SOCADEF heeds to UN’s call, agrees to stand down for 14 days

The Southern Cameroons Defense Force, (SOCADEF) has responded to a call made by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to drop arms in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Guterres in a March 23 message had called for a global ceasefire to allow for concerted action against the coronavirus.

Priding itself as “the oldest existing self-defence force of the people and territory of Ambazonia, ” SOCADEF says its Revolutionary High Command Council has had consultation with Ground Zero Command.

Consequently, it has “ordered all combat units of SOCADEF and its affiliates operating within nine of thirteen counties of Ambazonia to stand down.”

However, it notes that they will “maintain positions with combat readiness to defend for a period of 14 days”.

The ceasefire is set to run from “00 hours on Sunday the 29 of March to Sunday the 13 of April 2020 in order to permit international humanitarian preparation against COVID-19.”

Government on its part is yet to comment on a possible ceasefire in the North West and South West regions, but has said it has no plans of instituting a total nationwide lockdown yet as a means to combat the virus.

Official figures place the number of coronavirus cases in Cameroon at the moment at 75.

MMI