Cameroon opposition party would back youth protests, leader says

From Tapang Ivo Tanku, For CNN

Yaounde, Cameroon (CNN) — Cameroon’s main opposition party would support young people if they stage protests against the government, the party’s secretary general told CNN Wednesday in the latest indication of budding political unrest in the country.

“We will support the youth if they take to the streets.” said Elizabeth Vukeh Tamajong of the Social Democratic Front, or SDF.

It is yet another sign that the opposition party is pushing for strong reactions to accusations of persistent electoral fraud ahead of the October presidential elections.

The party’s national chair, Fru Ndi, in a resolution read at a recent National Executive Committee meeting, vowed to disrupt the voting.

Asked whether this would be done through violence, Tamajong, who was also present at the meeting, said party members are educating Cameroonians on their basic civil rights to spur them to take to the streets. She added that this is the first plan of action, but did not elaborate on what could happen if it fails.

In the resolution, the SDF said that “the Biya regime has institutionalized electoral fraud in Cameroon, further discouraging Cameroonians from participating in the electoral process.” The statement was perceived as a slap at Elections Cameroon, or ELECAM, the body created in 2006 to monitor the polls.

Elvis Ngolle Ngolle — a central committee member of the ruling party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, or CPDM — criticized the SDF’s threat to disrupt the elections in an interview with CNN, describing it as “undemocratic.”

Ngolle, who also is a member of the Cabinet, admitted that ELECAM is composed of CPDM frontliners, but insisted that they are apolitical since taking office in 2009.

But at polling stations across the nation there have been repeated complaints of Cameroonians being denied their right to register. The voter registration process in some parts of the country has been taken over by CPDM supporters.

“I went to register to vote, and I was denied my rights, despite the fact that I have my national identity card,” a Cameroonian man of voting age told CNN at a polling station in Yaounde. He did not want to be named because he was afraid of reprisals.

The 2007 presidential elections were marred by electoral malpractices and fraud.

Opposition members say President Paul Biya, who has been in power for 28 years, thwarts every possible process that could bring some credibility to the upcoming vote in a bid to cling to power. They say he manipulates the constitution of the country in his favor.

In the southwest province of Cameroon, primary school children below age 17 recently were forced to march on the streets in support of Biya running for another term in office, the opposition says.

Early this year, amid concerns about a possible spillover of the uprisings that ousted leaders in Tunisia and Egypt, Biya announced the creation of 25,000 jobs for youths. The government is now using reprisals and messages on the state media in an effort to quell tension among young people.