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11, September 2019

Japan: Prime Minister Abe shakes up cabinet, brings in rising star ⁰

Japan’s Shinzo Abe on Wednesday appointed new foreign and defense ministers and promoted a popular rising political star, in a cabinet reshuffle that fueled speculation over the prime minister’s successor.

The spectacular appointment as environment minister of the telegenic Shinjiro Koizumi, the 38-year-old son of much-loved former PM Junichiro Koizumi, set tongues wagging in Tokyo political classes as the Abe era draws to a close.

“Abe intends to start an open race to pick the next prime minister or even the one after that,” said SMBC Nikko Securities chief market economist Yoshimasa Maruyama.

A darling of the Japanese media, Shinjiro Koizumi received blanket coverage for his recent marriage to television broadcaster Christel Takigawa, which was announced at the prime minister’s office.

He is the third-youngest minister appointed to the cabinet in Japan since the end of World War II, in a country where seniority is prized in politics and many other walks of life.

Despite intense media spotlight, he has been coy on expressing his view on the issues of the day and there will be close scrutiny over his policies on nuclear power, particularly on whether he will break with his father’s anti-nuclear stance.

Abe is set to become Japan’s longest-serving prime minister in November but is expected to step down at the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election in 2021 and the jostling for position is already beginning.

Japan’s new foreign minister is Toshimitsu Motegi, who was promoted as a reward for his work in negotiating a trade deal with the United States.

Outgoing foreign minister Taro Kono was shifted to the defense portfolio, in a move seen as reinforcing Tokyo’s hard line towards South Korea at a time of worsening ties between the two neighbours.

Kono, who has amused commentators by interacting with people on social media — even offering relationship advice at times — struck a hard line during the recent spat with Seoul that has infected their trade and security ties.

Motegi, 63, is a Harvard-educated political veteran who worked as a McKinsey consultant before winning a lower house seat in 1993.

Analysts do not expect the shake-up to herald significant changes to Japan’s diplomatic policy, which is managed largely by the prime minister’s office.

But it may also put Motegi in the starting blocks in the race to succeed Abe, noted Tobias Harris, an expert on Japanese politics at consultancy Teneo.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, bottom row center, and members of his new cabinet attend a photo session at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo on September 11, 2019, after Abe reshuffled his team. (Photo by Japan Times)

Speed skating Olympics minister

Abe retained the services of his trusted associate Taro Aso as deputy prime minister and finance minister, as well as Yoshihide Suga as the powerful chief cabinet secretary.

The PM also kept key allies and aides within the cabinet and top layers of the party to shore up his position for the next two years.

The Abe government is poised to hike its consumption tax from eight percent to 10 percent on October 1, amid fears this could act as a brake on the world’s third-largest economy.

He is also hoping to achieve his long-cherished ambition of amending Japan’s post-war constitution to change the status of the country’s Self Defense Forces.

Ahead of the cabinet announcement, Abe told party members he wanted a “united front in the party, and (to) powerfully push for a revision of the constitution,” calling it the LDP’s “long-term earnest desire.”

Abe also kept LDP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai, who has deep contacts in China, as Japan prepares for an expected state visit by Xi Jinping in 2020.

Among other key figures are former Olympic speed skater Seiko Hashimoto, who became the latest in a string of Olympic ministers ahead of the 2020 summer Games.

Hashimoto is one of just two women out of 19 in the new cabinet despite Abe’s much-heralded “womenomics” programme. His previous cabinet included just one woman.

Japan ranked 125th in the 2018 World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report in terms of women’s political empowerment.

The other woman is Sanae Takaichi, appointed as interior minister. She is seen as a hard-right nationalist, who regularly visits the Yasukuni shrine housing war criminals that enrages South Korea and China.

During her previous stint as interior minister, she threatened to cut off TV news stations over perceived unfriendly coverage.

(Source: AFP)

11, September 2019

Mugabe a ‘broken soul’ in final years after Zimbabwe ouster ⁰

Once feared for the all-encompassing power he wielded in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe died a “broken soul,” bereft at his downfall, his allies and relatives say.

Mugabe died in Singapore on Friday at the age of 95, nearly two months before the anniversary of the coup that forced him from power.

He had ruled the southern African country uninterrupted for 37 years and seven months.

During these long decades, Mugabe was Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwe was Mugabe.

But in his twilight years, he became vulnerable and helpless, according to relatives, allies and analysts.

