NDIMUH B. SHANCHO
Cameroon’s leading opposition political party, Social Democratic Front, SDF, one of the first political parties invited for consultative talks by Prime Minister, PM, Chief Dr. Joseph Diong Ngute prior to the end-of-September 2019 national dialogue, has stated some necessary preconditions for the dialogue.
In a communique, published on September 12, 2019, shortly after the consultative talks, SDF First National Vice Chairman, Hon Joshua Osih, said the forthcoming dialogue must satisfy the aspirations of the Anglophones, and that nothing short of this will work.
“We made it clear as follows: that such a National Inclusive Dialogue should be chaired by a neutral personality; the national dialogue must dwell on the root causes of the Anglophone problem; there must be structured openings to discuss the form of the state, with the view to adopting a new constitution for Cameroon and this should be prominent on the agenda; this dialogue has been occasioned by the Anglophone crisis and therefore Anglophones must be central to its discussions and we proposed a preconference in this regard that will allow this dialogue not to go the way of the 1972 referendum and the 1991 tri-partite meeting; the military cannot be part of a national inclusive dialogue, which is essentially political”, the release read in part.
The country’s leading opposition political party also urged the government to declare a ceasefire and grant a general amnesty to all those implicated in the crisis to create an enabling environment for all stakeholders to participate in the dialogue.
While appreciating the willingness of the UN, AU and Commonwealth to be part of the dialogue, and requesting the inclusion of USA, Britain and Germany as third parties, SDF insisted that the nature and conduct of the dialogue should be clear. “The timings and sequencing must be consensual; we need a proper definition of what is in the national inclusive dialogue, including its structure and the mechanisms to be used; we must make sure that major stakeholders are part of the preparatory phase, the process phase itself as well as the implementation phase in order to nurture the outcome,” they stated in the released.
These concerns, according to the communique, were tabled to the Prime Minister for onward transmission to the convener of the dialogue, the Head of State, so a way forward could be gotten by all stakeholders involved.
Meanwhile, the SDF National Chairman, John Fru Ndi, speaking on State media, September 13, 2019, called on separatist fighters to drop their arms and give peace a chance, now that the Head of State has called for a national dialogue.