Diplomatic friction btn Biya, Hollande: A que. of national pride

The Diplomatic treatment meted out by President Hollande of France and his predecessor Sakorzy to president Biya of Cameroon is marked by total disdain, complete arrogance and utterly nonsensical which ought to replete statesmanship at all levels and reinforce existing cooperation writes Cameroon Concord US Bureau Chief Bertrand Etukeni Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroonians at Home and in the Diaspora have express serious concerns as a matter of National Integrity and State Pride on the annoying character and ways the French president is treating president Biya. President Hollande`s shabby and disgusting treatment is unveiling and visibly clear exposing the French secret agenda that Biya is certainly no longer the darling.

This French position is gathering unprecedented momentum across the entire CEMAC Sub Region. The halcyon era of fruitful and very succinct cordial relations between Paris and Yaounde when Biya was in the good books of presidents Francois Mitterand and Jacques Chirac is over. Ever since president Sarkozy and the sitting Francois Hollande became tenants of the Elysee Palace, currents have stopped flowing.

Cameroon Concord opined that the uncomfortable and unfriendly relations between both nations will soon transform into a political crisis and destabilise the Sub Saharan Region if care is not taken. Just like its predecessor, President Hollande has spared no efforts in fanning an internal rebellion for a regime change in Yaounde.

It is now an open secret why the French were having secret succession meetings and plans with jailed Marafa.

It is more than eight years since a French president last visited Yaounde. The last time was in 2006, when Chirac led a high-power delegation including Roger Milla to Yaounde.

Its successor Sakorzy never even made a stop-over in Yaounde. With Cameroon considered as the power of the sub region, President Sakorzy after having assured Biya of a diplomatic visit removed Yaounde from his itinerary at the 11th hour during his March 2008 African trips. The then president travelled to DRC Kinshasa, Congo Brazzaville before insultively over-flying Cameroon to Niamey-Niger.

Sakorzy further made official trips to neighbouring Gabon, Chad and Congo with no diplomatic visit to Cameroon widely believed to be the king of the sub region. And president Hollande since taking over office in 2011 removed Biya and Cameroon from all his official and diplomatic trips.

Cameroon Concord understands that president Hollande refused to exchange diplomatic relations despite repeated calls and secret lobbying through the Cameroon Embassy in Paris and hired French lobbyists because the French had settled for the last option that Mr. Biya must go.

The French anger and justification for a regime change is that Cameroon which used to be a private preserve for the French vested interest is now a base of world super powers challenging the French grip and control.

The Chinese virtually control and dictate the market. The United States has imposed its presence looking at the statute symbol of their embassy building. Old allies like Germany and Great Britain had resurfaced in a strategic position pulling the strings from behind.

Again President Biya had opened up to other new governments due to global economy and trade such as the Indians, Pakistanis, Malaysia and the Turks with strong military co-operations with Israel and Russia. The French are not happy and have embark on a regime change like what happened in Ivory Coast.

After the recent US-African leadership Summit, the first of its kind by the Obama administration, Cameroonians in the Diaspora specifically in Europe, US and Canada were furious why president Hollande summoned president Biya and arranged for a meeting with his minister for defence with specific instructions to position the military as French interests were at stake.

Cameroonians did not take the official visit of President Biya to Paris lightly coming a few days after the end of the US-African summit.

Cameroon Concord gathered later that the president's official trip to Paris was to counter the US summit and tell whoever cares to listen in Washington that Mr. Biya is still the puppet of France and can be teleguided and instructed anyhow.

Whatever message the French president wanted to pass across, Cameroonians in the Diaspora have settled for the fact that Hollande should stop this nonsense and treat their president under the same capacity and the office he occupies with utmost respect and integrity.

President Biya is not the worst president in the entire universe and if he is opening up to other nations is because for more than three decades in the hands of French loyalty, Cameroon with all the resources does not reflect any strategic significance and hope with the French colonial partnership.

The Diaspora for further decry that the French were there from the beginning watching how Mr. Biya had transformed and built around himself a personality-cult image that every Cameroonian creation pays loyalty and respect to him alone.

As if that is not enough president Biya plays with the fundamental laws of the nation [The Constitution] like a toy since he owns the Lower House of the Parliament for the Bills to go through making it possible to remain as president.

If Cameroon Concord readers are taking any message back to the French government, President Hollande should be told that any attempt by the French to oust Biya by force will instead rally the Cameroonian people behind President Biya. "Laisser le temps au temps"