Biya doesn’t need to visit fallen soldiers; he fights from Yaounde- Tchiroma

Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Communication Minister also commonly referred to as Government Spokesman, has said that President Biya does not need to visit soldiers at the war front or in the military hospital like other presidents do.

“He is a veritable War Lord and fights from Yaounde. He gets into the war actively when needed. Remember he ordered airstrikes last year when soldiers on the field needed his intervention.” Tchiroma told journalists at a news conference organised over the weekend.

The press conference was to present a balance sheet of an extraordinary session of the conference of heads of state and governments of The Council for Peace and Security in Central Africa, COPAX. The summit took place on February 16.

Prompted by growing debates on social media as to why Cameroon’s president does not preside at military honours ceremonies for soldiers killed in the war against Boko Haram, or visit the injured like his Chadian counterpart, Idriss Deby and others do, pressmen drifted from the summit and focused more on Biya’s attitude towards the army.

Tchiroma who had in his preliminary statement, hailed Deby for visiting Chadian soldiers at the Yaounde military hospital, said that the international community has understood Biya’s mode of operation, reason why they were moved to heed his plea for assistance.

The minister said Cameroon’s Head of State has his own way of doing things, and that his ability to gain regional and international support to fight Boko Haram is an indication that his smartness is paying off.

The communication minister exalted journalist who, to him have stood behind the head of state and defence forces, and urged; “…those of you who still seem to persist on paths that are dissenting and contrary to this sacred union for the salvation of the republic, I invite them not to fight the wrong battle but come to their senses and join the entire Cameroonian nation to fight terrorism, organised crime and ideological obscurantism.”

He said that government, has within the week, sponsored 8 local and 9 international media organs including Le jour, Mutations, Canal 2, Afrique Media TV, Reuters, Skynews, AFP on a trip to zones attacked by Boko Haram, to enable media get first-hand information.

Reacting to Tchiroma’s utterances, journalists reminded him that the role of the press is not to acclaim government action or lie about number of deaths on the battle field.

It was recalled at the press conference that the major outcome of the extraordinary summit which brought together six heads of state, one prime minister and three high level delegations from the 10 ECCAS member states, was the putting in place of an emergency financial assistance of 50Billion FCFA and the creation and implementation of a multidimensional support fund for the fight against Boko Haram.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea President and Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of Congo were mandated, at the end of the summit, to contact the president of the Economic Community for West African States, ECOWAS to discuss possibilities of holding a summit with ECCAS and ECOWAS to adopt a common strategy to combat the Nigeria-based terror group, Boko Haram. They were also mandated to hold talks with Nigerian president to urge him increase cooperation with Cameroon and Chad.

While Boko Haram insurgency is being discussed in several high-level national, regional and international meetings, with proposals whose implementation are far from immediate, the terror group continues to spread its activities across countries in the Lake Chad Basin, killing, raping, looting and destroying properties, with only soldiers of affected countries counteracting them.