Cameroon: Anglophone Consortium Vows To Give Biya's Regime A Slap In The Face On 11 Febraury 2017

Cameroonpostnewsline reports that calls for schools to resume after nearly two months of shut-down seem to be headed for a collision with calls for the boycott of February 11 (Youth Day) celebrations.

On Sunday, February 5 tracts circulated in public places, including churches in Buea and its environs advocating for ghost towns to be observed on Monday, Friday and Saturday.

The tracts also advocated for total boycott of February11.

The anonymous authors of the message also called for a boycott of “Youth Day activities in West Cameroon, as well as debunk messages calling off the strike action.”

According to the message, purportedly from the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, only the arrested members of the Consortium can call off the strike action because they initiated it.

On the other hand, there are calls for school resumption, and the University of Buea had announced that its doors were  opened as from yesterday, February 6 and that its academic year has been extended by six months.

Meanwhile, those circulating the tracts noted that “members of the British House of Commons have listened to [their] case with a promise, and “the UN is paying great attention to our petitions and UN member countries are promising to take our matter to the UN Security Council and powerful Western Media is coming on board.”

In a public debate organised by the National Human rights Commission in the Southwest Region, some education stakeholders noted that the issues raised by the teachers and the lawyers are pertinent and concern every strata of the society, reason why it should be tackled from the base and not only targeting teachers.They said that parents also want societal issues to be solved.

One of the stakeholders told the National Human Rights Commission that whether communication is cut off, the people know that Mondays and Tuesdays are days for ghost town campaigns, so the internet cut plays no role.

Most speakers at the conference noted that the people are still listening and responding positively to the now outlawed Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, which shows how deeply rooted the issue is and as such, efforts should be made only towards reasonable dialogue with the real people and not “bribing chiefs”  to call off a strike they didn’t start.

The Post learnt that the administration is making efforts to mobilise youth groups, taxi drivers, CPDM youths as well as hiring other people to march on February 11.

In Buea, marching in small centres has been cancelled, and arrangements have been made only for a grand march to take place at the Independence Square.