Incisive Journalism in Cameroon: The Best of ��Cameroon Report�� (1978 � 1986)

20. Cameroon Report 15/4/1984: April 6 Coup Attempt: An Appraisal

73 20 Cameroon Report 15/4/1984: April 6 Coup Attempt: An Appraisal Introduction: In today’s special program on the abortive coup of April 6th Fai Henry Fonye makes an appraisal of the incident, highlighting the lessons to the learnt from it. History, he says, repeated itself in Cameroon on April 6th . He compares the Republican Guards to the Praetorian Guards of the Roman Empire, established as a special unit for the protection of the emperors. The guards ended up using their military power to overthrow the emperors and to control the Roman Senate’s election of successive emperors. Fai Henry Fonye begins by reflecting on the rebels’ justification for the coup attempt: On April 6th , the Republican Guards launched a coup in Cameroon and came within a hair’s breadth of succeeding, but for our gallant and loyal soldiers. Their excuses were unfounded. They falsely cried that under President Paul Biya, human rights were not respected, that the recent trials of the August coup plotters were merely a parody of justice, that the constitution was played upon freely, and that the government and its agents were shot into the higher positions of the ruling structure. No one needs to dwell on such blatant lies. Cameroonians are not going to be led by any given region; teleguided and master minded by a “psychedelic shack” on the run, trumpeting from abroad like a toothless full dog. However, the coup attempt has its significance. We Cameroonians have taken peace for granted and unity as 74 noise by politicians for a long time. We now certainly know the value of peace and should be prepared to pay the price, which is eternal vigilance and unabashed commitment to the nation. Our gallant soldiers have given us the example and the important lesson that in general, the common military training and socializing experiences do breakdown the soldiers’ regional attachments concomitantly instilling secular and national attitudes. They proved that military training helps turn soldiers into cohesive entities with a strong national consciousness and that the military units can serve as melting pots in which soldiers tend to lose their tribal characteristics and, as professional managers of force and violence, they did their best and deserve praise. This lesson is important because, as a reality, all countries in Africa are divided along communal lines, inherited attributes of religion, region, language and ethnicity which sharply distinguish one part of the population from another and thus give rise to intense conflicts. And this is what Mr Ahidjo is exploiting from his hide-outs abroad, and financing with money he allegedly took away from here. When this commentator appraised President Paul Biya’s clemency to the criminals of the famous plot to exterminate his life in August last year, he said that President Paul Biya’s action was only a sign of the dawn of the day and not sun shine itself. It happened that even that gesture which gave cause for much reflection and discussion in Cameroon was not appreciated. The mass media and the people of Cameroon did ask for an immediate clean up. Let people be put where they belong. Politics and religion constitute an ideal, the achievement of which should not be too costly. As our colleague of the “Cameroon Tribune” – Shey Mabu has 75 rightly put it, our political elite must gird their loins and clean up promptly for the interest of the populace. To procrastinate on this matter is to lay the foundation for future offence or to put the dice into the box for another throw. Surely we don’t want to wear clothes tailored by blacksmiths. While we remain vigilant and ready to defend our country, let justice take its course now, so that the culprits undergo such an affliction as will give the virtuous Cameroonians a comfortable sense of their immunity, added to that of their worth. Fai Henry Fonye 76 ...