Defending national interests

The recent report by French parliamentarians with conspicuously citing Cameroon and Niger certainly targets French interests.

There are many Cameroonians who must have been wondering why some Parliamentarians from France took so much interest in the security and stability of Cameroon to the extent of producing a 149-page internal report that filtered to the press with much gleeful usage in the local media.

Several analyses and commentaries went wild on the issues raised by the report. However, it is hard to say if any conclusions were ever arrived at on why Cameroon and Niger featured prominently in the report given that they are not the only countries affected by activities of the nefarious Boko Haram extremist group.

However, the fact that the report focused on French speaking African countries obviously means that its genesis could only be traced to the colonial and post-colonial history and the economic stakes that such links have generated over the years. Be it the Slave Trade, the partition of Africa or the colonial hold that Western powers have had over the Developing World; the aim has been to pursue the interests of those involved and never for the good of the African continent.

Gimmicks on civilisations, modernisation and Globalisation as we know them today have hardly taken into consideration values that have not been vetted by nations which consider themselves better placed to set the pace.

Such oversights have often covered wide-ranging areas including politics, diplomacy, the economy, social, cultural activities and so on. Many of such claims have at times been pushed through by their perpetrators under the guise of development and defending the wellbeing of the oppressed in the countries being monitored.

Some of the assumptions on Western hegemony on the African Continent have even led to the creation of puppet states and pseudo-leaders answerable primarily to their mentors. Thus, issues like governance, democracy, peace, stability, the rule of law, have among others been areas of predilection through which everything is seen or unseen in Africa.

Fair enough, the over viewing position of the stronger nations has not always been loathsome, given that they actually make for valuable partners in enhancing the various development strides desired by the common man and their leaders in Africa.

There has arguably been much improvement in infrastructural development and general societal evolution, thanks to cooperation with foreign partners. Of course, it could not be otherwise in today’s global world. It is understandable that Cameroon, like any developing nation, should have her share of responsibility to shoulder at any given moment.

The recent parliamentary report presented by French MPs to their National Assembly on 6 May 2015 was just one out of many that have in the past been made about Cameroon with its merits and demerits. Least of which may not be the fact that Cameroon is often erroneously presented as a French speaking country!

The assertion that the Far North Region of the country remains abandoned could hardly go down well at a time President Paul Biya instructed the relocation of victims of terrorist attacks, the construction of settlement camps and schools for the affected population and their kids, pupils and students and even thousands of refugees from Nigeria in the same locality that is being qualified as deserted.

Three divisions out of six affected by hoodlums, no matter how devilish their intentions, can scarcely justify sweeping cataloguing of an entire nation like Cameroon as unstable.