Top military officials disagree over punishing protesting soldiers

The Cameroon Journal has gathered that military leaders in Yaoundé and the Ministry of Defense, including President Biya are in disagreement over whether or not to punish some 200 soldiers who recently took to the streets protesting non-payment of salaries after serving in the Cameroon mission to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

President Biya had hastily called off his vacation in Europe to return home after news of the soldiers’ rampage got to him. However, he was still in Europe when he ordered his subordinates to effect immediate payment of the salaries owed the soldiers, pending reimbursement by the African Union, AU.

However, according to sources, the President is still confused over who to sanction. While some top military officials are insisting that the 200 soldiers who protested be punished, others, still within the military have argued that the soldiers acted within their rights and besides, they had legitimate claims.

The Cameroon Journal was informed that crisis meetings were held at the presidency recently, and at the Ministry Of Defense but they both rounded without a unanimous decision. We gathered that two camps emerged in all the meetings, even among the top ranking officers and generals of the army.

Sources stated that government and military officials who insisted that the 200 soldiers be meted some kind of punitive measures argued that if the soldiers go unpunished, it would be precedence for other soldiers to do same whenever they have grievances. This camp insisted on the strict implementation of disciplinary measures of the military justice code and that the soldiers should be tried in a military tribunal.

However, some top government and military officials argued that if the soldiers, 80 of whom have already been identified, are punished, the remaining soldiers who fought side by side with them in MINUSCA, may not sit back, relax and watch their comrades punished. They also argued that any punitive move slammed on the soldiers may diminish the level of trust and confidence between soldiers and their superiors. An option, a warning note to the soldiers was equally dismissed, as some officials argued that military sanctions should be in accord with the 2001 decree. Decree 2001/188 of July 25, 2001 which states that soldiers can be sanctioned by removal from list of grades advancement, sacking, retraining among others.

However, while the top military officers and officials of the Ministry of Defense were busy consulting on whether or not the soldiers be sanctioned and the type of sanctions to be meted on them, government officials in higher circles were equally looking at a possibility of sanctioning top military officers and officials of the Ministry of Defense, The Journal gathered.

Soldiers threaten more street protest for complete payment of allowances

While officials remain indecisive as to what to do with the revolting soldiers, the same soldiers are threatening to take to the streets once more.

Communication Minister, Issa Tchiroma Backary, had on September 9 stated that “on special instructions of his Excellency the President of the Republic, the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in Charge of Defense, met with the protesting soldiers to inform them about the decision taken by the Head of State to authorise the immediate payment of the arrears claimed to the tune of 6billion FCFA. Tchiroma had stated that the “amount would then be reimbursed to the Cameroon government by the African Union,” adding that “As we talk, let me strongly assure you that this demonstration has been called off.”

However, recent turn of events contradict Tchiroma’s declarations. The soldiers are now saying that the United Nations still owes them 12months of unpaid allowances of 500thousand FCFA per month. They had threatened not to collect the money that President Biya offered if this other amount wasn’t considered.

The soldiers are equally saying that the AU had agreed to pay them 7million per month, but the Cameroon government was instead proposing to pay 4.5million for the soldiers who spent eight months in CAR and 3.5 million FCFA for those who were there for six months.

African Union to refund one billion FCFA only

In yet another twist, the African Union is blaming Cameroon and surreptitiously accusing it of fraud and corruption for delay in the release of the soldiers’ allowances. Worse still, the union said the amount owed the protesting soldiers is only about one billion FCFA and not six billion FCFA that the government of Cameroon is expecting them to refund.

The Pan African magazine, Jeune Afrique, reported that the AU would have paid the money on time, had government officials in Cameroon adhered to its principles of transparency.

The magazine said the AU had opted to pay the soldiers directly into their bank accounts, but Cameroon government officials insisted the money be given to them to carry out the payments in cash. Jeune Afrique reported that the government finally submitted to the procedures of the AU a few months later than expected; reason why the money was not paid on time.

The commissioner for the Peace and Security Commission of the AU, Smail Chergui, has said the union pays soldiers with money from donors who require strict respect of accounting procedures – transparent procedures which Cameroon government officials are not accustom to.

Tchiroma had during the September 9 news confab, heaped all the blame on the AU, claiming that officials from Cameroon were doing their best to satisfy the soldiers. He said after a meeting between government and military officials “assurances were then given to Cameroon that all measures were being taken to finalize procedure for the full payment of these arrears.”

As he contemplates on who to sanction, President Biya is certainly bamboozled by the complex nature of the management of the financial dealings between Cameroon and the African Union.