Barrister Halle Nico, President of the General Assembly of the Cameroon Bar Association has broken the silence he maintained ever since the beginning of the Common Law Lawyers strike action in Southern Cameroons. The veteran lawyer is concerned about the evolution of the situation almost seven months after the revolution.

The Ntumfor observed that efforts have been made, but they remain insufficient. The President of the General Assembly of the Cameroon Bar Association in a conversation with a French speaking newspaper La Nouvelle Expression welcomed some of the measures announced and put forward by the government as a sign of response to certain demands, notably the restoration of the internet.

Barrister Nico Halle however noted that these measures are insufficient to bring about calm and appeasement. “All the discussions that will be conducted so far without the total release of all those who have been put in prison without exception, are doomed to failure,” said the man of law.

The senior Anglophone citizen revealed that the solution to the crisis is very simple and that the government should begin the peace process by halting the prosecutions. Halle Nico pointed out that the President of the Republic alone can order the unconditional release of all detainees, which will allow all the actors hidden or in exile to return to dialogue. “And if this seems complicated, the ruling party can also introduce a bill in the National Assembly ordering the President of the Republic to grant a general amnesty to all those who are prosecuted in this case. It must be done in the June session of 2017.”

Barrister Nico stated that what is at stake here is not a question of weakening the state. “Freeing these people will not take away the authority of the state. On the contrary, it is for the preservation of peace without which no nation can truly be built.”

By Rita Akana, CIR