Rapt Attention for Cameroon

In two separate speeches and one audience granted interim CAR President in Brussels, Paul Biya eloquently spelt out Cameroon's vision in the global search for peace and security.

When Cameroon takes the floor to put across its views in any international summit, there is rapt attention. More so, when the topic of discussion has to do with peace, with security or with economic prosperity. The story in Brussels last week during the 4th EU-Africa Summit had this familiar ring.

President Paul Biya, the apostle of peace from the heart of the Central African Sub-region was once more on the front-line of an international Summit on peace, security and prosperity. There was also a special high-level meeting on Central African Republic that brought together about twenty-five Heads of State and Government. President Paul Biya was an active and effective participant in the two meetings and made positive contributions in all the two. In the working session of the EU-Africa Summit that had to do with" peace and security", he presented the views of Cameroon on the subject. The "pernicious actions of terrorist movements, traffic of all sorts, hostage-taking and pirates, threaten constantly the peace and security" of our continent, President Paul Biya said.

As usual, President Paul Biya put "people" at the core of his concern. "Poverty", the President insisted "serves the cause of extremists". In this light President Paul Biya saw poverty as a true threat to peace, meaning all actions taken to preserve the peace must tackle the root causes of poverty and concrete programmes must be adopted to reduce it. By reminding the audience of the June 2013 Security and Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea, that took place in Cameroon, President Paul Biya went ahead to solicit the support and implication of the international Community to the regional Strategy and legal instruments adopted in that meeting.

The theme of "collective endeavours in pursuit of peace" rang through both speeches made by President Paul Biya in Brussels. His presentation of Cameroon's reading of the issues on the ground in Central African Republic provided the framework for the conclusions of the high-level meeting on the crisis. Concerted action to re-establish peace, order and security, he stressed, must be taken with more rapidly. To meet the challenges, the President stressed that all promises made, concerning financial aid, humanitarian aid and sending of troops, need urgent execution.

Secondly, the transformation of MISCA into a UN peace keeping operation with more men and means was recommended by President Biya. This demand by Cameroon has been on the table since January 2014. "Urgency of concrete action" to stem the tide of war in the Central African Republic was also a recurrent theme in all the speeches of President Paul Biya in Brussels last week. The "time of action is now, ending war in the Central African Republic is a categorical imperative," he emphasized. President Paul Biya told the world that solving the crisis will ensure stability in the Sub-region and peace in the continent.

The active participation of the Head of State in the two-day Summit ensured that the theme of investing in people, prosperity and peace has to be translated into reality. His contributions during the debates, which were all in camera, brought out the intrinsic Cameroonian values of peace. President Paul Biya's wealth of experience in the domain of peaceful resolution of conflicts benefited enormously the international community at the Brussels Summit. By granting audience to the CAR Interim President Samba-Panza, President Paul Biya was matching words with action in the urgent resolve to seek a peaceful outcome to the crisis rocking that country. At the end of the Summit, Cameroon and President Paul Biya stood tall in the concert of nations.