Anti-riot police officers yesterday disrupted a civil society rally organized to publish the names and pay tributes to civilians and soldiers who have lost their lives following repeated deadly incursions by Boko Haram.
“The event which was to run from March 31 to April 1, was abruptly interrupted by police officers who stormed the Muna Foundation where the ceremony had just begun,” Eric Benjamin Lamere, spokesperson of the host civil society organization, United for Cameroon Coalition said.
We gathered the organizers of the tribute paying ceremony had on Tuesday March 29, obtained permission from Tsang Foe Paul, Divisional Officer for Yaounde I for the event to take place. However, the civil administrator backpedaled from his initial decision and issued a ban order yesterday, calling off the gathering.
Going by the ban decision, No. 024/D/JO6/01/SP of March 31, 2016, a copy of which we stumbled on, the DO stated that the gathering was going to be a threat to public peace and order. He did not however, explain how the apolitical and peaceful ceremony could destabilize the nation’s capital.
When United for Cameroon Coalition applied for the authorization, we learned, the DO gave his accord before forwarding a correspondence to the Minister Delegate of Defense who in turn responded in the negative. It is supposedly based on the minister delegate’s recommendation that the DO decided to outlaw the gathering.
According to the coalition officials, their intention was to publish the names of some 1200 civilians and soldiers who have lost their lives in the course of the war against Boko Haram since 2013. The list containing the names of the victims had already been printed on a large billboard poster; indicating their dates and place of death, we observed.
The poster was supposed to be at the Muna Foundation in Yaounde where concerned citizens would walk by and pay tribute as well as sign a condolence register, Eric Lamere said.
The Cameroon Journal gathered that the regime was scared of the event being infiltrated by opposition political party members and making it partisan. But United for Cameroon Coalition has insisted they have no political affiliation.
source: Cameroon Journal
