Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Mimi Mefo Info
Published on 2024-04-07 20:04:58
April 6, 1984 – April 6, 2024: it has been 40 years to the day since the regime of Biya narrowly escaped a coup. Although he has managed to stay in power for the past four decades, the specter of a forceful coup that would end his rule still looms. The reasons behind this threat include mismanagement, embezzlement, high cost of living, injustices, and especially 40 long years of uninterrupted power.
The failed coup of April 6, 1984 in Cameroon is now just a distant memory, as the generation of key players is fading away. Those few who are still alive remember some episodes of the attempted overthrow of Paul Biya’s power, which cost the lives of over 500 people according to independent sources. Albert Ndi, a participant in the events, recalls, “I was working at the Ministry of Defense. That morning of April 6, I was about to leave as usual, a colleague who lived near me came to alert me that war had broken out and we needed to find a way to get to the camp. We had to avoid going out in uniforms that identified us as gendarmes. We left in civilian clothes without any form of identification. We had to take circuitous routes to reach the camp. Once there, we found out that the commander of our company had just been killed. We had to defend the institutions. We left our families for over a week, not knowing what was happening at home. But a few days later, everything returned to normal. Hundreds of people died on both sides, among the coup plotters and within the Republican Guard.”
If armed struggle has led to changes in leadership in several African countries, in Cameroon, Paul Biya has governed for over 40 years without interruption. However, his reign has not been smooth. 18 months after taking office, Paul Biya survived a coup. After this attempt, Paul Biya, who had promised to strengthen the economic, social, and cultural foundations and work towards the establishment of a rule of law during his inauguration, abandoned his oath. With the ruling coalition and the support of his party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC), he developed mechanisms to cling to power by implementing “a political and institutional facade with democratic appearances aimed at masking his authoritarian nature”. As a result, his party has overwhelmingly dominated his political opponents in various electoral processes (1992, 1997, 2004, 2011, and 2018) despite repeated electoral fraud. He also violently suppressed protests in the 1990s and 2008.
Despite this repression, the idea of ousting Paul Biya from power has not faded from the minds of many. With the rise of social media, it has become common talk on smartphones. Renowned Cameroonian-American writer Patrice Nganang coined the concept of “chasing” Paul Biya on Facebook, as the only way to end his long reign and to counter the refusal of a president to engage in dialogue with Anglophones, who are facing a deadly war in the Northwest and Southwest regions.
In the diaspora, the Anti-Sardinard Brigade (BAS), a movement against the Yaoundé regime that emerged during the 2018 elections, has not abandoned its “Paul Biya must go” campaign. The recent political events in neighboring Gabon, where the power of Ali Bongo was overturned by a military junta, has rekindled ambitions in Cameroon. Even opposition figures considered republican like Cabral Libii have voiced support for certain types of coups d’état. “The condemnation of unconstitutional changes of governments, present in all UN and African texts, primarily concerns coups d’état aimed at overthrowing a constitutional order and replacing it by breaking the democratic momentum. But in reality, if the political and democratic game is so corrupted and flawed that stability and peace are irreversibly threatened, is it not wise for those responsible for ensuring security and peace to intervene and impose a transitional period to try to restore democratic order? A transitional coup is, in my view, rather a beneficial military innovation, as long as it is a transition like that of Jerry Rawlings in Ghana,” wrote the former presidential candidate.
The history being taught to the younger generation by certain ideologues who seek to whitewash Biya’s regime claims that the failed coup of April 6, 1984 was aimed at bringing President Ahidjo back to power. However, many other reasons were put forward by the coup plotters, including mismanagement and embezzlement. The coup plotters particularly criticized Paul Biya for squandering the sovereign funds left by his predecessor. 40 years later, the situation has worsened.
Embezzlement is rampant. During the parliamentary session of November 2023, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute, in a chilling revelation to lawmakers, disclosed that decisions taken by the Budgetary and Financial Discipline Council revealed a total sum of state losses amounting to 12,814,456,866 CFA francs. Additionally, there were 59 cases presented to the Special Criminal Court, resulting in pecuniary convictions totaling 26,482,324,929 CFA francs by September 30, 2023. Furthermore, restitution payments to the state treasury for crimes amounted to 9,637,136,717 CFA francs in the same period.
In addition to embezzlement, Paul Biya, worn out by 40 years of power and his advanced age, has left the state in the hands of factions close to power that are now engaged in open warfare, jeopardizing the national interest. Meanwhile, blood continues to flow in the two Anglophone regions since 2017, with images of brutalized or killed Cameroonian citizens from the Northwest and Southwest regions making regular appearances. Besides, armed criminal groups dictate terms and force civilian populations to flee.
In the north, besides the incursions of the Islamic sect Boko Haram, there have been ransom kidnappings committed by armed groups. Alongside the destruction, the exorbitant cost of living, lack of water and electricity, and rampant unemployment are diminishing the little life left for Cameroonians. And more than ever, the possibility of a forced departure of Biya from power seems to be looming.
Joseph Essama
Read the original article(French) on Mimi Mefo Info
