Emmanuel Macron is visiting Cameroon on Monday, the first leg of a four-day visit to Central Africa dedicated to food security, French investment and governance. There he will meet Paul Biya, the world’s oldest head of state in power for forty years, in the context of political uncertainty about his succession.

His first official tour begins with Emmanuel Macron, on Monday, 25 July, visiting Cameroon in Central Africa, three months after his re-election, then in Benin and finally in Guinea-Bissau.

A visit that marks a new phase in the French president’s African policy, after a first five-year term that dominated the fight against terrorism in the Sahel and the development of relations with English-speaking Africa.

The tour will therefore begin in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, where Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to meet 89-year-old Paul Biya on Tuesday, who has become one of the oldest presidents on the African continent after forty years of undivided power.

The discussion will focus on the new agricultural partnership to tackle the food crisis, the fight against terrorism, but also governance and the rule of law. A sensitive subject, which has already been the subject of difficult talks between the two leaders.

Negotiation and diplomatic hurdles

On October 7, 2018, Paul Biya was reappointed for a seventh term, scoring a landslide victory over his rival Maurice Kamto. To fight these results on the street, the opposition candidate, as well as many of his supporters, were arrested in January 2019, then finally released after nine months in custody. Underhand, the matter had been the subject of several exchanges between Emmanuel Macron and Paul Biya.

The amnesty involving a total of a hundred prisoners was announced five days before a meeting between French and Cameroonian leaders at a summit in Lyon.

A few months after the episode, on February 22, 2020, on the agricultural show, a Cameroonian activist Emmanuel Macron questioned the situation in the English-speaking region, where officials are fighting a separatist insurgency, accusing power . There massacre. The French president promised to put “maximum pressure” on Paul Biya to end human rights violations.

An exit was praised by the Cameroonian government, which confirmed it intended to “remain the master of your destiny”. At the same time, several hundred people demonstrated in front of the French embassy in Yaounde, demanding an “apology” from France.

“If they both reflect the authoritarianism of the Cameroonian regime, then the question of political prisoners and the management of the separatist conflict are two very different issues”, underlines associate researcher Thierry Virkoulon at the Africa Center of IFRI (French Institute for International).

“Maurice Kamto is not the first political prisoner to be released by France; François Hollande had already managed to oust Michel Thierry Atangana, an engineer who had spent seventeen years in prison. But on the question of the separatists, It’s another story; Emmanuel Macron has hit the wall. Because in the age of Paul Biya, you don’t change the software: he has experienced a centralization of power and has no intention of changing. Part of this is to English speakers. hand over”.

strengthen strategic partnership

Elysee confirms that Emmanuel Macron’s visit will be an opportunity to take a fresh look at this ongoing conflict and in particular the commitments made by the government. But “it is by no means a question of positioning oneself as a teacher or promoting a model”, we say.

The stated aim of the visit is above all to forge a new agricultural partnership with Cameroon, the leading economy in Central Africa, while the food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine threatens the continent.

Investments by French companies will also be on the agenda in the context of stronger competition, as the country continues to strengthen its ties with China, its main supplier, and recently signed a military agreement with Russia.

“Through this visit, Paris seeks to ensure the loyalty of Cameroon’s partner in the context of the loss of influence in its East African backyard, as demonstrated by the examples of Mali, Central Africa and to a lesser extent Guinea and Burkina Faso” , analyzes Nicanor Tachim, doctor in political communication at the University of Paris-Est Creteille. Cameroonian experts recall that a partnership with the country is essential for Paris, due to its strategic role in supplying the sub-region, and especially Chad, where France has a military base.

For Cameroonian researcher Larissa Kojoue, there is no doubt that the visit marks a change in the tone of Cameroonian power.

“Upon his arrival in the elysée, Emmanuel Macron wanted to adopt a form of breakdown in the African policy of France, especially in comparison to its former colonies”, analyzes the teacher of political science at the University of Buea, in the Southwest of the Country. “He took a fairly critical position with the Cameroonian authorities, but since then we have a feeling he has softened his speech, getting caught up in the systemic relationship between Paris and the continent, which puts economic interests at the fore than the rule of law’.

