Southern Cameroons Crisis: France to exert more pressure on Yaounde government
The whole world has been holding France responsible for the killings in Southern Cameroons, but the Macron government is sick and tired of supporting an uncompromising, corrupt and inefficient Yaounde government that is hell bent on killing its own people.
French President, Emmanuel Macron is tired of being accused of aiding and abetting dictators in Africa.
In a public discussion with a Cameroonian activist, Calibri Calibro, last week in Paris following the brutal killing of more than 30 people in Ngarbur in the country’s northwest region, Mr. Macron said he had put a lot of pressure on the beleaguered Cameroon leader, Paul Biya, for him to seek a peaceful and long-lasting solution to the crisis in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.
“I have been putting pressure on President Paul Biya to deal with the issue of the English-speaking regions of Cameroon and his opponents. I told him that I would not receive him in Lyon until Maurice KAMTO was released. And he was released because we put pressure on the government. But the situation continues to deteriorate,” Macron said.
“I will call President Biya next week and I will put maximum pressure on him to end this situation. I am fully aware of the violence in Cameroon which is intolerable. I am doing my maximum best,” he stressed.
“France is still caught in a complicated game in Africa. We are a state of law and we defend the rule of law everywhere. But when in Africa, a French president says that this leader is not democratically elected, Africans always say, why are you getting into our affairs? You have no lessons to give us,” he pointed out.
“Everywhere, I want democratically elected leaders and where the presidents are not democratically elected, I will work with the civil society. I work with the African Union and international organizations to put pressure on those governments,” he said
“When President Joseph Kabila, DRC’s former president, was in power, there were opposition figures like you in that country. We put pressure on the government. We worked with several other presidents and we managed to get political alternation in the country which led to President Tshisekedi taking over power,” he revealed.
“Regarding President Paul Biya, I have told him that he must open up the system. He must decentralize. He must liberate political opponents. He must uphold the rule of law. I will do everything in my power to ensure the issues are addressed. I really want you to know that it is not for France to institute democracy in Cameroon. Cameroonians must bring about democracy in their own country,” he concluded.
But not many people around the world have faith in the French president who has been quiet ever since Mr. Biya started slaughtering English-speaking Cameroonians in 2016.
It should be recalled that in 2019 during a European Union session, France was the only European Union country that stood by Cameroon and its corrupt government while other European Union countries called on the beleaguered government to address the issues that had triggered the violence in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon.
By Staff man Francis Ashu