In a recent Wikileaks cable released in September 20011, the former US diplomat to Cameroon says he discussed with president Paul Biya for over an hour on vital issues. The chat which took place in April 2009 focused Cameroon politics, security forces, corruption and the impact of the economic crisis. According to the US diplomat, “Biya was less focused and more rambling than in previous meetings and did not seem fully seized with the numerous pressing challenges his government faces”. He further states that Paul Biya look tired and was visibly not informed about what is happening in his own country, Cameroon. He chatted “unhurriedly and without purpose of direction”.
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Impunity in Cameroon: When ministers “have not stolen enough to be arrested”
A recent Wikileaks cable on Cameroon has revealed to the bewilderment of Cameroonians that in the course of a discussion with former US ambassador to Cameroon HE Janet Garvey, President Paul Biya literally admitted that inertia and impunity in Cameroon have destroyed the country under his watch for the past 29 years. This is supported when he is quoted in the cable as saying some ministers, and notably Inoni Ephraim “have not stolen enough” to be arrested. The questions are how much, must a minister steal to be arrested. Despite the ongoing selective arrest of suspected embezzlers, corruption continues as before.
WIKILEAKS: The West wary of Sino-Cameroon relations: Links between Communist Party and the ruling CPDM
By Aloysius AGENDIA
In a recent WikiLeaks cable of the US Embassy in Cameroon revealed on December 08, 2010, the former US Ambassador Cameroon, H E. Janet Elisabeth Garvey expresses worries over increasing Chinese influence in Cameroon and the difficulties the “west” can face with increased Chinese presence in the country.
The cable dating February 18, 2010 and titled “China’s growing presence in Cameroon” also discloses that the ruling Chinese People Communist Party has strengthened its relations with the ruling Cameroon People Democratic Movement CPDM after the former gave some computer equipment to the latter.
2010 Elections in Cote D' Ivoire: What most media do not tell you.
By Aloysius AGENDIA
Early November 2010, Ivoirians went to the polls to elect a new president. After the first round of elections, no candidate could get the absolute majority needed to avoid a runoff. Incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo of LMP scored 38 percent of the votes while former Prime Minister Alasane Ouatara of PDR and former President Henri Konan Bedie got 32 and 25 percent respectively. The second round on November 28, 2010 pitted Ouatara against Gbagbo. Konan Bedie urged his supporters to rally behind Ouatara. Analysts considered the call a marriage against nature because; it was the same Konan Bedie who made claims in the late 1990s and early 2000 that Ouatara was not an Ivoirian but actually a Burkinabe. That was the beginning of rivalry in Cote D Ivoire. From that perspective, it is hard to say with certainty if the supporters of Bedie could actually vote for Ouatara or massively vote for someone whom for years they consider more of their enemy than Laurent Gbagbo.