Shadow of Paul Biya’s Succession

Larissa Kojoue also wonders about the message of the visit, while the country is plunged into a period of political uncertainty as the country approaches succession.

“Paul Biya’s greatest political victory has been in convincing the people that there was nothing after him, to stay in power all these years. He duly dismissed all those who had anythe political project. , including his own camp. Today, the name of his son, Franck Biya, is aired as a possible successor. Like it or not, Emmanuel Macron, visiting Cameroon on an official visit , certainly strengthens the President in his position.”

“The arrival of the French president concerns the expatriate as part of the population in Cameroon, with respect to time”, underlines Nicanor Tachim. “A presidential election will be held in 2025. As the regime nears the end of its reign, some see the arrival of Emmanuel Macron as a desire to prepare for the post-Biya period”.

As the visit drew near, opposition MP Jean-Michel Nintecheu issued a statement reflecting this concern. Criticizing France’s role in maintaining “the dictatorial and sometimes dynastic rule at the head of African states”, he affirmed that the people of Cameroon “will not accept anything imposed on them as supreme magistrate”. freely and democratically elected”.

“France is not organizing any transitions neither in Cameroon nor anywhere else, but in these political circumstances, our role is to maintain close relations with our negotiators,” Emmanuel’s Africa adviser Franck Paris said.

While Maurice Kamto, leader of the Movement for the Renaissance (MRC) of Cameroon, called on the French leader to meet with Cameroon’s opposition during his visit, Elysee said such talks were “not in use”.

Emmanuel Macron’s advisor nevertheless specified that upstream or downstream contacts were possible with these movements.

Following his interview with Paul Biya, Emmanuel Macron will meet with youth representatives, as well as members of civil society, to address “all aspects of Cameroonian society”.

Culled from News84media

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government says holding a referendum involving all the people of Southern Cameroons is the sole political solution to the Ambazonia crisis.

Comrade Dabney Yerima made the remarks on Saturday during a war cabinet meeting convened to examine the disturbing situation in French Cameroun and the President Emmanuel Macron visit.

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader noted that he expects the French government of Emmanuel Macron to support the referendum initiative that was registered at the United Nations by the leader of the Ambazonia nation President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe. The plan is based on holding a referendum with the participation of the original inhabitants of West Cameroon.

Yerima went on to say that the happenings in Yaoundé are not related to the Southern Cameroons problem.

Vice President Dabney Yerima further stressed that the people of Southern Cameroons were no longer interested in the politics of French Cameroun and whosoever becomes head of state in La Republique du Cameroun after Biya will sit with the Ambazonia Interim Government and discuss the terms of separation to decide about the fate and future of the two Cameroons.

Yerima said holding a referendum on the fate of Southern Cameroons with the participation of all inhabitants had first been proposed by the late S.T.Muna and the late Dr John Ngu Foncha.

By Isong Asu

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday begins a three-nation tour of western African states in the first trip to Africa of his new term as he seeks to reboot France’s post-colonial relationship with the continent.

Macron will begin his July 25-28 tour, also the first venture outside Europe of his new mandate, with a visit to Cameroon, before moving on to Benin and then finishing the trip in Guinea-Bissau.

Top of the agenda in the talks will be food supply issues, with African nations fearing shortages especially of grain due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But security will also loom large as France prepares to complete its pullout from Mali this year, with all countries in the region seeking to head off fears of Islamist insurgencies.

The trip to three countries which rarely feature on the itinerary of global leaders comes with Macron, who won a new term in April, pledging to keep up his bid for a new relationship between France and Africa.

France has also followed with concern the emergence of other powers seeking a foothold in an area Paris still considers parts of its sphere of influence, notably Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but also increasingly China and Russia.

‘Political priority’

The tour “will show the commitment of the president in the process of renewing the relationship with the African continent”, said a French presidential official, who asked not to be named.

It will signal that the African continent is a “political priority” of his presidency.

In Cameroon, which has been riven by ethnic violence and an insurgency by anglophone separatists, Macron will meet President Paul Biya, 89, who has ruled the country for almost 40 years and is the longest-serving non-royal leader in the world.

Biya has run the country with an iron fist, refusing demands for federalism and cracking down on the rebellion by separatists.