Mugabe bowed to pressure and resigned on November 21, 2017 in a military-backed coup, ending an increasingly tyrannical rule that saw millions leave Zimbabwe to escape repression and economic ruin.

People close to him said the coup hit Mugabe very hard.

He never recovered from the shock that lieutenants whom he had groomed and trusted for years could betray him, they said.

“It was sudden,” his nephew Leo said. “He could not believe that those he trusted most turned again him.”

The coup was his “lowest moment — that period from November 2017 up to his last day… sometimes he would just sit there,” said Mugabe.

“A person who was used to waking up at 4 o’clock every morning, exercises, baths, goes to work and he has the whole country to look at, and suddenly that is abruptly brought to a halt — that is bound to affect.”

Mugabe’s health deteriorated incredibly quickly, he said.

– ‘Blind to reality’ –

The coup had been in the making for months but Mugabe was blind “to reality at that time,” said Ibbo Mandaza, one of the intellectuals who served in Mugabe’s government after independence.

“Mugabe’s last years were years of extreme vulnerability,” said Mandaza, now head of a thinktank, the Southern Africa Political Economy Series (SAPES) Trust.

Shortly after tanks rolled into the streets of Harare in a show of force, one of Mugabe’s allies who sought shelter at the leader’s house, was former education and information minister Jonathan Moyo.

Moyo, who spent time with Mugabe in the post-coup turbulence, said the once-feared autocrat dramatically changed.

“He became unusually introverted,” Moyo said. “He just became instantly withdrawn and non-engaging. He was deep in thought and palpably at a loss.”

He became a “broken soul, an obliterated soul and someone whose world collapsed in front of him and left him helpless,” Moyo said in a phone interview from Kenya where he fled after the coup.

Generals seized power days after Mugabe fired his vice president and there were mass street protests over concern Mugabe was positioning his wife Grace to succeed him.

After days of talks mediated by a Jesuit priest Fidelis Mukonori, Mugabe resigned.

Close to Mugabe for decades, Mukonori mediated most conflicts of Zimbabwean politics, starting in the 1970s with talks between guerrillas and colonial ruler Britain that led to independence in 1980.

Negotiating the exit of the man who ruled for nearly four decades “was not a walk in the park”, he told AFP at a cathedral on the outskirts of Harare.

“It was in the national interest that he decided to resign,” said Mukonori who later visited Mugabe several times after the coup.

– ‘Disappointed, angry’ –

During one visit, Mukonori told Mugabe that he had put on weight. Mugabe replied “‘of course why shouldn’t I, this is something quite good'”, said the priest adding he had a “beautiful smile, he looked calm”.

But others said he struggled to adjust to losing power.

The Catholic vicar general of the archdiocese of Harare, Kennedy Muguti, who used to go to Mugabe’s house to celebrate mass, said the former leader was “disappointed and angry” at the ouster but kept his faith.

“The last mass that he attended before he went to Singapore, I celebrated that mass,” Muguti said.

“He still had his faith even after the frustrations of what happened … the way he was removed from power; yes, he was a disappointed man, he was frustrated, he was angry.”

The anger was palpable during one of Mugabe’s last addresses to the media, on the eve of the July elections, just eight months after he was toppled.

Sitting on a chair, propped up by cushions, a bitter Mugabe vowed not to vote for people in the ruling ZANU-PF party who had “tormented” him.

“I can’t vote for ZANU-PF… what is left? I think it is just (Nelson) Chamisa,” he said referring to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader.

Chamisa himself said that Mugabe, by hinting that he would vote for the opposition, “did realise some of his mistakes.

“There is a danger in overstaying in leadership,” Chamisa said. “You can’t succeed yourself successfully, successively.”

Source: AFP

11, September 2019

Russia, China eye first bonds in yuan amid US trade war ⁰

Russia plans to issue its first yuan-denominated bond as the country is working with China to cut reliance on the US greenback, Russian broadcaster RT reports.

China and Russia are drawing increasingly close amid a changing global landscape marked by President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy and his trade war which involves multiple battles with US allies and others alike.

Beijing and Moscow have been planning yuan bonds since 2016, but the plan has been postponed several times. According to RT, Russia now expects to issues its first sovereign debt in the Chinese currency, officially called renminbi, by the end of the year or early next year.

Both countries are concerned about “the dollar hegemony” and see the launch as a stepping stone in their bid to break the dominion up, the network said.

