By Etienne Mainimo Mengnjo
The Cameroon Renaissance Movement, CRM, says, since the just ended Major National Dialogue, MND, did not address the thorny issue of the post-election crisis and other issues affecting the life of the nation, the party is obliged to maintain and accentuate national resistance.
The strong worded statement from the CRM party is contained in six-page document made public on October 5 in Yaounde and signed by its National President, Prof. Maurice Kamto. According to the communiqué, the forms and method of resistance will be communicated in the days ahead.
“… The MND did not, at all, address the thorny issue of the post-election crisis. Even our nine months of arbitrary imprisonment will not have been enough to sensitise the ruling power on the need to resolve this issue. In particular, no attention has been paid to the crucial issue of the consensual reform of the electoral system before any new election, an issue on which all political actors in our country, including ELECAM, agree,” the communiqué reads.
The document further states: “It is therefore clear that the electoral hold-up continues and intends to be reinforced. We are, therefore, obliged to maintain and accentuate the National Resistance, in the forms and methods that will be communicated later. As a result, we urge CRM activists and supporters as well as all Cameroonians concerned about the future of our country to remain mobilised.”
Apart from announcing national resistance, the CRM party indicated that the MND seems not to have brought a new and lasting solution to the claims of the Anglophones on the form of the State. At such, a solution can only be reached through direct discussions with political representatives of the armed groups that control the ground, including those who have recently been sentenced to life imprisonment.
“Such a solution is essential before the organisation of the next elections, so as not to open the way to a de facto partition of the country because of insecurity. In this perspective, it is urgent to release all those still detained because of their involvement in the Anglophone Crisis,” partly reads the communiqué.
Talking about the MND, the party asked: “Did we need about 3,000 deaths, more than half a million internally displaced persons, nearly 40,000 refugees, hundreds of villages destroyed, three years of lost schooling and an economic catastrophe to come and reaffirm a Constitution that has long been denied for 23 years?”
Besides discussing the content of the ‘Special Status’ within the framework of the MND with the representatives of the various groups concerned, including the Secessionists, the CRM party indicated that there is no shortcut to a direct dialogue with the Anglophone leaders who have a real grip on the armed groups controlling most of the Northwest and Southwest Regions.
The party says general amnesty for all leaders and all those concerned in the crisis, is essential to create the conditions for a deep and lasting solution. It maintains that there is need for peace to return to the affected Regions, because, if the next elections are held only on one part of the country, it means the country is already divided.
Appreciating Sultan Mbombo Njoya’s proposal, the party also called for the guaranteeing of public freedom and fundamental human rights, independence of the judiciary and the renunciation of the use of justice for political ends.
The CRM party expressed their thanks to all Cameroonians and foreign lawyers who, in an exceptional commitment, brilliantly defended them. The party also thanked CRM leaders and militants at all levels, for their ongoing vigilance and mobilisation, as well as the international community, friendly countries, human rights NGOs and other Civil Society Organisations, for their various statements in favour of a concerted and inclusive settlement of the many crises that are shaking Cameroon as well as their immediate and unconditional release.
Nevertheless, the party pointed out that the announced discontinuance of proceedings does not seem to have settled the situation of all the detained comrades, with a number of them facing long prison terms ruling.