Macron will move on Wednesday to Benin, a neighbour of Africa’s most populous nation Nigeria. The north of the country has faced more deadly attacks, with the jihadist threat now spreading from the Sahel to Gulf of Guinea nations.

He is likely to be lauded for championing the return in November of 26 historic treasures which were stolen in 1892 by French colonial forces from Abomey, capital of the former Dahomey kingdom located in the south of modern-day Benin.

Benin was long praised for its thriving multi-party democracy. But critics say its democracy has steadily eroded under President Patrice Talon over the last half decade. Opposition leader Reckya Madougou was sentenced in 2021 to 20 years in prison on terrorism charges.

On Thursday, Macron will finish his tour in Guinea-Bissau, which has been riven by political crisis at a time when its President Umaro Sissoco Embalo is preparing to take the helm of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Rethink strategy

With all the countries criticised by activists over their rights records, the Elysee has insisted that governance and rights issues will be raised, albeit “without media noise but in the form of direct exchanges between the heads of states”.

Macron’s first term was marked by visits to non-francophone African countries including regional powerhouses Nigeria and South Africa as he sought to engage with the entire continent and not just former French possessions.

Benin is a former French colony, but Guinea-Bissau was once a Portuguese colony while Cameroon’s colonial heritage is a mixture of British and German as well as French.

Macron meanwhile has insisted France’s military presence in the region will adapt rather than disappear once the pullout from Mali is complete.

He announced last week that a rethink of France’s presence would be complete by autumn, saying the military should be “less exposed” in the future but their deployment still a “strategic necessity”.

The pullout from Mali follows a breakdown in relations with the country’s ruling junta, which Western states accuse of relying on Russian Wagner mercenaries rather than European allies to fight an Islamist insurgency.

Source: AFP

No Cameroonian, not even President Biya enjoys paying taxes and the ruling CPDM has been running the country with taxes and oil revenue from Southern Cameroons. While it’s no fun coughing up those hard-earned FCFA to the corrupt government in Yaoundé, taxes and CPDM waste are the two reasons Cameroonians cannot have quality roads, schools, street lamps, fire departments, and sewer systems, the nice array of conveniences that all make contemporary life a lot easier and definitely more sanitary.

If there’s one infuriating thing that Cameroonians from all corners of the spectrum can agree on is watching the sneaky government officials in Yaoundé snatching up those valuable tax money and spending the dough on something selfish, greedy, or just plain stupid like the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Unfortunately, the wrong politicians in Cameroon have the keys to the national piggy bank and have given the world the most egregious examples of officials wasting government money.

The Government Delegate to the Yaoundé Urban Council Hon. Esimi Evouna has gotten a little too enthusiastic about receiving French President Emmanuel Macron and he is using 10.5 million FCFA of Cameroonian taxpayer’s money to mobilize desperate CPDM militants from the Mfoundi constituency in Yaoundé to line the streets.

The purpose is to mislead President Macron and international public opinion that all is well in the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon. The 10.5 million CFA franc is only for transportation! We do not know how much will be dished out on purchases on wine, makeup, and gift cards.

Nonetheless, spending 10.5 million on only Mfoundi CPDM Section is a bit much, when all the folks involved certainly get paid enough to transport themselves to the ceremonial ground without breaking the piggy bank.

Long Live the ruling CPDM Crime Syndicate

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

Dark clouds are gathering over Dion Ngute, the country’s prime minister, who is on his way out of the Star Building in Yaoundé. Dion Ngute was elevated to the rank of Prime Minister because the Unity Palace felt he could help disconnect the Southwest region from the Northwest, thus reducing the crisis which is tearing the two English-speaking regions of the country apart. 

But three years after taking the reins of power, Dion Ngute is still struggling. The Southwest is still a hotspot and there is no end in sight. Dion Ngute has tried to bribe General Two-Kobo to keep it low in Ndian Division, but his own right-hand man, Kenneth Nanji, the former Mayor of Ekondo-Titi, saw the agreement between Dion Ngute and General Two-Kobo as a possibility for him to enrich himself, but that only resulted in a plot by Dion Ngute which cost him his life. 

Cutting out the Southwest region from the Northwest will require cutting Manyu Division completely off, but this is not possible without massive sacrifices and arrangements. Noted for their volatile and mercurial temperament, it will take a long time for the people of Manyu Division to walk away from the struggle, especially as Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe is still in the Yaoundé Maximum Security Prison. 

