Bakassi handover: Paul Biya consults diplomats

Meets French and US ambassadors

By Yemti Harry Ndienla

As Cameroon awaits the total and unconditional handingover of the disputed oil-rich Bakassi peninsular, from Nigeria, comes August 14^th 2005, President Paul Biya,is leaving no stone unturned in making the ceremony a success. Biya is taking necessary measures owing to repeated threats by some Nigerians to disrupt the occasion insisting that Bakassi is and remains part of Nigeria. However, some western nations notably France and the US have promised to make the process a success no mater the threats.
It is probably in this light and more that Paul Biya recently granted audiences to the French and US ambassadors in to Yaounde because it is not usual that President Paul Biya is the one who invites diplomats to audience with him. That is the surprising development about the meeting he had last week with Janet Garvey, US ambassador, following the open criticism US and other Western diplomats have made against recent political developments in Cameroon, namely the amendment of the constitution and the postponement of ELECAM.
The Herald news paper reported that the meeting at the president’s request was all the more surprising. “Having previously taken the initiative to invite Georges Serre, the French ambassador who leads the EU group in Cameroon,on the delicate issue of the coming handover of Bakassi, it seemed necessary by protocol rules that he should invite Garvey also who represents Cameroon’s transatlantic ally on the Bakassi matter”. But the paper however expressed surprise as to the length of the visits. “The audience lasted so long, insiders have told this newspaper that Paul Biya also used the opportunity to reassure the American that he had no antipathies with her”.
And that the president, insiders say, is deeply preoccupied with the Bakassi handover and following severe threats to insecurity, he is leaving no stone unturned to guarantee the success of 14 August.
A fortnight ago, Georges Serre went to the External Relations ministry and assured Cameroon that France was also concerned about the success of 14 August and that France would be present not only diplomatically but would do a lot more militarily to call off the bluff of Nigerian pirates. That same week, the US ambassador, British and German diplomats, all witnesses to the Green Tree Accord by which Nigeria committed itself irrevocably to cede Bakassi to Cameroon, took turns at MINREX to assure Cameroon of their full support.
The matter appeared to be over until the following week when Paul Biya, in an unusual fit of enthusiasm, sent for Georges Serre. “The president was so excited that he could have flown over the roof. The president probably did not expect the extent of France’s military commitment to the Bakassi handover and wanted to hear it himself from the horse’s mouth”.
To the Herald the president's audience with Janet Garvey was also to thank the Americans for their commitment to the 14 August handover and also to bring about a relaxation to visibly tenuous relations between the presidency and the embassy.