Anglophone Crisis: Bamenda population boycotts NW Regional Assembly’s peace march, term it hypocrisy

Bamenda residents have described the Regional Assembly as an arm of the government, which has rejected calls for peace and ceasefire

The population of Bamenda, Cameroon’s Northwest Regional capital, have been boycotting an initiative organised by the Regional Assembly to advocated for peace in the Region that has suffered armed conflict for six years now.

Some Bamenda residents who spoke to MMI on and off the record said they have boycotted a peace march organised by the Northwest Regional Assembly because the institution is part of the government, which has rejected calls for a ceasefire and dialogue.

One of the peace marches organised at Up Station, Bamenda, on Wednesday, April 26, was scantily attended.

A member of the Regional Assembly who spoke to MMI on condition of anonymity said a hand full of hired commercial motorbike riders, who attended the peace march, could not give the exercise the weight the authorities wanted.

From observation, the number of heavily armed soldiers, who maintained security during the peace march, outnumbered participants, said MMI reporter in Bamenda.

“How can people who are against genuine dialogue be organising a peace march? This is strange. We need dialogue, they say no and that peace march is the best. They should stop wasting their time,” said a Bamenda denizen who preferred not to be named.

The Regional Assembly member who spoke to MMI said authorities of the institution were disappointed at the poor population turn out during the peace march.

He suggested that the supposed peace initiative was purely for political reasons and was meant to show the government that the Regional Assembly was working towards peace.

Many of such camouflage events have been organised in Bamenda in the past, with banners that accompany the activities indicating that they are taking place in another town.

Some politicians usually used this strategy to show authorities that there is peace, but the contrary obtains.

Sources told MMI the Ngokentunjia Peace Conference that took place in a hotel at New Road Bamenda but the organizers told journalists to report that it happened in Ngokentunjia Division, an area that is gripped by conflict.

By Soulemanu Buba