It will take another well-respected and trusted Manyu son who can talk Sisiku into walking away from secession to disconnect the Southwest from the Northwest. And there are a few South-westerners who have been very influential when it comes to the crisis which has made the two English-speaking regions ungovernable. 

Two have been identified and they are both working for international organizations. The candidate at the World Bank has a likeable character, simple and peace-loving, but he has no leverage over separatists and might not deliver the peace the government is looking forward to. 

According to a Cameroon Concord News source at the Presidency of the Republic, the right candidate will be someone who can talk to all the factions and has the trust of his people.

According to the source, the country needs someone with a very strict personality who is open to new ideas and can bring separatists to the fold. We do not need to split our country. If Ndian and Manyu Divisions can be stabilized, then the fighting will be concentrated in the Northwest region and this will make it easy to focus on the pockets of resistance in the Northwest region, the source said. 

“We are still hearing that there is someone in Abidjan who can help with this mess in Cameroon. Many people hold him in high esteem. I hear that this person is not interested in money and has a high sense of political awareness. A friend of mine in the intelligence community says they have been attending fundraisers for Internally Displaced Persons in Washington DC with separatists, though they believe in federalism,” the source, which elected anonymity, said. 

“I hear there are a few sticking points which are making it hard for the government to come up with an acceptable cabinet. My sources at the Presidency have said that the Abidjan candidate has underscored the need to free Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and others arrested during the conflict. He stressed that some gestures would be necessary to demonstrate that the government is a reliable peace broker, but his advice seems to be falling on deaf ears and this is only making things worse. The killings are still going on and the spirit of revenge is clearly visible. The killing of Field Marshal will not go unpunished. Many soldiers and civilians will be caught in the crossfire,” our source said

“The government is yet to come to terms with the fact that a military victory will not be possible and some Yaounde hawks are still of the opinion that their failed decentralization policy is still the right policy to pursue. I have heard that the Abidjan candidate has been arguing that the decentralization policy has failed, and it will not deliver any meaningful results and that if the government really needs to walk away from the quagmire it has created for itself, then it must bend over backwards,” the source said. 

“Of course, the government must meet the separatists halfway and we need someone who can bring everybody with him to Yaoundé, at least mentally. We thought Dion Ngute would deliver the golden egg, but he has failed woefully. The Unity Palace is now aware of his failed dealings with some unpopular fighters in his native Ndian. Those dealings have not really changed much in terms of violence. Ndian Division like Manyu Division is still a no-go area, and it will take a lot of convincing for things to be better and Dion, who is a man of few words, is not the person who will do such heavy-lifting,” he said. 

 “Biya is holding his cards so close to his chest, but we are also hearing that the French President’s visit to Cameroon in the coming days might change a lot of things and the news will not be good for Dion Ngute. He has failed and he must go for someone else to try. He has never spoken to any separatist and is not in a rush to solve this problem which is tearing the country apart. Many people hold that he is a likeable character. He has a good smile, but others hold that behind the prettiest smiles hide some dark secrets and the killing of Kenneth Nanji is one secret the Prime Minister is hiding,” our source pointed out.

“Dion should be bracing for bad news. The country needs to go in a different direction and Dion cannot lead the country down that route. Let us give younger people a chance. They may not have the magic wand, but they might do what their predecessors were unable to achieve.  Time is of the essence! We can break the spiral of killings by using young people to do what has been a near-impossibility. I am personally waiting. Our country must stop bleeding. We have the men who can change things for us,” our source concluded.

At the Star Building, not much is happening. The mood is somber, and the Prime Minister seems to be fully aware of the decision taken at the Unity Palace after months of secret meetings and interviews with potential replacements. In three years, the Prime Minister has not succeeded to talk to any influential separatist.

He has not achieved anything, and he has been serving as an errand boy for the President and his Secretary General. That is not the job of a respectable Prime Minister. Even the Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, disrespects Dion Ngute openly. We need a Prime Minister with a character, a Prime Minister who will point the country in the right direction, a Prime Minister who will inspire hope.   

By Rita Akana with editing by Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai