The SCNC Chairman claims that the International Community, which highly commends the pacific struggle of the Southern Cameroonian people is fully aware of the SCNC campaign for zero voter registration, zero vote, and is "anxiously monitoring to see its effectiveness, results and the sacred determination of the Southern Cameroonian people to put away the yoke of annexation and the occupation, so that Southern Cameroons takes its seat as a free sovereign nation among the family of nations of the democratic world."

SDO To Appear In Court

In a related development, the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Mezam, Northwest Province, is expected to appear in the Bamenda High Court to testify how and why he ordered for the arrest and detention of some SCNC leaders.

Since January 20, some 13 SCNC activists have been languishing in Bamenda Central Prison, when the local administrators ordered for their arrest during a press conference that held in Cow Street in a private residence.

The Bamenda High Court that awaits the First Assistant SDO for Mezam, Simon Sombe, to give his side of the story of the arrests, has been carrying out Preliminary Investigations, PI.

All efforts by Defence Counsel requesting that the detainees be granted bail have failed.The matter suffered another adjournment on March 6, due to the absence of the SDO and was rescheduled for Tuesday, March 13, after the court grilled the gendarmes who facilitated the arrests.

In a press release, "Civil Liberties Under Siege In Cameroon, " the General Secretary of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation, UNPO, at The Hague, Marino Busdachin, regrets that Nfor Ngala Nfor, and 13 others have been in detention for over 48 days without an arrest warrant, no charge pressed against them, and no hearing.

The UNPO is appalled at the lack of respect for civil liberties and legal standards and has re-issued calls to Cameroonian authorities to end the persecution of members of the SCNC. UNPO draws the attention of the International Community to the use of arbitrary arrests and intimidation as a tool of repression against, amongst others, the SCNC.