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By Tata Mbunwe
Detained Muslim scholar, Abdul Karim Ali, has called on Ambazonia separatist leaders to be united in their speech and ideologies if they must succeed at any peace talks like the Canada-led initiative.
In a statement he wrote from the Secretariat of Defence (SED) in Yaounde where he has been detained for over five months now, Karim lauded Canada’s announcement about the agreement by Cameroon government and some separatist factions to dialogue.
He reminded the separatists, who are in at least four factions, to stand as one if they must achieve something substantial from the dialogue.
“My dear brothers and sisters, we remind you that international security is achieved through conflict management and conflict management is accomplished above all by negotiations. Let the love of our people and the recognition of our collective suffering be our guide. At this time, I urge my comrades to do what I term ‘the righteous act’. Please combine divergent positions by limiting alternatives. Them we must start negotiations among ourselves,” Abdul Karim wrote.
“In my viewpoint, the main question is how can divergent viewpoints combine to produce a common agreement that meets our common aspiration. We must be constantly rerouted to our commitment to the cause and our obligation to the suffering people of our homeland,” he added.
Abdul Karim’s statement comes one week after Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Joly, announced, on January 20, that they were in touch with the Cameroon government and some separatist factions for a dialogue to resolve the Anglophone Crisis.
This announcement revived many hopes that the six-year conflict that has killed about 6,000 people will be settled, at last.
But these hopes were partly dampened when the Cameroon government renounced the dialogue on January 23, stating that it needed no third party to negotiate or mediate to end its internal crisis. However, the Canadian government maintained that the Cameroon government had expressed hopes to join the dialogue process.
Parties to the negotiation included the Republic of Cameroon, the Ambazonia Governing Council and the Ambazonia Defence Force, the African People’s Liberation Movement and the Southern Cameroons Defence Force, the Interim Government, and the Ambazonia Coalition Team, the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister said.
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