Anti-Macron Protest:

Y’de Youths Tell France to Leave Cameroon Alone

-Biya calls for calm, urges all to maintain friendly ties with France

By Doh Bertrand Nua in Yaounde

Anti-French protests have multiplied in Cameroon

Hundreds of youth drawn from different walks of life in Yaounde under the banner of the “Movement for the Defense of Fatherland”, MODEPA, on 24-25 February 2020 stormed the French Embassy to protest against what they termed the “undiplomatic utterances” of the French President, Emmanuel Macron, on President Paul Biya.

                The youth carried placards with varied messages, chanting patriotic songs across major streets to the French embassy. The angry youth called on the French President to hands-off Cameroon’s internal affairs and apologise not only to the President Paul Biya but to all Cameroonians for attempting to meddle in their internal issues. 

                Serge Angoni Onguene, MODEPA coordinator, revealed that the protest will continue until the Macron apologises to Cameroonians for disrespecting their President. He said Cameroonian youth are patriotic and aware of the difficulties the country is undergoing but will not accept an outsider to decide how the country is governed.

                They said Biya is only accountable to Cameroonians who gave him the mandate to rule through the 2018 President election in which he emerged overall winner and not a foreign boy. Some of the angry youth accused France and Macron of financing terrorism in Cameroon, hosting terrorists groups calling for mayhem and not repatriating them back to in Cameroon.

                They anger follows Macron’s response to a Cameroonian activist in France identified as Calibro Calibri Saturday 22 February 2020, in which, he, publicly disclosed he had put pressure on the Biya to release Kamto and his supporters or lose opportunity of being received in Lyon, France. Macron equally said he was going to call Biya and mount enough pressure for him to stop the ongoing crisis in the two Anglophone regions.

                However, President Paul Biya has through the Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh called for calm among angry Cameroonians, urging them to allow the fruitful ties between both countries flourish.

                Ngoh Ngoh in his reaction to Macron's declaration on Biya said the President wasn’t accountable for his action to any leader of another country but to Cameroonians alone, adding, that he is fully committed to accomplish the heavy and exalting mission bestowed on him by the Almighty God and the sovereign people of Cameroon, and does not need any external force to put pressure on him.

                While recalling Biya’s instructions to the military to be professional in the discharge of their duties as well as measures put in place to resolve the over three year crisis, Ngoh Ngoh, urged countries hosting promoters of hatred and violence against Cameroon to take action against them and guard against being manipulated by their false propaganda.