Culled from The Observer007
The Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, was received at length on Thursday in Yaoundé by the French ambassador to Cameroon, according to Boris Bertolt. This diplomatic meeting comes in a particularly tense context, just days after the scathing remarks of the president of the Front pour le salut national du Cameroun (FSNC) against the “43 years of power” of Paul Biya. The unusually long duration of the interview and its timing raise questions about the nature of the exchanges between the protesting minister and the French representation.
This diplomatic audience takes on a particular resonance as Issa Tchiroma has just crossed a point of no return politically. In front of his supporters in Garoua, the former government spokesperson openly denounced the one who “has been responsible for your misfortunes for 40 years”, without naming Paul Biya but clearly targeting the Cameroonian president. This public break with the regime he has long defended now places the minister in a delicate position, especially as the executives of the RDPC believe that he has already “made the choice of breaking away”.
The involvement of the French embassy in this pivotal moment in Cameroonian political life raises questions about the geopolitical stakes in the run-up to the presidential election. While the Far North, representing nearly 40% of the electorate, sees its traditional alliances faltering with the turmoil also at the UNDP of Bello Bouba, France seems to be closely following these political shifts. The meeting between Tchiroma and Ambassador Thierry Marchand could thus be part of a logic of diplomatic temperature-taking, with France seeking to assess the new Cameroonian political dynamics before the crucial electoral deadline.
