By Atia Tilarious Azohnwi
Hon. FOBI NCHINDA Simon, SDF Member of Parliament for Bamenda/Bali has in a press release dated March 12, 2019 distanced himself from the declarations made by the eldest Member of Cameroon’s National Assembly as he formally opened the 2019 legislative year.
“…I, FOBI NCHINDA Simon, SDF Member of Parliament for Bamenda/Bali strongly dissociate myself from the positions taken by the Eldest Member of the National Assembly [Hon. Enow Tanjong] in his opening speech,” the press release read.
Hon. Fobi regretted that, in his opening speech, the Eldest Member limited the atrocities carried out on the Anglophone people, to the burning of the Kumba District Hospital.
His words: “…he even refused to ask the question whether the arsonists were government soldiers or separatists, a question whose answer can only come from an independent investigation.
“In his concentration on the sad events of the Kumba District Hospital, he forgot (or deliberately left out) the other atrocities being committed by both belligerents throughout the Northwest and Southwest Regions, such as:
“The thousands of civilians (estimates exceed 10,000) dead and the hundreds of soldiers killed.
“A generation of Anglophones with a significantly reduced male population between the ages of 13years and 35years because they have been victims of targeted killings by the army.
“The sorry state of our hospitals and health centers because doctors and nurses (those who are alive) are afraid for their lives; women dying in the process of giving birth in the bushes under inhuman conditions.
“Refugees are in their thousands and internally displaced persons in their hundreds of thousands trying to eke out a living under the most inhuman conditions.
“Schools and universities shut down and the future of our children jeopardized and in total uncertainty.
“Total insecurity both from secessionists’ and from the soldiers with indiscriminate shootings, burnings, lootings, rapes as the order of the day.”
Hon. Fobi wondered why Hon. Enow Tanjong would fail to present the urgency for humanitarian intervention to the situation in the North West and South West regions.
“In the light of the above, the Eldest Member has failed to draw sufficient attention to the urgency for Humanitarian Intervention to stop the bloodbath and reinstate minimum conditions for human existence,” Hon. Fobi said, adding that, “the Eldest Member should, in addition, have called on the International Community not only to be witnesses to the atrocities but also to urgently put in place mechanisms for an immediate ceasefire and an inclusive dialogue.”
The Eldest Member, Hon. Fobi said, has failed in his responsibilities by not calling on all belligerent parties to install an immediate and unconditional ceasefire as well as begin inclusive dialogue.
“I FOBI NCHINDA Simon, SDF Member of Parliament for Bamenda/Bali, therefore: Distance myself from the position of the Eldest Member; Call the attention of the National and International Community to the grave genocide in progress in the North west and Southwest Regions; Call on the belligerent parties to proceed to an immediate ceasefire and inclusive dialogue; and Call on the International Community to facilitate the necessary Ceasefire and dialogue,” the press release ends.