Permanent Crusade For Peace

If there is anything that must go down in history as the hallmark of the New Deal regime of President Paul Biya, it is the ardent desire for peace. It has been so entrenched in the daily parlance of the entire nation, especially those who hold political offices to the extent that just anyone can feel or cut the sentiment of peace across the country with a knife.

Yet, some may be wondering why the numerous zones of conflicts like in the northern parts of the country with recent upsurge of the Boko Haram extremists in the Far North and of late the social unrest in the North West and South West Regions that even put to test the foundations of the country.

While it is clear that the sect in some parts of the Far North Regions came from across the border with neighbouring Nigeria, the shortfall noted in the implementation of Constitutional provisions which those of the English speaking parts of the country posed have seen the leader of the New Deal government giving full attention to genuine problems posed. No other reason could explain such a posture by the Head of State, outside the determination to ensure that all sons and daughters of Cameroon live together in peace and harmony.

Thus, one of the most outstanding measures taken by President Paul Biya to meet the demands of the Anglophone regions was to create republican institutional frameworks that could propose encompassing solutions to all indentified setbacks to the quest by the population to live and function as a nation. The New Deal resolve in crusading for a peaceful Cameroon has even at times appeared to go contrary to popular expectations.

In the early 1990s when some supporters of the regime went out full scale to condemn precipitated multiparty democracy, many thought the Head of State was going to follow suit. To their greatest dismay, Mr Biya came out clear and loud to invite them to prepare for political plurality. What followed was the opening of the floodgates for the creation of political parties. Today, more than 300 of them exist even if some are just on paper.

Such a craving for peace by the Head of State have also included harmonious living with neighbours. The peaceful resolution of the border conflict with Nigeria that took both parties to the Hague and even when a decision was arrived at in 2002, all attempts at complicating the implementation of the Court verdict were frustrated thanks to the tactical manoeuvres of the New Deal Government.

Nowhere else could his vision for peace be best expressed than at the conference marking the 38th anniversary of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisat...