Diplomatic Blunder:

President Macron’s Inelegant Remarks Spark Outrage in Y’de

-The government in Yaounde has joined its voice to that of some individual ministers and members of the public to condemn what they describe as a diplomatic blunder by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, when he revealed to an anti-Biya activist, Cabrili Cabrilo, in France, on Saturday, that he (Macron) ordered President Biya to free Kamto from jail in order to be accepted entry into France. 

Presidents Biya and Macron are strange bed-fellows

The government in Yaounde has reacted angrily to French President, Emmanuel Macron’s revelation that he pressured President Paul Biya to release his opposition rival Maurice Kamto from jail.

                The French President made the revelation to a Cameroonian-born anti-Biya activist, Cabrili Cabrilo, who confronted him on Saturday, 22 February, in Paris, France.

                The activist asked President Macron why he was supporting what he described as a dictatorial regime that was carrying out genocide in Cameroon. In response, Macron said he has been pressuring President Biya to stop the ‘intolerable killings’ in Cameroon.

                Worse still, the French President said he pressured Biya to release Kamto from jail, if not he should not bother to come for the World Summit on HIV-AIDS, TB and Malaria that was hosted in Lyon, France, in 2019.

                Kamto and some of his supporters had spent over eight months in jail when Paul Biya ordered their release in early October 2019, following the Major National Dialogue.

                But French President Emmanuel Macron has now revealed he was at the other end of the telephone putting pressure on Biya to release Kamto and other opposition leaders in detention.

                In a release issued by the Minister of Communication, Rene Sadi, he condemned the remarks by the French President, saying it was not only condescending and paternalistic, but constituted an insult to the Cameroonian people and their elected head of state and president, Paul Biya.

                Rene Sadi said the Cameroonian people did not take kindly the inelegant remarks of the French President addressed to the President of Cameroon. He said the indignation and outrage of the government and people of Cameroon was the more because France is a long-time partner of Cameroon.

                Before the Communication Minister’s outing, other Cameroonians had also reacted angrily to the outing by the French President, with some even calling for an official apology from Macron to Biya. They reacted on radio, television and on the social media.

                Former Minister of Forestry, Prof. Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, for instance described Macron’s remarks as “condescending and paternalistic”. Ngolle Ngolle said the remarks were unfortunate especially coming from the president of a friendly country that has a lot to gain keeping the good relaions with Yaounde.

                For political leader and former government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Macron’s words were an insult to Cameroon and its illustrious leader, Paul Biya. He urged Cameroonians to rally with their president and show indignation for the outing by Macron.

                Meanwhile, to political scientist and opinion leader, Prof. Owona Nguini, the French President’s remarks are unfoutunate; they depict a continuation of the colonial perception that the West has for Africa and its people and leaders. Owona says it remains for Africans to assert themselves and prove that they can stand on their own and by themselves.

                Other reactions on social media and on radio and TV talked of an ‘unimaginable and undiplomatic’ outing by the French President, especially his revealing of the content of a supposed discussion he had with President Biya.

                It should be noted that in his close to five minutes chat with the anti-Biya activist, Emmanuel Macron revealed that he put pressure on Biya to give more attention to the situation in the North West and South West Regions, adding that he urged Biya to release Maurice Kamto before he could accept the Cameroonian President to come to Lyon for the World Summit.

                Emmanuel Macron promised to telephone Biya in the coming days to put further pressure on the Cameroonian President to end the situation in the North West and South West Regions, which he described as intolerable.

                “I will call President Biya next week and put maximum pressure on him to end the violence going on in Cameroon,” President Macron said.

 “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 (Kamto) 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.

Note-worthy is the fact that the outing by the French president on Cameroon, took many people, and especially, the Yaounde government, aback. This was perhaps because France has been quiet ever since the unset of the Anglophone uprising in 2016. And many people believed, being a long-time ally of Yaounde, France supports the government’s policies and its handling of the crisis. The outing by Macron has thus proved observers wrong.

                It should however, be recalled that, in 2019, during an EU Summit, France was the only EU country that supported Cameroon. All the other EU countries called on the Yaounde government to address the issues that had triggered the violence in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

                It is thus surprising that the French President suddenly turns around and says the situation in Cameroon is ‘intolerable’.