“It’s a step towards de-dollarization,” investment strategist with Premier BCS Anton Bakhtin told RT. “Secondly, it’s an additional bridge between us and the Chinese investors.”

As tensions escalate with the US, world countries are becoming increasingly worried about Washington using global reliance on the dollar as a weapon.

PressTV-From Nigeria to Iran, nations begin ditching dollar

However, it will take much more time to fully shift away from the greenback and countries are looking for additional financial instruments as protection.

Both China and Russia have been stockpiling gold. Since December, the People’s Bank of China has reportedly added about 100 tonnes of gold to its reserves. Russia has bought 106 tonnes of the precious metal this year.

Over the past decade, Russia has more than quadrupled its gold reserves to more than 2,200 tonnes and now owns the fifth-largest stockpile by country. China’s reserves reportedly stand at more than 1,950 tonnes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken a special interest in breaking up America’s “exorbitant privilege” in the words of former French President Charles de Gaulle through the dollar hegemony.

In June, Putin urged five major emerging economic powers – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, known as BRICS – to accelerate developing a system that could replace the dollar.

China, on the other hand, is on a campaign to make the renminbi a global reserve currency and its rising gold reserves could add to world confidence in the currency.

China’s launch of yuan-denominated Shanghai futures in March generated a lot of enthusiasm around the world.

Experts say the new futures contract traded on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange is now on course to become an alternative international oil benchmark not priced in dollars.

Source: Presstv

11, September 2019

Pope Francis tells U.K. to obey UN, give back Chagos Islands to Mauritius ⁰

Pope Francis said Tuesday that Britain should obey a U.N. resolution and return to Mauritius a disputed Indian Ocean archipelago that hosts the U.S. military base at Diego Garcia.

Francis cited Catholic doctrine in responding to a question about the Chagos Islands during an in-flight press conference as he flew home from a visit to three African countries, including Mauritius.

Francis said when countries give international organizations such as the United Nations or international tribunals the right to adjudicate disputes, those decisions must be respected.

“It’s true that not always things that seem ‘just’ for all of humanity are ‘just’ for our pockets,” he said. “But you must obey international institutions.”

Earlier this year, the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to demand that Britain, which held onto the Chagos Islands after granting Mauritius independence in 1968, end its “colonial administration” and return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

The vote was taken after the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion in February saying that Britain illegally carved up Mauritius when it kept Chagos.

Britain, which calls the archipelago a “British Indian Ocean Territory,” has refused to abide by both non-binding decisions. It has argued that the archipelago never really belonged to Mauritius and that its continued presence there is strategically important.

Britain evicted about 2,000 people from the Chagos Islands in the 1960s and 1970s so the U.S. military could build the Diego Garcia air base. Some of the evacuees have lobbied ever since to be able to return, and a delegation attended Francis’ Mass on Tuesday in the Mauritian capital of Port Louis.

Francis is believed to be sympathetic to their plight, given that when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, he spoke out against the British claim to the Falkland Islands, which Argentines call the Islas Malvinas.

The Chagos dispute came up during Francis’ meeting with the Mauritian president and prime minister, both of whom used their public speeches to thank Francis for the Vatican’s “moral support” in the dispute.

Francis said obeying international decisions was a sign of “fraternity” and “civility” among nations. He also noted that European powers have a history of trying to hold onto chunks of their former African colonies for continued financial gain, though he said he didn’t know if that was the case in Britain’s decision to keep Chagos.

While some liberation movements “worked out well, there is always the temptation to keep something in your pocket,” he said.

11, September 2019

AXA & World Bank collaborate on first Cameroon parametric programme ⁰

The first parametric agricultural insurance programme has been launched in Cameroon, by AXA Cameroon and AXA Climate in collaboration with the World Bank Group’s Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF).

Also working with local insurer ACTIVA Assurance, the collaboration has resulted in the launch of a project to insure tens of thousands of Cameroonian farmers on a parametric trigger basis against exposure to climate related risks.

A two-year pilot programme was formally launched by the Cameroon Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on 2nd August.

For the current year 2019, the programme will provide parametric insurance protection for the revenues of nearly 8,000 cotton growers in Northern Cameroon, covering them against low crop yield due to drought.

AXA Cameroon drove the project on the ground, providing insurance capacity as well as capacity building, training and education on parametric insurance for local partners, including the country’s cotton association, the National Confederation of Cameroon Cotton Producers (CNPCC) and Sodecoton.

AXA Climate, AXA’s parametric climate risk insurance centre of expertise, provided technical and risk modelling support, as well as utilising its expertise on climate and new data technologies, plus providing reinsurance capacity to support the programme.

The parametric insurance product features policies that will payout based on satellite data that measures drought conditions in the covered areas.

“This innovative collaboration is directly aligned to our mission to provide immediate protection for communities against climate risks. Parametric insurance is instrumental in supporting growth of risk transfer solutions across emerging countries,” explained Antoine Denoix, CEO of AXA Climate.

“The launch of this new insurance product addresses the challenges of weather risks for a very vulnerable sector of the Cameroon economy. Now the insured farmers know that their income will be protected from production shortfall no matter the weather,” Thierry Kepeden, CEO of AXA Cameroon added.

AXA Climate has developed a specialism in Public-Private Partnerships for Africa, having also established a similar parametric drought insurance programme in Senegal with the national agriculture insurer.

The specialist parametric insurance and reinsurance unit of AXA has also developed parametric insurance products in Cote d’Ivoire.

AXA Climate also provides reinsurance to sovereign risk pool the African Risk Capacity, as well as the World Food Programme’s R4 Resilience initiative.

“The programme in Cameroon strengthens the strategic partnership between AXA and the World Bank Group’s GIIF which was signed in 2015 to develop parametric insurance in emerging countries, notably in Africa, Asia and Latin America,” explained Marieme BA, who leads development of inclusive insurance programs for AXA in the CIMA countries. “The aim is to expand this experience to other crops such as maize, sorghum and livestock, pursuing to create synergies with all the agriculture value chain stakeholders to build resilience for farmers.”

Source: Atemis.bm

11, September 2019

Cuba, Cameroon to foster legislative ties ⁰

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Rogelio Sierra Diaz on Monday met with Etong Ndzok Hilarion, senior vice president of Cameroon’s National Assembly, in Cameroon’s capital of Yaounde to discuss how to strengthen legislative ties between both countries.

“We believe this visit is an opportunity to foster ties at parliamentary and diplomatic levels,” Diaz told reporters after meeting with the senior vice president.

“We are signing a cooperation agreement which will enable us to rethink and identify new horizons … for the development of our communities,” Diaz added.

Diaz underlined Cuba’s deep respect and admiration for Cameroon, “with whom the Caribbean island shares strong ties of solidarity and historical cooperation.”

The senior vice president said the official visit has helped to highlight Cubans’ fondness for Cameroon and the longstanding ties between the two countries.

Source: Xinhuanet

11, September 2019

Biya’s Speech: Many had hoped for more! Some for a resignation! but practically we are in the middle ⁰

The President did not go far enough, yet he went a distance he has not gone before.

Firstly this speech addressed specifically the Anglophone Crisis, something we have called for since March 2017.

Secondly, he admitted there was a crisis and for the first time apologized and extended condolences to the people affected.

Thirdly, he even attempted to explain his choices and decisions made, something he never has done in the past.

Fourthly he called for dialogue. While the details will have to follow and necessary good faith he heed to the call.

Fifthly while not admitting he will be obliged to consider pardons as part of this broad based dialogue. He insinuated that those who drop arms will not be persecuted. This still leaves the large number in detention to be addressed.

The President failed in my opinion to admit his own government’s shortcomings. If everything was alright then why the dialogue. He also could at least have extended pardon to the leaders who were extradited from Nigeria so to create a platform for meaningful dialogue.

He also could have made a historical reference to the two Cameroons coming together and that the dialogue will enable Cameroonians to evaluate our progress over the last 50 years and take action to resolve the differences.

While he mentioned rehabilitation, it is imperative that he creates the condition necessary for such rehabilitation. This was not evident in his speech.

Many had hoped for more than this. Some for a resignation but practically we are in the middle. There is an opportunity here, let us make the most of it.

Source: AO

iamcameroon

11, September 2019

Biya spoke only in French to a nation divided ⁰

President Paul Biya, looking every bit of his 86 years, delivered a rare televised speech to the nation Tuesday evening – and the first thing many observers noticed was that he spoke only in French, to a nation divided since October 2016 over grievances in its English-speaking regions.

Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis was at the heart of Biya’s 30-minute speech. What once began as peaceful protests organized by lawyers and teachers pressing for equality – and crushed by Biya’s government – has transformed, in some corners of the nation, into a violent secessionist movement.

Now, Biya is calling for unity and proposed a national dialogue meant to move the country forward. At the same time, he argued that those who choose violence “will have to contend” with security forces.

“We should all work towards a successful dialogue,” Biya said, making clear that the country’s prime minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, will lead the proposed dialogue beginning at the end of this month.

Ngute noted in June that the Cameroonian government wants to negotiate with the armed groups, but that demands for secession of the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions of the country in order to establish a separate Ambazonia nation are not on the table.

Cameroon’s crisis gained international attention with the outlawing of the Anglophone movement, the arrest and trial of prominent leaders, the many fatalities and the allegations of human rights violations by both government security forces and armed opposition groups.

The conflict has claimed at least 1,850 lives and left more than a half-million people displaced, according to a May report from the Crisis Group.

Source: Africa Times

10, September 2019

Cameroon sends 15 scholars to study in the UK ⁰

British High Commissioner to Cameroon, Rowan James Laxton called on the 15 scholars to be real ambassadors of Cameroon to the UK and ensure they make the best out of this lifetime opportunity.

Talking about UK education, the British diplomat said:

“UK education opens doors, wherever you go in the world and it has been the preferred choice for some of the most important minds in history”.

Education is not just to read and write, but to make use of the knowledge gained to improve self and community.

About the importance of Education to a community, Rowan Laxton quoted Malala Yousafzai who once said:

“With guns you can kill terrorists, with education you can kill terrorism”.

Chevening scholars will live and study in the UK for one year, during which they will develop professionally and academically, network extensively, experience UK culture and build lasting positive relationships with the UK.

Chevening scholarships are the UK government’s global scholarships programme funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and partner organisations. The programme enables outstanding emerging leaders from all over the world to pursue one-year master’s degrees in any subject at any UK university.

Applications for the 2020 to 2021 academic year are open till 5 November 2019. Applications must be sent via the Chevening website.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of British High Commission – Yaounde.

10, September 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Biya buckles under international pressure ⁰

Cameroonians are going through their longest day today as many are looking forward to hearing from the country’s president, Paul Biya, who has not been forthcoming about how he intends to deal with the numerous crises that are tearing the country apart, especially the Southern Cameroons crisis that has given the government a bad name and left the country in the throes of a disastrous economic crisis.

The Yaounde dictator is expected to deliver a long televised statement today and many inside sources that have contacted the Cameroon Concord News Group have indicated that he will be talking about the formation of a commission which will kick start talks on the country’s future.

The sources add that the president had secretly met with Christian Cardinal Tumi, the retired Archbishop of Douala, who has been calling on the government to pursue the path to peace regarding the Southern Cameroons crisis.

The Southern Cameroon’s crisis has been playing out for three years and there is no end in sight, as both factions have continued to double down. Southern Cameroonians want their total independence from a regime that has been, at best, inefficient and, at worst, cataclysmic to Cameroonians.

The Southern Cameroons crisis that has claimed more than 3,000 civilian lives has brought the country’s economy to its knees and the chaos is still playing out. Major state corporations in the two English-speaking regions of the country have gone under and this has reduced the government’s ability to prosecute a war it declared on innocent Southern Cameroonians.

SONARA, the country’s lone oil refinery was recently gutted by a huge mysterious fire whose origin has not been established by the Biya regime which lacks the tools to conduct such an investigation.

SONARA has for more than three decades been the government’s major source of foreign exchange and government officials have been using the state corporation as their personal piggy bank and this has robbed the nation of vital development resources.

Cameroon’s oilfields are located in the country’s Southwest region, but the region is one of the most underdeveloped, with thousands of children not attending school while women are still living in abject poverty and squalor.

Ever since the oil refinery went up in smoke, the Yaounde government has been having nightmares that will not be ending anytime soon. The beleaguered government has been sending delegations to international development finance institutions for loans, but their efforts seem to be falling flat on their faces.

Last month, a seven-man delegation was in Washington, D.C. to seek resources for the reconstruction of the bedeviled refinery. Each member of the delegation was granted CFAF 14 million for a first-class ticket, per diem, accommodation and subsistence while in the American capital. The discussions with the World Bank did not go well and the delegation is expected to return to the American capital at the end of September to help push the government’s case through.

