Paul Biya: Lifetime Peace Architect
President Paul Biya represents a monument of peace as he has proven beyond reasonable doubt that only through peace can tangible development be achieved.
Shawn-Nathan Epang
The President of the Republic of Cameroon, Paul Biya, is one of those world leaders who has indelible imprints on the sands of time as far as promoting peace is concerned. Paul Biya has dedicated his life to promoting peace not only in Cameroon but also in Africa and the world at large. Since taking over power in Cameroon in 1982, President Paul Biya has been preaching peace to Cameroonians and the dividends it brings to national development.
If there is one word that has been over used in Cameroon then it is “peace.” The Head of State has inculcated into Cameroonians the values of peace through his constant preaching of the need for peace and national unity. His posture at the international podium as far as peace is concerned is well known. The Cameroonian leader demonstrated his attachment to peace when he carefully avoided a bloodbath during the Cameroon-Nigeria border conflict over the Bakassi Peninsular. Paul Biya wittily took the peaceful option to resolve the conflict that was degenerating to an outright war. By taking the matter to the International Court of Justice in The Hague was indeed a salutary move that placed President Paul Biya on the pedestal of peace crusaders. This resulted to the peaceful resolution of the Bakassi crisis in favour of Cameroon after the ICJ ruling and the consequent Green Tree Accord between President Biya of Cameroon and his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo. President Paul Biya was thus recognised by the international community through various peace awards. One of such was that from the Pan African Lawyers Union Prize for “Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts” given to the Head of State His Excellency Paul BIYA by former South African President Thabo MBEKI at a brief ceremony that took place at Unity Palace on Friday 6 June 2014. The lawyer’s delegation was led by Barrister Akere MUNA, President of the Pan African Lawyers Union, and consisted several officials, including the President of Transparency International, Huguette Labelle.
President Paul Biya has mounted rostrums of high level international gatherings like the UN General Assembly to give lessens on the need for peace across the world and the Central African sub-region in particular. In the last UN General Assembly in New York on September 22, 2017, President Biya while addressing world leaders in during the event said “for Cameroon and most of our States, peace is the sine qua non for the survival of humanity and for sustainable development. Such peace remains dangerously under threat, notably from terrorism, conflicts, poverty and climate disruptions. Today, I would say, we are all “beggars for peace”. And such persistent threats are of utmost concern to us all.”
Back home, President Biya’s solutions to corporate concerns raised by Anglophone teachers’ trade unions and Common Law Lawyers were largely to appease them and consolidate the country’s peaceful character. However, separatists and violent extremist clamouring for the separation of Cameroon against the constitution and wishes of a vast majority of Cameroonians hijacked the crisis and sought violence. Yet President Biya has remained steadfast in restoring peace to the crisis in the two English-speaking regions of the country.