Road to peace in Southern Cameroons doesn’t include President Biya
The recent press release by the Cameroon government Minister of Communication, Rene Sadi in which he stated that Yaoundé is not in any talks with President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides’ as widely reported by local and international media has pushed many political commentators to come to the conclusion that there’s no place for the 87 year old President Biya in the future of the so-called “one and indivisible Cameroon.”
We of the Cameroon Concord News Group are in support of this tough line after a week long investigation in the nation’s capital Yaoundé revealed that Biya is simply a ceremonial head and is no longer in command.
It is an open secret that the French Cameroun regime is behind 99.9 per cent of the atrocities committed in Southern Cameroons. But Paris has stood by its ally and no one, not the EU or the UNSC is pushing for sanctions against Biya and the Francophone dominated army.
The UN Secretary General António Guterres is helpless but still posing as a leader who is ready to do what is necessary. After receiving a gold statue from President Biya during his last trip to Cameroon, Guterres has failed to make Yaoundé aware of its responsibility in the bloody actions going on in Southern Cameroons.
The President of the Swiss Federation spoke by telephone with President Biya and tweeted that Switzerland was ready to host face-to-face discussions with both French and British Southern Cameroons leaders. However, nothing is being said about whether the international community is willing to commit itself to regime change in Yaoundé.
Removing Biya should be EU and US top priority
We of the Cameroon Concord News and the Cameroon Intelligence Report are strongly in favour of any international and well coordinated action that will remove Biya from office. To be sure, some form of regime change is inevitable in Yaoundé.
The medium- and long-term future of a peaceful French and Southern Cameroons no longer includes the National Chairman of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate President Paul Biya. The French have tolerated the abuse by the Biya regime for four decades blocking any UN action against Yaoundé.
However, Biya needs to be held to account, and the international community needs to move as quickly as possible toward peace and stability in the two Cameroons.
Liberal position no longer acceptable
The current US administration, the European Union are taking a soft stand against Yaoundé and the complicity of French President Emmanuel Macron including the Francophone Chair of the African Union in Biya’s attacks on civilians in Southern Cameroons.
The Commonwealth governments have stiffened their positions, but it’s still all over the map and imprecise as to what the Commonwealth should be saying and doing after the corrupt Baroness Patricia Scotland steps down.
The UK, France and Nigeria must play a key role in peace talks to develop a shared way forward by persuading Biya to agree to an orderly transition to a new government in Yaoundé and inviting leaders of the two Cameroons for talks.
With 32,500 Southern Cameroonians killed, 550 Southern Cameroons villages burnt, 125,000 refugees, 1.4million IDPs and 3,000 still detained any military intervention will have solid basis in international law.
The Southern Cameroons Vice President Dabney Yerima in an interview with SCBC TV noted that the international community is still searching for the right words to describe the vicious and failed French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé and added that things should be done and done in a hurry to avoid a repeat of Rwanda.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai