You may have heard of the Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o scandal, in which at least three prominent Francophone figures were also arrested! To be sure, a deputy director of a bank, a Treasury inspector and an army colonel were all detained alongside the man once tipped to succeed President Biya and charged with diverting public funds and corruption.

When that sprawling con burst into public view, it was easily the biggest financial scandal that ever rocked the ruling CPDM government and only compared to the Albatross Affair. That was bad enough, today the disgraced former Minister of Defense, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o appears in court holding a glass of very chilled champagne (See photo attached to this report).

The Francophone political players may be a little different, but the Anglophone basic premise is correct: Reunification was a rigged game. We found this out in the last five years, when Francophone army soldiers were deployed to slaughter innocent Southern Cameroonians while series of related corruption stories spilled out of nearly every government sector in Yaoundé including SONARA, the National Oil Refinery Company. The recent financial scandal facing the National Hydrocarbons Corporation (SNH) is a justification that corruption in Biya’s Cameroon is just about everything.

Journalist Jules Koum Koum, who died in a Cameroon government road accident plot, had in 2010 investigated an alleged over-billing scandal for military uniforms at the defense ministry when Mebe Ngo’o was minister.

A fifth person questioned in the same investigation is nowhere to be found! They are all blood relations to the Head of State President Biya.

It is no surprise to Southern Cameroonians that the Special Criminal Court which deals with major corruption cases now allows criminals to attend hearings with champagne making the legal process a manipulation-on-manipulation situation.

What is happening in French Cameroun is the height of criminality. It’s time for Southern Cameroons to leave.

The Mebe Ngo’o bad news didn’t start at the ministry of defense! Before joining the government, he had led the police force and run the presidency’s civil office. But the biggest shock came out of the defense ministry where he spent six years and also in the ministry of transport.

Biya and his Francophone political elites have made Southern Cameroonians to be living in an era of undisguised, French Cameroun conspiracy, in which the only solution for the people of Southern Cameroons is to get back to Buea and begin all over again.

By Isong Asu

Tribalism, nepotism, poor governance and corruption have plunged the Cameroonian nation into such dire social straits that conditions in society today look similar to those that led to the civil wars in Liberia, Rwanda including the Ivory Coast.

Rampant killings, kidnappings and attacks against Anglophones, Bamilekes and Sawas carried out by Beti Ewondo uniform officers in past years has increased in an alarming proportion.

Southern Cameroonians, Bamileke and the Sawa people have been subject to violence and dehumanization similar to what was practiced during the colonial era against the Bassas and after the 1984 April 6 Coup against the Hausas.

The destruction of Southern Cameroons and now the Littoral region aims to fight the potential political and economic power the Ambazonian diaspora and the Sawa communities in Cameroon could wield in the nearest future.

Beti Ewondo army soldiers will themselves to slaughter Anglophones at church service, Bamilekes at their shops and Sawas at their homes.  These heinous acts are their way of saying that President Biya and his kinsmen are at war with the changing Cameroon. For them, hanging on to power in Yaoundé is now at stake!

Hatred is helping the Biya gang to fuel their violence, but ultimately, hatred is mostly a consequence of their beliefs in holding on to power.

Cultural and development associations too have morphed into political groupings and tension is mounting everywhere! Recently, Francophone soldiers killed nine civilians including a baby in the North West region in what the Francophone dominated Ministry for Defense painted in a statement as a “misunderstanding”.

The Cameroon government military said the four soldiers were searching for a missing colleague on June 1 when they encountered “a group of frenzied villagers”. The troops opened fire, killing four women, four men and an 18-month-old girl and slightly wounding a 12-month-old baby. The incident took place in Missong.

Nobody cares about Anglophone lives in Cameroon and today’s widespread killings in Cameroonian society, which is reflected in the numerous acts of Beti Ewondo state terrorism and hate crimes against Anglophones, Bamilekes and Sawas has now led to conditions that put Cameroon on the verge of a civil war.

Many in Yaoundé may find this thinking alarmist, but Cameroon is much closer to the conditions that led to civil wars in Liberia, Rwanda and the Ivory Coast.

