SDF To Withdraw Its Parliamentarians, Boycott Elections If Biya Fails To End Crisis

By Boris Esono in Buea
The Social Democratic Front, SDF, has announced that it will not go to Parliament for the budgetary session in November, as well as boycott the upcoming Parliamentary Elections if the Biya regime fails to end the civil war it started in the Anglophone regions of the country.
    In a position statement signed by the the party's national chairman, John Fru Ndi, after a NEC meeting in Douala, on 10 August, the SDF states that "President Biya declared the ongoing war in the NW and SW regions and it is incumbent on the President, not only to bring the civil war to an end, but also provide a definitive solution that will create an enabling environment for children to return to school in September 2019, and for elections to take place; failure to which the SDF shall be obliged to withhold its parliamentarians from attending the November 2019 session.”
    About the upcoming parliamentary/municipal elections, Fru Ndi's party states that “If elections are convened and held under the present circumstances, the SDF will not participate and this will tantamount to breaking the country into two.”  
    The position statement also highlighted ills which followed the war in the two English speaking regions, noting that, “the declaration of war sparked a spiral of violence which led to disastrous consequences: maiming, rape, torture, kidnapping, mass killings, looting, destruction and torching of schools, hospitals, houses and razing of entire villages. This has caused thousands of casualties and displacement of persons, who today, are refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), paradoxically fulfilling the secret assimilation agenda of Anglophones especially the annihilation of the educational and Common Law systems.” 

    To parliamentarians and councillors of the ruling CPDM, representing some areas of the Anglophone regions, the SDF statement chided them for exhibiting “disturbing indifference and support to the oppressive government irrespective of the frustrations and atrocities inflicted on the Anglophone people whom they purport to legitimately represent…” It urged the CPDM representatives from Anglophone regions to stop using the crisis for political ends.
    To the separatist fighters, the SDF cautioned them to exercise restraint.
    It reminded Francophones that the Anglophone problem is a national issue, which if not urgently addressed, will lead to irretrievable separation of the country.  
    The party also condemned what it termed the “irresponsible and incendiary narratives pouring from the diaspora, which further exacerbates the situation.”
    Recalling the recent visit of the new PM, Dr Dion Ngute to Buea and Bamenda, the SDf release noted that the visit was a smokescreen intended to deceive the people of NW and SW because the security situation has not changed after the visit.
    In the resolutions of the NEC meeting, the SDF condemned what it termed "laborious attempts to muzzle the media by the Minat, Paul Atanga Nji.
    About the situation in the Eastern entrance to Douala, the SDF called for parliament to open investigations into it and for the Minister of Public Works to resign for lying to Cameroonians about the works.
    The situation statement also frowned at the wanton acquisition of vast agricultural lands by foreign nationals and attempts to kill the rice production sector in Cameroon.