Topsy-turvy relations

Must Biya continue coping with Hollande’s arrogance?
French President Francois Hollande has not stepped foot on Cameroonian soil since he became tenant of the Elysee Palace some three years ago. Hollande’s predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy also never visited Cameroon throughout his 5-year mandate as president of France between 2006 and 2011. On the contrary, Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has honoured all invitations from his French counterparts and has visited France on more occasions than he was invited. Commentators contend that the evident lack of enthusiasm for Biya by successive French presidents is eloquent proof of their unwillingness to continue to endorse the CPDM regime. Observers are wondering why President Biya should keep going to France even when his French counterpart is not willing to reciprocate?
By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde
President Paul Biya is certainly not the darling of French president Francois Hollande at the moment. Unlike was the case with successive former French presidents – Francois Mitterand and Jacques Chirac especially, the sitting French President, Francois Hollande and even his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, have spared no opportunity to prove their love-lost for President Biya.
    In fact, it is now eight years and counting since a French president ever visited Cameroon. The last time a French President visited Cameroon was way back in 2006, when Jacques Chirac led a high-powered French delegation to Yaounde.
    Chirac’s successor, Nicolas Sarkozy never made even one stop-over in Yaounde for all his 5 years in office. Sarkozy’s successor, Francois Hollande has also not stepped foot on Cameroonian soil since coming into office in 2011.

    We understand that both Sarkozy and Hollande have refused to visit Cameroon despite repeated invitations by president Biya and despite sustained lobbying at the Elysee palace by both Cameroonian diplomats and hired French lobbyists.
    In one of his flying visits to Africa in March 2008, former French president, Sarkozy removed Cameroon from his itinerary at the last minute. The one-mandate French president first stopped in Kinshasa DRC, then flew over to Brazaville Congo before over-flying Cameroon to get to Niamey in Niger.
    We learnt at the time that President Paul Biya did not take kindly Sarkozy’s last minute decision to drop Cameroon from his Africa itinerary. This was because the French president had given all  assurances that he would also make a stop in Yaounde during his flying visit.
    Sarkozy made subsequent visits to Cameroon’s closest neighbors of the CEMAC sub-region - Gabon, Chad and Congo. But on no occasion did he ever stop in Yaounde, until he handed the key to the Elysee palace to Francois Hollande in 2011.
    If it was believed at the time that Sarkozy turned his back on Biya because he did not endorse Biya’s decision to amend the constitution in 2008 to prolong his stay in power, and in protest against the lopsided, CPDM-dominated composition of the elections management body ELECAM, it is not however, easily understood why Francois Hollande has also refused to visit Cameroon.
    Sometime last year, the Cameroonian press complained vexatiously at what was widely reported as the shabby reception given President Biya by his French counterpart, Francois Hollande. That was when Biya visited France for what was announced on the state radio/television CRTV as “an official working visit of the president.”
    Reacting to the torrent of protests in the press, the minister of communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, called a press conference to explain the circumstances of the visit and why the warmth was not seen to exist between Hollande and Biya. But Tchiroma ended up failing to convince the many pressmen who turned up to listen to him.    
    That may just be why ommentators have continued to wonder aloud why president Biya keeps honouring invitations from Francois Hollande and multiplying visits to a seemingly arrogant and snobbish friend?
    Some commentators are of the opinion that president Biya should also turn his back on France, if only to give the impression of a Cameroon that can stand on its feet and hold its own, with or without French support.
    But we understand that this can happen only at great peril to Cameroon and the CPDM regime. We remember very vividly what happened to Guinea Conakry, when she opted for independence out of the French community in 1960. President Biya certainly would not want this to happen to Cameroon. And that may explain why he still tries to satisfy Francois Hollande, despite the French President’s annoying arrogance.