At the end of it, President Biya may find himself in Kondengui prison soon and very soon if he continues to do nothing about Beti Ewondo provocative actions and the patriarchal politics that foment the anti Anglophone, anti Bamileke and anti Sawa sentiments.

By Enowtaku Ebanghatabi Christelle

The Biya Francophone policy towards the English speaking people of Southern Cameroons is failing completely and the reality reveals the depth of progress made by Ambazonian restoration forces despite Yaoundé’s efforts to maintain the present status quo.

Surprisingly, in the face of this fiasco, French Cameroun political elites continue to hold a questionable position on the armed struggle in Southern Cameroons while relying on an unrealistic old, frail and out-of-touch leader.

Continued military operations and deployments to Southern Cameroons, various covert operations, and thousands of arrests haven’t stopped the Southern Cameroons resistance nor changed the Ambazonia behavior, and it is now very doubtful if the Biya Francophone policy will succeed in the future.

There can never ever be a military solution to the crisis in Southern Cameroons. The concept of huge military presence in Southern Cameroons is no longer working! Weapons entering into Southern Cameroons from Nigeria illustrate this fact. President Buhari’s failures in Nigeria and his well documented hatred for the East region are providing Southern Cameroonians with help that they do not even need!! The arms flow will get worse in the days and weeks ahead.

The base for Yaoundé’s policy vis-a vis Anglophone Cameroon is still founded on the thought that Francophone’s are superior with their military might and the National Gendarmerie Force, even though Southern Cameroonians have achieved and excelled more than Francophones everywhere in the world and in every international establishment.

Southern Cameroonians have succeeded in overcoming significant financial barriers, especially in the West and North America. Their knowledge is now broad and they want French speaking Cameroonians to come to Southern Cameroons as partners and not as masters.

Moreover, according to Ground Zero voices, the quest for independence is now enjoying support in Southern Cameroons and, therefore, even if all the front line leaders are killed or arrested, it is unlikely that the struggle would be abandoned.

The bottom line is that Paul Biya’s French backed Anglophone Cameroon strategy is failing. We of the Cameroon Concord News Group think that there is a huge gap between the statements from Biya’s cabinet ministers and the reality on Ground Zero.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Politically docile pro Yaoundé Southern Cameroons figures have turned the entire Federal Republic of Ambazonia into a huge French Cameroun military base.

Joseph Dion Ngute and Paul Atanga Nji are now responsible for a Francophone policy which allows the Francophone dominated regime of 89-year-old President Paul Biya to turn the whole of British Southern Cameroons into a massive French Cameroun military base.

For over five years now, Francophone army soldiers have been wandering in Mezam, Manyu, Menchum, Bui, Ndian, Fako, Meme, Lebialem, Kupe Munanenguba Divisions and other constituencies in Southern Cameroons. The Southern Cameroons homeland has now turned into a huge French Cameroun army base.

Dion Ngute, Paul Atanga Nji, Philemon Yang, Elvis Ngolle Ngolle and Paul Tasong helped Yaoundé in creating an atmosphere of war with Southern Cameroonians. These so-called prominent Anglophone political elites got Southern Cameroonians intimidated and eventually made acceptable the conversion of the Southern Cameroons homeland into a Francophone military base.

Today, Southern Cameroons is now a tool for France-Afrique power politics and Ambazonians are being use to demonstrate the superiority of French power in Africa regardless of the pain that the people of Southern Cameroons are going through!!

Currently, Francophone military bases have been established all over Southern Cameroons and some of the bases are helping French multi nationals in exploiting Southern Cameroons hydrocarbon resources in Ndian Division, the Bakassi Peninsula including increasing French naval influence in the Gulf of Guinea.

Every divisional and sub divisional capital in Southern Cameroons is home to a Francophone army base! The Biya Francophone regime has extended its military base policy even to Ambazonia villages!

Yet, the same Francophone regime is informing the world that Ambazonian fighters are terrorizing the local Southern Cameroons population!! This begs the question: Who is being threatened with these Francophone military bases? Why are these military bases being established in Southern Cameroons if they cannot protect hospitals or motor parks?

At the moment, our cream of Cameroon Concord News reporters cannot count all the Francophone military bases in Southern Cameroons, there are so many. … The entire Southern Cameroons is La Republique du Cameroun’s military base.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Ambazonia Interim Government Statement on the Mamfe Hospital Disaster

Fellow Ambazonians,

Yesterday, 9 June 2022, the Mamfe District Hospital, Manyu County, was burned down by unidentified arsonists. This savagery and crime against humanity was deliberate and designed to terrorize and traumatize our population. The act is despicable, unacceptable, and ill-advised, and the Interim Government of Ambazonia condemns it in the strongest possible terms. The hearts of all Ambazonians go out to all the patients, and hospital workers caught up in this criminal enterprise. The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia wishes a speedy recovery to all who sustained injuries during the attack.

Over the last three years, all over Ambazonia, criminal militias have been working with the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé to sabotage our resistance and quest for independence. The Interim Government of Ambazonia has therefore commissioned Ambazonia Intelligence Services and Ground Zero commanders operating in Manyu to investigate this shameful act in Mamfe. The Interim Government of Ambazonia shall liaise with the EU, AU, and the UN including major international organizations to bring the perpetrators of this shameful act to swift justice.

People of Ambazonia, our fight for freedom represent an unyielding rejection of delinquency in any form, shape or manifestation. This rejection is consistent with international law, which gives hope to colonized people struggling for their liberation. Hospitals, Churches and Schools must remain free from attacks at all times. History teaches us that many nations have won their liberation battles, and we shall overcome.

Fellow Ambazonians, we will continue to fight until self-determination is achieved. Be neither discouraged nor distracted despite the repeated doses of cranial activities in our midst. Our time shall come. French Cameroon is a nation that has no respect for human lives and international norms. But we must continue fighting for freedom and justice with respect for international standards.

We have many more years of struggle and suffering before us as the path we have chosen is full of danger, but it is a path worth taking. The cost of freedom is high, but we must pay the price, and we must pay that price with respect for our people. As a people, one path we shall never choose is the path of criminality. Our task is simple; we must win and live free or die in the process of freeing ourselves.

Thank you

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

“We must rebuild our general hospital. Without this hospital, my siblings and I would not be alive today. It is preposterous for anybody to burn a hospital. If this hospital has been destroyed by Amba fighters, then they do not know what they are fighting for. They have stopped children from going to school and now they are burning health facilities which do serve them and their families. If it is the military that is behind this unfortunate event, then they are simply justifying why people in Mamfe should distrust and hate them. This is unfortunate, but we must not let the wicked destroy us. Our strength will be determined by how fast we rebuild our beloved hospital and not how much we speak,” Dr. Joachim Arrey, the the executive director of the global think Tank for Africa speaking to Cameroon Concord News Group’s editor-in-chief, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, following the burning of the Mamfe General hospital.

Cameroon Concord News: I don’t know how to start. This is very bad news. The burning of the Mamfe General Hospital cannot be a good idea. Who could be responsible for this? 

Dr. Joachim Arrey: Thank you for giving this platform for me to share my perspective on the burning of the Mamfe General Hospital. I am devastated. This has spoiled my day. Who burns a hospital with patients in it? What type of wickedness is this? It will take years to rebuild that hospital. However, we should not despair. This is a problem and an opportunity. The people of Manyu must show that sense of purpose they have been talking about for centuries. This is action time. No long speeches. This is terribly bad. However, we must rebuild our general hospital. Without this hospital, my siblings and I would not be alive today. It is preposterous for anybody to burn a hospital. If this hospital has been destroyed by Amba fighters, then they do not know what they are fighting for. They have stopped children from going to school and now they are burning health facilities which do serve them and their families. If it is the military that is behind this unfortunate event, then they are simply justifying why people in Mamfe should distrust and hate them. This is unfortunate, but we must not let the wicked destroy us. Our strength will be determined by how fast we rebuild our beloved hospital and not how much we speak. 

Cameroon Concord News: This is really confusing. How do you think this can be handled? The rebuilding should be led by the government. 

Dr. Joachim Arrey: You are totally right! This is the government’s domain, but we can work with the government to rebuild our hospital. We cannot wait for our people to start dying like ants before we act. Be advised that when you have money, you have power. If we, the people of Manyu Division, can mobilize USD 1 million in a short time, we will force the government’s hands.  We have our people who are in government, and they should be telling us how to proceed. We are already working on a massive fundraising campaign and the Manyu Diaspora will have to demonstrate its love for our people in Manyu Division. I am already talking with many people, and they are willing to bring money to the table. I am here by announcing my modest contribution of CFAF 1 million for the reconstruction of the Mamfe General Hospital. There is a Manyu brother who has promised millions too. I prefer to keep that under wraps until we come up with a clear plan. However, we are calling on Manyu sons and daughters abroad and at home to organize fundraisers. Let us give! There is more pleasure in giving than receiving. 

Cameroon Concord News: Who do you think should coordinate this massive effort?

Dr.Joachim Arrey: We still have very many good people among us. Some are medical doctors; others are politicians, while others are administrative officers. I know of Prof. Robinson Mbu, Minister Victor Mengot and Senators Enow Tanjong and George Tabetando who are good people who can provide effective leadership in times of crisis. Many of them know their way in Yaoundé and they have that leverage to push for a fast reconstruction of the hospital. If any of them steps in to provide the much-needed leadership, then I will give much of my time to the fund-raising effort. 

Cameroon Concord News: But the government is always slow when it comes to development. It has not even issued a statement on the event. This is an emergency and urgent solutions are required. 

Dr. Joachim Arrey: You are right! The government’s machinery is always very slow. It appears there are no emergencies on its agenda. We however have options. We can work with our traditional leaders to build a brand-new state-of-the-art hospital in Mamfe while the government continues to think in slow motion. We have the numbers, and we should use this numbers to serve our people. I am thinking that if the Yaoundé government is too slow for our liking, we should be talking to the mayor of Mamfe or Chief Godson Oben who is the paramount chief of Mamfe so that they can allocate us land for the building of an ultra-modern medical facility which would deliver world-class services to our people at affordable prices. That is why it is urgent and important for us to mobilize resources very fast. We don’t have to wait for our government. I am also urging those back home to organize fundraisers for this purpose. No amount will be too small. We all must work for our beloved Manyu. 

Cameroon Concord News: I hope Manyu people at home and abroad will listen to you and act accordingly.

Dr. Joachim Arrey: I hope so too. This is the time for us to demonstrate that love we all say we have for our beloved Manyu. We must avoid long speeches at this time. We must act if we do not want our people to perish. It is in our power to deliver our people from the disaster that is staring them in the face. 

Cameroon Concord News: Thank you Dr. Arrey for talking to Cameroon Concord News Group

Dr. Joachim Arrey: It is always a pleasure to share perspectives with you and your team. Have a great day!

89-year-old President Biya and his Francophone political elites are using the Boko Haram incursions in the Far North region and the deteriorating security situation in the Central African Republic as a political tool to cover up Yaoundé’s misdemeanors in Southern Cameroons.

For over five years now, Biya and his Francophone criminal gang have perpetrated horrible crimes in Southern Cameroons without any accountability and continue to deploy Francophone army soldiers and administrative officers to the Ambazonian homeland.

With strong political, economic and military backing from France, Biya and his gangsters have secured immunity for their Francophone army soldiers from prosecution over horrendous war crimes and genocide in Southern Cameroons.

The regime in Yaoundé has a long record of crimes against British Southern Cameroonians and justice has become a plaything in Southern Cameroons due to Yaoundé’s continued praises on its troops describing them as heroes.

Recently, the Ministry of Defense for the first time announced that Francophone soldiers killed nine Southern Cameroons civilians including a baby in Missong in the North West region.

The Francophone dominated Cameroon government military said four soldiers were searching for a missing colleague on June 1 when they encountered “a group of frenzied villagers.”

The Francophone soldiers opened fire, killing four women, four men and an 18-month-old girl and slightly wounding a 12-month-old baby.

In February 2020, 23 people were killed in a military raid on the village of Ngarbuh, 15 of whom were children. The Francophone army in a statement said the 23 Southern Cameroonians had died when a fuel tank exploded during a firefight between troops and separatists.

But as international outcry developed, the same Francophone military announced again that the civilians had been killed by “uncontrolled” soldiers who were supported by militiamen.

Three Francophone soldiers were reportedly prosecuted for murder and pleaded not guilty, but the verdict has still to be announced more than two years later. Cameroon Intelligence Report sources revealed that the three soldiers from Beti Ewondo extractions have been deployed to the Far North region.

Establishing fully-fledged peace and stability in Southern Cameroons is hindered by the presence of Francophone army soldiers and Francophone civil administrators and by extrapolation-the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime.

The consequences of the war in Southern Cameroons are all over the place. The trust that used to be the population’s hallmark has simply evaporated given the Cameroon government army atrocities that have taken place in the Ambazonian homeland.

Many children in rural parts of Southern Cameroons are still not going to school and this is creating a serious problem that will haunt the entire West Africa in the future.

Key to all measures aimed at ending the fighting in Southern Cameroons will be the release of all Southern Cameroonians arrested because of the conflict, including President Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe who is clearly the leader of Southern Cameroons.

His release and that of his entourage will send out a strong message that the Francophone political elites are committed to bringing sustainable peace to their so-called one and indivisible Cameroon and this might convince Ambazonian fighters in the bushes to down their weapons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

As the news that the hawks in the Yaoundé government are seeking a replacement for the current Prime Minister, Chief Dr. Dion Ngute, gains momentum, the mode at the Star Building in Yaoundé has changed significantly. The once vibrant staff at the Star Building now walk like zombies because they are unaware of what will befall them once Dion Ngute is given the marching order.

Dr. Ngute’s collaborators are very concerned about their own future, especially as it is dawning on them that their boss is not in the good books of the President, Paul Biya. The Prime Minister himself has, over the last few days, refused to read newspapers given to him, for fear that the news may not be music to his ears. 

His collaborators who have stumbled on some of the news articles about his departure printed them and hastily took them to him, hoping that he might like to get more details about the dark clouds hanging over his political future, but Prime Minister Dion Ngute, a jovial and energetic man, simply said he did not want to read the newspapers which were already prophesying his exit from the prestigious Star Building. 

When Dr. Ngute came to office as Prime Minister, he was an avid news-reader. He was in love with the stories about his coming to power but today what used to be as luscious as locust has suddenly become as bitter as coloquintida.  The newspapers, which extolled his virtues to the skies, have become harbingers of bad news and the Ndian Division native is in no mood to read his own political obituary. 

A source close to Dr. Ngute reported that he was a very frustrated Prime Minister. “For all the time he has been in office as Prime Minister, he has not implemented any project. He has always been complaining about the lack of a budget which can enable him to accomplish his mission. He is very angry with the hawks in the regime who have done all they can to make his job very hard,” the source said.

Mr. Dion Ngute’s scorecard as a Prime Minister is dismal. He was brought to the Star Building to disconnect the Southwest region from the insurgency that has claimed many lives in the two English-speaking regions of the country, but under his watchful eyes, the low insurgency morphed into a full-blown civil war, causing the government to lose credibility abroad and revenues at home as the economy struggles.

For more than three years, Dion Ngute has not engaged the country’s Diaspora in general and the country’s English-speaking community abroad in particular.

The country’s Anglophone Diaspora has played a key role in the insurgency that has left the government with a bloodshot eye and the Yaoundé government holds that appointing someone who can speak with the insurgents while selling the government’s position will be the ideal solution.

Dion has failed and the secret talks at the Presidency have concluded that it will be proper to cut him out if Cameroon must regain its lost peace.  He has simply outlived his usefulness.

He has not lived up to the government’s glorious expectations. He has never been to his native Ndian Division in more than five years where there have been gruesome killings. He has never taken that risk. He has simply not understood that in politics, risk is the down payment on success. In his warped thinking, his life is more important than national peace and unity.  

For some observers of the Star Building, the Prime Minister seems to be in an interminable honeymoon since he got married to a woman who can be his daughter and many observers hold that he is just dogging the footsteps of his sick and tired boss whose wife is almost 40 years his junior. Since he got married, he has been wearing a smile not because Cameroon is getting better but because his young wife has erased some of his years and wrinkles which once occupied a prominent spot on his forehead. Dion is a happy man while the country is sinking.

A happy face has become Dion’s perfume, and this is hurting those at the Unity Palace and many analysts think that the President, Paul Biya, holds Dion in very low esteem. The last pictures of Dion bidding farewell to the sick 89-year-old president at the Nsimalen Airport speak volumes for the disdain Mr. Biya has for his Prime Minister. 

Meanwhile, the search for his replacement is well underway. Politicians close to President Biya hold that the Prime Minister should be replaced with another South-westerner to demonstrate that the President has nothing against South-westerners who are moderate in their ways and can easily be brought back to the fold.

Internally, there seems to be a shortage of influential South-westerners who can run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Francophone politicians close to the President’s wife, Chantal Biya, hold that a new face from the Diaspora may make a huge difference.

They want someone who can confidently talk with the separatists and still promote the government’s agenda. The focus is now on South-westerners working in international organisations and things appear to be well on track.

A source close to the Unity Palace has it that a Cameroon Embassy staff in Cote d’Ivoire has spoken with an African Development Bank Group staff on this issue, though no agreement has been reached but it is being rumored that the South-westerner in Abidjan is insisting on working honestly for the country.

The source added that the person contacted is highly respected by both federalists and separatists, and he holds that federalism could help douse the fire which has been burning in Cameroon for over five years, an idea which does not go down well with many regime hawks. The source also said that another candidate working for the World Bank had been contacted but he does not have the leverage and cloud over with separatists who are determined to have their own country.   

The need to find an external candidate is also being promoted by the French who are already scared that they might lose Cameroon if the insurgency in the two English-speaking regions is not rolled back.

Last week, the French Ambassador to Cameroon, Christophe Guilhou, paid a courtesy call on Mr. Biya. He used the occasion to underscore his country’s position regarding succession planning in Cameroon. The French know that Mr. Biya’s health is failing and that if he were to leave the scene unceremoniously, the country could be caught in a downward political spiral.

All the ingredients are in place for real political chaos to play out, especially as the president’s constitutional successor is also being tormented by a colony of diseases which have reduced his body to conference center. The clouds are gathering over Cameroon and the French are aware of this.

They currently have multiple crises on their hands. Mali, Guinea, the CAR, and Burkina Faso are already slipping out of their grip, and they do not want Cameroon to be thrown into the mix. Cameroon could be a tough challenge, especially as the two English-speaking regions are already in a concerning turmoil which has exposed the government’s inability to deal with political and military crises.

Dion Ngute may not be happy, but his performance as the Prime Minister of Cameroon leaves much to be desired. He cannot point to any concrete achievements and his permanent party mood is really a provocation of regime hawks. While he continues to have a blast with his young wife, his collaborators are losing sleep and weight, and until this issue is settled, there will be no happiness at the Star Building.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

In April, Cameroon renewed a military cooperation agreement with Russia as Moscow intensified its offensive in Ukraine. The timing certainly supports Russia’s claim that its international isolation is relative. It also raises questions about Cameroon’s foreign policy at a time when African countries’ votes in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly are under scrutiny.

The military agreement reflects a trend in Cameroon’s foreign and trade policy that entails keeping great powers at equal distances. While the Central African country is one of the largest recipients of French development cooperation in sub-Saharan Africa, its biggest creditor is by far China. Cameroon also maintains close foreign and trade ties with the United Kingdom, United States and Germany.

This international balancing act loses its appeal when it comes to Africa and the African Union (AU), however. In May, Cameroon chaired the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) after being re-elected to the council for a three-year term. The relative indifference to this rotating chairship by Cameroonian decision makers, opinion leaders and society contrasts with the substantial diplomatic efforts taken to secure the country’s re-election.

