International sanctions:Commonwealth suspends aid to Cameroon over ELECAM

Angered by the hijacking of ELECAM by the ruling CPDM, the Commonwealth is also calling on the EU to follow its footsteps by also suspending aid to Cameroon

By Clovis Atatah

Widespread outrage over President Paul Biya’s controversial appointment of mostly high-ranking CPDM militants into Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) has evolved from words to action.
One of Cameroon’s major donors, the Commonwealth, has announced that it is indefinitely suspending aid to Cameroon amounting to 15 million euros (about 10 billion FCFA), in protest against President Biya’s 30 December 2008 ELECAM appointments, the African Press Agency (APA) reported on Monday.

APA quoted the Commonwealth as saying in a statement issued Monday that the 15 million euros had initially been set aside to support the setting up of ELECAM, but the organisation could no longer disburse the money to the Cameroon government because of the hijacking of the elections management organ by the CPDM.

The Commonwealth urged President Biya to “reconsider” the ELECAM appointments by replacing the current team with a “balanced list”.
The intergovernmental organisation called on the European Union to emulate its example by also suspending aid to Cameroon.
It is believed that if the EU heeds this call and suspends financial assistance to Cameroon, the government could lose billions of francs in external revenue.

ELECAM could also suffer serious financial difficulties as government had envisaged funding its setting-up with Commonwealth and EU aid money.
Apart from worries over the partisan colouring of ELECAM’s membership, the Commonwealth also expressed concern over the integrity of the outfit’s chairman, Samuel Fonkam Azu’u, who is currently embroiled in a forgery and illegal immigration scandal.

It has been widely reported in the press that four impostors, arrested with fraudulent documents at the Nsimalen airport last week while attempting to illegally migrate to the United States, confessed to the police that they were helped by Fonkam Azu’u against a huge fee of 3 million FCFA each.
Fonkam Azu’u has denied any wrongdoing, but the public seems to believe that his hands are not clean.

The Commonwealth’s decision to suspend aid to Cameroon will bolster critics of the ELECAM appointments at home and abroad and likely weaken the Yaounde authorities who had hoped to convince the international community that they were serious about their promise to set up an elections management organ that will inspire confidence in the electoral process.