The Social Democratic Front (SDF), Cameroon’s main opposition party has officially filed the candidacy of its flagbearer for presidential polls slated for October 7, 2018.

Local media reports that a mammoth crowd accompanied 49-year-old Joshua Osih Nabangi on Wednesday (July 18) as he submitted his papers at the Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) regional offices in Douala.

Osih, the main challenger to long-serving Paul Biya was accompanied by SDF founder and former flagbearer, John Fru Ndi. A number of candidates are also expected to enter the race before submission deadline.

Speaking to the media after his submission, Osih stressed that even though the number of candidates in the October 7 race may be lesser than that of 2011, it was the reason why this election was “significant” in Cameroon’s political history.

“We will mobilise to ensure victory to improve the people’s living standards …our doors are open to those ready to see us through this journey,” Osih declared. Osih, who hails from the Toko Subdivision in Ndian Division of the South West Region is a first-timer in the presidential race.

For his part, SDF leader and veteran opposition leader Fru Ndi told reporters that Osih and the SDF remained the only sure path to salvage the Central African country.

“Cameroonians have suffered enough, many have died. We will wipe their tears and put an end to the people’s sufferings…taking part in this election is a step ahead for victory,” he is quoted to have said.

Culled from Africa News

Cameroon has set October 7 as the date for its presidential election. However, it remains unclear whether the vote can take place in the country’s two English-speaking regions, where separatists are fighting for an independent state.

Abdoul-Karimou, deputy manager of Cameroon’s election management body, ELECAM, said ELECAM has yet to receive documents from any presidential candidates. But he expects that to change.

He said according to Cameroon’s electoral code, people who want to run for president still have up to July 19 to send their documents to the elections management body for examination.

Already, a dozen people including Joshua Osih of the main opposition Social Democratic Front, Akere Muna, a lawyer and former vice president of Transparency International, Maurice Kamto, head of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon, and journalist Cabral Libi have declared their intentions to run.

Incumbent President Paul Biya, who has been in office more than 35 years, has not said whether he would run. But there have been calls from his party, traditional rulers, and even some opposition political parties for him to be their candidate.

Traditional ruler and lawmaker Chaffa Isaac said they are asking Biya to run in the hope that his reelection could bring peace to the embattled northwest region and complete development projects he had initiated for the whole country.

“We are calling on president Paul Biya to take all appropriate measures to create a conducive atmosphere, one for peace to reign in Cameroon, two, for there to be a successful election where he is candidate,” he said.

But the Social Democratic Front’s Joshua Osih said he does not think the elections can be conducted successfully in the northwest and southwest regions, where the military is battling armed groups fighting for the creation of an English-speaking state.

Twenty percent of Cameroon’s 23 million people are English-speakers in a bilingual country where French is the predominant language.

The conflict has killed more than 250 soldiers, armed fighters and civilians. It has also left over 160,000 people internally displaced and and forced tens of thousands across the border in Nigeria.

“Elections are not possible in the present circumstances in the northwest and the southwest,” said Osih.

Last week, lawmakers in the national assembly passed a law extending their mandate for 12 months. They said the country cannot handle having presidential and parliamentary elections in the same year.

Some lawmakers said they voted for the bill because the crisis in the English-speaking regions will make it impossible for the elections to take place.

Last March, senatorial elections did not take place in the English-speaking Manyu and Lebialem administrative units where some municipal councilors were arrested and locked up by armed groups.

Armed separatists have vowed to block any elections in the English-speaking regions. The government says it will ensure the security and safety of voters.

Source: VOA

The 86 year autocratic, dictator and  ruler of la République du Cameroun in his typical Machiavelli way of doing things announced a  couple of weeks ago, despite the escalating war that he declared on the people of the English speaking region in Cameroon that the presidential elections would hold on the 07 of October. Prior to this announcement, two other elections (municipal and parliamentary) that were supposed to take place this year were postponed and members of parliament and mayors had their mandate extended to 2019. Political pundits and observers have been wondering aloud if it makes any sense to organize presidential elections in a country caught up in a senseless war that has produced some 200.000 internally displaced persons with over 50.000 as refugees in Nigeria? A lot of tongues have indeed been wagging on how the Biya regime intends to stage the elections in the Southern Cameroons, where citizens are gunned down indiscriminately by Francophone soldiers and where Southern Cameroonians are not allowed to communion in groups, as the military continues to kill indiscriminately.

The robust resistance of the restoration forces, who have basically taken over authority in Anglophone Cameroon, and who enjoy the support of the communities is definitely an insurmountable challenge to the infamous electoral project. The restoration forces have vowed that no such election is going to take place in Africa’s newest state-The Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The restoration forces are in total control of the communities and have reportedly intensified ghost town operations. Attempts by the Yaoundé government and the mayor of Buea to disrupt the idea of ghost town recently led to deadly clashes with state authority ending up with a bloodied nose, and the restoration forces having the last word.

This week, the minister for defense Joseph Beti Asomo on a special mission ordered by the head of state of la Republic visited the affected regions to meet and congratulate the soldiers for their bravery and courage in killing their fellow citizens. What was thought to be a robust and security tight convoy of 30 armoured vehicles ferrying the minister  and several army generals including colonels came under attack. Beti Assomo and his entourage met what has been described as the most audacious attempt by the restoration forces to make an emphatic statement to the Yaoundé regime.

One of the journalists traveling with the minister got injured in the attack. He narrated the ordeal to the world and in his statement, he compared the restoration forces to Boko Haram, and pointed out that although the Nigerian Islamic sect uses sophisticated weapons; the restoration forces were in possession of locally manufactured weaponry. He further pointed out that Ambazonian forces are more organized and intelligent than Boko Haram fighters. He said if the restoration forces had modern assault weapons, the damage on the convoy would have been unimaginable as the minister would have been captured. In the midst of this insecurity and uncertainty, and the attack on the defense minister’s convoy, it is abundantly clear that elections will not take place in the former British Southern Cameroons. The restoration forces have instructed Ambazonians not to part of the upcoming counterfeit presidential elections, which they described as provocative and illegal. How the 86 year old dictator intends to make such a precarious election to take place remains a mystery, wrapped in a puzzle inside an enigma.

By Ntam Charles Ngeh

Bonn, Germany

Cameroon is facing a growing danger of economic collapse and a civil war, provoked in large part by French government support for the 85 year President Paul Biya. This week Biya tweeted his intention to run for the October presidential elections amid worsening security situation in the country. The Biya move came after the United States ambassador Peter Barlerin sounded a note of caution to the CPDM Chairman to step aside. The Biya action has failed to win wide support in the entire nation.

In announcing his decision, Biya is responding to intensifying pressure from the Western powers particularly the US. The US Senate recently held a hearing on the crisis in Southern Cameroons which will eventually commit Washington to use its influence to block all international aid and financial assistance for Cameroon. This comes on top of sanctions already implemented by the Federal Republic of Germany.

The UK, meanwhile, has decided to maintain a kind of deliberate silence on the crisis in Ambazonia but has however up the African activities of its foreign intelligence service MI6 in the Gulf of Guinea. Britain had long established a new ministerial committee, ostensibly to give advanced warning of coup attempts and threats of civil war in sub-Saharan Africa.

The ruling CPDM crime syndicate which is mainly based in the cities of Douala, Yaounde and Maroua including some towns and villages in the Center and South regions has alienated not only Southern Cameroonians but also the Bamilekes, the Bassas and the Sawas. The widening political division between Southern Cameroons and the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime and the long standing grievance of the Ahmadou Ahidjo following contains the potential for civil war.

The sharp decline in living standards, 95 percent unemployment and the increasingly repressive character of Biya’s rule provoked popular opposition deep within Southern Cameroons and created conditions for violent social conflict. Aware of the extent of social and political tensions, Biya declared war against his own people-the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The 85 year old dictator has never accepted measures that would undermine his rule and as I write, his kinsmen and women in the army are moving like a train with no brakes crushing anyone on Biya’s way.

The US through the voice of its ambassador Peter Barlerin has decided that it was time to move against Biya. But the world’s strongest nation is yet to cut off funds and investment to Yaoundé and have failed to encourage the formation of an alternative political leadership that is more responsive to US and EU demands.

Biya offers no progressive response to Western demands and meddling. Instead, he is seeking to hold onto power by whipping up anger of the Francophones not only against Southern Cameroonians but also against the Bamilekes. For nearly four decades, Biya did little to make Ambazonians feel Cameroonian, resulting in an erosion of popular support in Southern Cameroons for his regime.  In an attempt to reverse Biya’s decline and counter calls for an Anglophone head of state, Biya declared war on Southern Cameroons.

For the last two years, the Francophone dominated army has been patrolling Southern Cameroons towns and villages, killing innocent civilians and beating up people suspected of supporting the quest for an independent state.

By Rita Akana

Cameroon’s Anglophone regions will participate in presidential polls slated for October 7, 2018. This is according to the country’s electoral organizing body, Elections Cameroon (ELECAM).

The said regions – North West and South West – have been restive for months now amid armed exchanges between government forces and secessionists under the banner of the so-called Ambazonia Republic.

The elections organizer assured that elections will take place in the regions stressing that the issue of security for all stakeholders in the process was the responsibility of the government.

ELECAM’s Assistant Director, Abdoul Karimou is quoted as saying, “Elections will hold in the North West and South West regions but ensuring security is the responsibility of the State.”

The government recently announced an October 7 date for the presidential elections. Political and security watchers have expressed worry over the worsening situation in the region and averred that peaceful polls could not hold in the affected areas.

The presidential poll is the biggest contest for a busy election year. Voters have already elected other legislative representatives earlier this year.

There were security challenges in the Anglophone regions during some of the polls. These challenges were also present during a national examination – there was heavy security presence at exam centers but some centers were burnt down by suspected separatists.

Source: Africa News