Indomitable Loins Captain Benjamin Moukandjo shows Empathy, Wished for an End to the Ongoing Crisis in West Cameroon.
The African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2017 has come and gone, and Indomitable lions of La Republique emerged champions. For the first time in the history of football in the Cameroons, there was not so much enthusiasm from the people amidst the ongoing crisis in West Cameroon. A majority of people who lost interest in the tournament could not bear watching the Lions play while their leaders, and others are in detention. Some who were interested and glued their eyes on TV screens considered watching as a form of pleasure, however, they did not lose focus towards the struggle.
BaretaNews gathered that during the pre-match preparations for the AFCON finals with the Pharoahs of Egypt, Benjamin Moukandjo who is the acting captain of Indomitable Lions in a press conference expressed concerns towards the ongoing crisis. The press conference was aimed at clamoring for support of the Lions by the people of Cameroon. However, Moukandjo used the opportunity to call on the government as well as the people to maintain restraint and find possible ways to reduce the ongoing tensions in Cameroon. Following information gathered from BaretaNews correspondents, Moukandjo had this to say:
“It is true that at the moment our country is experiencing some disturbances, but we, as footballers, try to give pleasure to people and I think that throughout this campaign, our people have enjoyed it. Strongly, we wish that these tensions subside, that everything returns to normal.” The statement by Benjamin Moukandjo sends a strong signal to the Biya government and the people of West Cameroon that genuine dialogue is the ultimate solution.
The AFCON finals added a significant mark in La Republique Du Cameroun history of football. Their encounter with the Pharaohs of Egypt was a repeat of the 1986 and 2008 AFCON editions. The match ended with Lions-2 vs Pharoahs-1. In response to the win, many West Cameroonians posed an indifference attitude. Based on random inquiries by BaretaNews, the following anonymous analyst had this to say: “Moukandjo’s statement was the best thing I got from this year’s AFCON competition. That was thoughtful of him…”
In response to the aforementioned statement, a patriotic West Cameroonian had this to say: “the truth is we have enjoyed nothing about it because football gives just temporal pleasure, our future is more important. Moreover, what have we ever benefited from all the trophies as a people…let’s be realistic. I am a football lover but a country that does not love her citizens does not deserve my support because I don’t find pleasure in watching them play. Don’t they know that some people in Cameroon can’t afford daily meal not to talk about energy or owning a television so how can they enjoy it.”
Meanwhile, others found the tournament as a big distraction to the ongoing struggle and wished for it to finally come to an end. It was common place to find people doubting whether this week’s Ghost Town Operations will be effective considering the win by the Lions, the broadcast over CRTV about school resumption, and the purported signing of documents by some Teacher’s Trade Unions for schools to resume. However, the interim leaders of the Consortium had issued a counter statement in which they noted that no schools will resume until all arrested and detained are released. Also, they emphasized that Ghost Town Operations must continue until government creates conditions for constructive dialogue. Reports from the interim leaders of the Consortium indicates that today’s Ghost Town Operations across West Cameroon is very effective.
Stay tuned with BaretaNews.
3 comments
It’s great that the Indomitable Lions won Yesterday. I congratulate them. On the other hand our people cannot celebrate. There is no joy. Many of us are missing relatives. Our leaders are imprisoned. The cities are heavy militarised. Western Cameroonians are intimidated every day. Now I hear that the football players want to come to Bamenda and Buea for celebration. Why not Douala, Edea or Baffousam? The Biya regime tries to use them as a tool. They abuse sports for their dirty politics. I appeal to every player to look where to stand at this crucial time. Think twice and start reasoning.
A PRAYER FOR OUR COUNTRY SOUTHERN CAMEROONS.
Lamentations 5:1-22
[1]Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.
[2]Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
[3]We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
[4]We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.
[5]Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.
[6]We have given the hand to the Egyptians,(la republique du cameroun ) and to the Assyrians( FRANCE ), to be satisfied with bread.
[7]””Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.””
[8]Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.
[9]We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.(BIYA AND FRANCE)
[10]Our skin was “”black”” like an oven because of the terrible famine.
[11]They ravished the women in Zion(BUEA), and the maids in the cities of Judah.(BAMENDA)
[12]Princes (OUR LEADERS)are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured. (FONS )
[13]They took the young men to grind, (SLAVERY )and the children fell under the wood.
[14]The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.(THEY FILL PRISON HOUSES )
[15]The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.(GHOST TOWN )
[16]The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!( OUR COUNTRY SOUTHERN CAMEROONS )
[17]For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.
[18]Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes LA REPUBLIQUE AND FRANCE) walk upon it.
[19]Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.
[20]Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
[21]Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
[22]But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.
You can’t party with one of your legs in pain!
President Paul Biya’s most insulting quote during his decades in power is “Tant que Yaoundé respire, le Cameroun vit”. In English, as long as Yaoundé breathes, Cameroon lives. The resonance of this insulting quote has been felt in many occasions when part of Cameroon is on fire and the select few privileged associates of the regime celebrate and party on the other part mockingly. One recent occasion during which this insulting quote was re-iterated was during the 2016 African Nations Cup – Women’s version.
The Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon cruised to the final game of the tournament in the capital Yaoundé against the super eagles of Nigeria against the backdrop of protests, demonstrations, shootings of innocent citizens by government sponsored soldiers in the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country. The president made no mention of the situation. He ignored the pain in that part of the country and celebrated the moment with his close associates. The forces of nature and the Gods of our ancestors had said NO as the Lionesses had lost to the Super Eagles of Nigeria. Stubbornly and ungodly as usual he went ahead to receive the unfortunate finalists in his sumptuous palace at Etoudi in Yaoundé. He was seen shamelessly dancing and taking selfies with the players in a state-sponsored party financed by the same tax payers being gunned down, arrested, tortured and raped in Bamenda and Buea. The images shocked the world as they went viral. How could the supposed father of a nation party so hard while sons and daughters of the same nation were being subjected to so much inhumane practices?!
The same pain that was neglected in 2016 grew chronic and almost incurable in 2017. The same distraction came around. The African Nations Cup – Men’s version came and The Indomitable Lions cruised to the final game again, and won it against the Pharaohs of Egypt. His Excellency Paul Biya still ignored the ongoing pain and misery in the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country. Instead, he spearheaded the mockery of the plight of Southern Cameroonians by ordering more massive arrests and torture in a region that has been denied rights as basic as access to the Internet.
Football tournaments and victories have always been the major distraction that lures people away from the decaying socio-economic and political situation of countries across the African continent in general and Cameroon in particular. Most governments hide behind this distraction and pretentiously tout patriotism, national unity and a healthy state of the country while the reality is exactly the opposite. That is what president Paul Biya and his regime do all the time. For how long can you keep a leg in pain hidden?
To The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, we say congratulations on your victory. Enjoy your lavished parties while we rot in jail and lament in misery and the Internet blackout you inhumanely reserve for us. As you shamelessly promote your fake “one and indivisible country” fantasy, your conscience will forever torture you with nightmares of your atrocities on innocent sons and daughters of Southern Cameroon. We the people of Southern Cameroon celebrate no such victory because we are in pain. When you party with one of your legs in pain, be ready to wake up the next day with more pain.
February 6th 2017 by A Southern Cameroonian in anguish!