Huge crowd turn out to meet Cameroon's first couple

Dressed in the CPDM attire, Cameroonians in Senegal danced along major roads of Dakar as the limousine carrying President Paul Biya and Wife drove past. From the Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport in Dakar, through the Alamadies Street to the King Fahd Palace where Cameroon’s presidential Couple stayed in Senegal, Cameroonians living in Dakar and beyond, danced along major roads to welcome their President, Paul Biya and Wife, Chantal Biya as they arrived in Senegal for the 15th La Francophonie Summit.

The enthusiasm and dancing styles of the crowd intensified when the motorcade headed to the plush quarters of King Fahd Palace on Friday, November 28, 2014.

Judging from the massive turnout from the local Cameroonian community in Dakar and peripheral towns; Mbour, Pikine, Liberte V and Vi, Grand Dakar, Dakar Yoft and Zinguinchor in the South of Senegal, even the most unschooled onlookers could tell that there was more than just excitement in the air.

According to a CPDM leader in Senegal, Jérome Belinga, it was a Cameroon cultural jamboree as some 300 Cameroonians, mostly militants of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Party (CPDM), were dressed in the party ceremonial dress as well as T-shirts which carried the image of Cameroon’s First Couple and that of President Paul Biya and his Senegalese counterpart, President Macky Sall. This crowd that had come to welcome their President and wife were said to have come from all the 10 regions of the country to meet Paul and Chantal Biya.

Thrilled on-lookers watched in excitement as traditional drumbeats was played as the crowd danced and sang songs of gratitude to their First Couple. They waved the cameroon flag as well as messages which did not only wish the First Couple a warm stay in Senegal, but also expressed the depth of their gratitude to President Paul Biya, for not only creating the first ever CPDM section in West Africa, but also his firm commitment to curb Boko Haram attacks.

Jerome Belinga said the grand welcome given to their party president and wife could not have been possible without the proper coordination of Cameroon’s Ambassador to Senegal, Mali, Mauritania and the Gambia, Jean Koe Ntonga.