The PSC rotating chair usually helps a government push regional and thematic priorities, and demonstrate its diplomatic ability to address continental issues. For Cameroon, it’s difficult to identify clear goals in the AU, apart from preventing the Anglophone crisis from reaching the PSC agenda. The council’s discussion of the crisis could see a peace support operation deployed to the country, which Cameroon would consider intrusive.

Cameroon’s indecisive continental foreign and trade policy can also be seen in Central Africa

Yaoundé is also poised to guarantee constant AU support for the logistical base of the African Standby Force located in Douala and the regional Multinational Joint Task Force against Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin.

Despite the many contemporary transnational issues facing Africa – an expanding terrorist threat, activating the African Continental Free Trade Area, and the resurgence of coups – Cameroon’s policy towards the AU and Africa remains unclear. It’s also characterised by limited engagement at the heads of state level, where AU decisions are ultimately made.

President Paul Biya is notorious for missing AU summits. Despite this, Cameroon has managed to get its nationals elected as commissioners in the AU’s Konaré/Ping Commissions (2003-11) and the first Faki Commission (2017-21). But these political appointments hardly compensate for the few Cameroonians in the AU Commission’s senior leadership or the absence of shared guidelines for the country’s action in the AU.

Cameroon can sometimes mobilise political capital to secure positions in the AU – such as the current head of the Reform Implementation Unit. However the country doesn’t exploit its strategic and unique location at the crossroads between the Francophonie and the Commonwealth, Sahel and Equatorial Forest, and Western and Central Africa.

The focus on the president and his personal preferences prevents diplomacy from being led by principles

Cameroon’s indecisive foreign and trade policy can also be seen in Central Africa. Based on the size of its economy, demography and transport infrastructure, the country could play an anchor role in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), which comprises six countries using the CFA franc.

But the government rarely uses this position of strength to boost Cameroon’s regional interests. Despite being the gateway to the sea for Chad and the Central African Republic, Cameroon lacks the vision and strategy to harness the strong positions of its private companies in those countries.

In the wider Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Cameroon’s power is challenged by oil-rich Angola and the war-torn but mineral-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Rwanda’s increasingly active security and trade diplomacy in the region will be interesting to watch as power relations are redefined.

While CEMAC comprises countries solely committed to Central Africa, ECCAS members also have regional allegiances to Southern and East Africa. Examples of the latter include the DRC, Angola, Burundi and Rwanda. The planned merger of the two regional organisations would probably move the centre of gravity east- and southwards, diluting Cameroon’s influence in the bloc.

Cameroon’s foreign policy is notoriously obscure because official documents are rarely made public

Cameroon’s foreign policy is notoriously obscure because official documents outlining its interests and strategic goals are rarely made public. Even Cameroonian diplomats struggle to give a unified view of the country’s actions in Africa and internationally. There is no single forum convened for diplomats and their hierarchy, and the last conference of ambassadors was held in 1985.

The heavy focus on the president and his personal preferences has prevented Cameroon’s diplomacy from being led by principles. It has also been the main obstacle to the Foreign Affairs Ministry driving foreign policy rather than the presidency. But as instability grows in Central Africa, clear guidelines for Cameroon’s regional and continental engagement will become more crucial than ever.

Cameroon’s foreign policy should start with designing a neighbourhood policy. As a leading trading partner in Central Africa, Cameroon has a vested interest in the region’s stability. This makes it surprising that other less affected states increasingly settle crises on its doorstep.

A clear vision based on Cameroon’s medium- and long-term interests in CEMAC, ECCAS and the AU could guide diplomats and other foreign policy actors. Taking more responsibility for settling violent conflicts in Central Africa would boost Cameroon’s stature in the region and build skills among its civilian and military cadres.

The government has tried hard to prevent the Anglophone conflict from being considered by the AU and UN. It could learn from Rwanda and Chad, whose regional military diplomacy has successfully shielded them from international criticism in recent years.

To reposition Central Africa and Africa in Cameroon’s foreign policy, the country also needs to rectify the widespread bias which sees only diplomatic postings in Global North capitals as prestigious. Neglecting the low-hanging fruit of African diplomacy will damage the country’s image.

Culled from Defense Web