The government had already contacted other institutions like the African Development Bank, the continent’s leading development finance institution, for a large loan, but given Cameroon’s economic record and its history with sovereign loans, the African Development Bank Group might not be able to meet Cameroon’s financial needs as presented by the government.

But it is not only SONARA that is the government’s nightmare. The Cameroon Development Corporate, the country’s second largest employer, is also facing major difficulties. The Southern Cameroons crisis has also dealt the state corporation a severe blow that has left it on the ropes for months. Most of its facilities in the Southwest region are down and many will surely be found obsolete when the crisis ends. Only a huge cash injection into this corporation will help to resuscitate it.

PAMOL, another state corporation, has also been hit hard by the crisis. PAMOL has always stood the government in good stead, especially during tough financial times. Its shutdown has been bad news to the government, as this revenue stream will not be flowing for a very long time.

The government is down on its knees and this might have contributed in making Biya, a notorious warmonger, to have a change of mind. This, coupled with unrelenting pressure from the international community, could be the reason for this much-awaited address from a man who has no emotional attachment to his own people and country.

The pressure has been on for a long time. The 86-year-old Biya felt he could withstand it, but mounting financial troubles and decreasing confidence in state institutions have caused him and his team to buckle down to negotiations as a clear military solution in Southern Cameroons is not in the offing.

The same sources, which have elected anonymity, have also suggested that the ailing Biya might put paid to the Kamto saga that is sucking out a lot of oxygen from the government. Much time and resources have been wasted on a project that has no legal basis.

The numerous arrest and false imprisonment of many government opponents has only placed Cameroon among the worst human rights abusers in the world. Chaos has taken root in the country because of poor governance and the Diaspora is ready to give the government a run for its money. The Brigade Anti Sardinard (BAS) has just been doing that and their latest action that led to Mr. Biya’s repatriation from Switzerland should have informed the diaper-wearing Biya that Cameroonians will stop at nothing when it comes to leaving him with a bloodshot eye.

Times have changed, but the Yaounde regime is still locked in an old mentality where state institutions are abused to keep the president in power. The regime has not understood that the globalizing world is different from that which existed in the 60s. It is hard these days to manage a people like cattle.

The advent of the Internet has reduced government’s indispensability. Globalization has reduced dependence on the civil service and many Cameroonians now have alternatives. They can work in any part of the world to sustain their families and this makes it easy for them to challenge a corrupt government like the one Mr. Biya has presided over in the last forty years.

Mr. Biya has lost a lot of legitimacy and credibility over the years. His mismanagement of the economy has left many young Cameroonians bitter and frustrated. His rigging of elections has stunted Cameroon’s democracy and this has put the country in reverse mode, both politically and economically.

His penchant for bizarre appointments and his legendary corruption make it hard for Cameroonians to trust him. Whatever he says tonight, will be taken with a pinch of salt. He has never been as good as his world and the word negotiation is a foreign concept to him.

However, this is a great moment for him. He can choose to put the train back on its track by apologizing and reversing some of his obnoxious policies or continue with his war rhetoric in the hope that time will solve his problems for him. Southern Cameroonians have also developed a tough mind like him and they will be watching to see if he will be holding an olive branch or a gun that has served as a symbol of his military brutality.

Human beings have a way of forgiving. If he chooses the right words, he might witness a radical change in the way Cameroonians see him. To forgive is divine, but to avoid errors is godly. Mr. Biya has erred against his people. He has brought untold hardship to a people who trusted him and who had pinned their hope on him. His arrogance has alienated millions and nepotism that has become the hallmark of his regime has made millions of Cameroonians to head out of the country for greener pastures.

Biya has to speak well today if he wants to soothe the minds of his people. War has never addressed any issues. Killing your own people because of arrogance does not make you a good leader. It takes a noble mind to accept that times have changed and that new methods must replace the old ones.

Today is that day that will either make or mar Cameroon’s future. Biya should know this. Addressing the country out of the normal official schedule implies that something special is happening. In 37 years, Mr. Biya has done this only twice. In 1984 when he missed being killed in a coup d’état. In 2008 after the food crisis that led the military to killing thousands of innocent Cameroonians. Today will be the third time and this might be the last, as Mr. Biya is running out of time. He must know this and he must choose the right words to make a positive difference.

By Kingsley Betek and Linda Embi in Yaounde with contributions from Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai at the Cameroon Concord News Group’s global headquarters in the United Kingdom.