Chris Mbunwe & Francis Tim Mbom
3 October 2008
Activists of Southern Cameroons National Council. SCNC, October 1 defied banning orders issued by Northwest Governor, Abakar Ahamat hoisted the movement's flags in some parts of the Northwest and Southwest Provinces.
The Governor's banning order had been read repeatedly over local radio stations in Bamenda.
Speaking to The Post, the SCNC Chief of Communication, Ngiewih Asunkwan, said this year's celebration of October 1, was a success, "because the government panicked, issue banning orders and helped in publicising the event.
"We were chased from one part of the town to the other in Bamenda, Kumbo Mamfe and Mutengene but in all these places we succeeded in hoisting our flags to portray our sovereignty, even if they were in certain areas hoisted in the bush."
Asked what significance hoisting the flags portended, Asunkwan retorted, "why not ask administration why they are worried. They know, as we do, that flags signify a lot of importance to the identity of a people wherever they are and we have done just that.
"In their usual manner, the government officials look for excuses and resort to arrests, torture and intimidation of all sorts," Asunkwan remarked.
He, however, said since the situation in urban towns was very tense because of the heavy presence of troops, SCNC activists were forced to retreat to their private homes where celebrations and hoisting of flags continued late in the evening.
Apart from one SCNC official, Simon Tantoh, who was arrested Monday, September 29, in front of BICEC Bank, around midday with SCNC newsletters and other literature on the liberation struggle, Asunkwan said no other arrests had been reported so far.
As we went to press, Tantoh was still in custody at the Bamenda Central Police Station.
According to Stephen Kongnso, Bui SCNC Coordinator, troops hemmed him and his family for two days.
Meanwhile, troops in Kumbo were seen working round the clock to prevent the hoisting of SCNC flags.But reports reaching The Post indicated that flags were hoisted in Mbveh and Kingomen, an enclaved village.
In the Southwest, Fako SDO, Jules Marcellin Ndjaga, prior to October 1, issued a prefectorial order banning all "public gatherings, manifestations," across the Division from September 30 to October 2.
The SDO's order stated unequivocally that any contravention of the orders would be punished in accordance with the prescriptions of the laws in place.The Post equally gathered that security around the town, following the ban, was stepped up with heightened night police patrols.
Some police sources told The Post that with the dust raised by last Sunday's bank attacks, the administration was very jittery and not ready to take any chances.Meantime, trade unionist and an ardent SCNC stalwart, CPN Vewessee, said the essential action of the SCNC now was that of educating the younger generation about the cause.
He said going out every October 1 to demonstrate has not taken Southern Cameroonians an inch closer to their liberation. To him, what is important now is to carry out a mass education of the youths of the Southern Cameroons region to let them know that they are what he called an independent people.
To Vewessee, if the Southern Cameroonians are not ready to fight for their destiny, they should rather just wait for the future when nature would decide things for them in the event of the end of the Biya regime.
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