Restore Cameroon’s place in the concert of nations and position it for economic diplomacy
The voice of Cameroon, so powerful under President Ahidjo (two successive General Secretaries to the OAU) has virtually disappeared. The country is no more than a diplomatic dwarf, the few languishing speeches delivered in front of the sparse audience of the general assembly of the United Nations, just repeating the standard thinking. At the African level, Cameroon has become inaudible both in the Central Africa sub-region where countries such as Chad and Equatorial Guinea are better heard, and at the continental level where the Cameroon representative is a mere Head of Institutional Reform Unit at the African Union. There are few occasions when Cameroon’s top authorities have travelled to see their African peers to negotiate support for a Cameroonian citizen’s candidacy in international institutions, unlike in many West African countries where their Heads of State or of Diplomacy travel personally to campaign for the positioning of one of their members with international organisations.
Today, to see a Cameroonian occupying an important position at the international level is more of a personal feat than a support of his own country, which was the opposite under the era of President Ahidjo’s regime. However, such diplomatic activism would have made it possible to place compatriots in important positions and enabled the country to benefit, in return, from substantial financing for the needs of the national economy.
Faced with this situation, the CRM will affirm Cameroon on the regional, continental and global scene, by a strategic positioning on major international issues and the establishment of partnerships reflecting a good understanding of international issues and the interests of the country in short, medium and long term.
Consolidate our relationships, build new partnerships and develop our self-protection capacity
- All our action will be in the context of the global world in which we live. It will be about maintaining relationships with our partners that take into account mutual interests.
- We will explore new opportunities for relationships with new partners in Africa and around the world that have
convergent economic and strategic interests with our country, especially the most dynamic and innovative countries. - We will affirm our ambition to step up and will develop our capacity of self-protection. This involves strengthening our security arsenal both militarily for the defence of the integrity of our territory and our population, and at the food and economic levels.
The patriotic and strategic pact with the diaspora
Cameroon has not put in place any real policy to channel the potential of its diaspora for development issues of the
country, as is the case in most West African countries that have been able to leverage the resources of their compatriots in the diaspora. And yet, no one has the right to doubt the patriotism of the many Cameroonians who, for various reasons, live abroad. Some have been forced into it.
We are convinced that the exposure of Cameroonians in the diaspora to advanced technologies and tough international competition puts them in a position to be both the vectors of the technological modernisation which the country badly needs, and a showcase of modern Cameroon. Therefore, the CRM intends to build a strategic alliance with the national diaspora for the development of our country.
We will create a supportive environment (establishment or strengthening of appropriate institutions, necessary
legal reforms) for the return of the brains and the empowerment of those who wish to return to the country.
We will create a National Agency of Cameroonians Abroad (NACA) whose mission will be to implement the strategic
pact with the diaspora.
Cameroonian you are born and Cameroonian you will remain
We will proceed to a reform of the nationality code with a view to providing an adequate answer to the question
of dual citizenship. Cameroonian nationals will automatically be entitled to dual citizenship.
We will proceed to a political reform allowing Cameroonians abroad on the one hand, to be voters in all the national elections (presidential and legislative), and on the other hand, to be represented in Parliament by electing their MPs to the National Assembly.
Initiate, encourage and guide the return to the country
We will involve the diaspora in various forms such as networks of scientists and technologists, the virtual or partial return of Cameroonians from abroad in the form of their involvement in teaching, setting up and animation of research laboratories and technological innovation structures.
Serve one’s country from abroad
- We will create a special service in charge of the diaspora in diplomatic missions to countries with a large
community of people of Cameroonian origin. - Through our embassies, we will establish strong relations with those of our compatriots who will have chosen to stay abroad allowing them to be ambassadors of Cameroon to their colleagues, to companies and institutions of their host country. These economic, social and cultural ambassadors will have the mission of bringing investors to Cameroon.
- The children of the Cameroonian diaspora know better than us the workings of their country of origin. They were born there, they grew up there, they studied there and very often hardly know Cameroon. We will allow the children of Cameroon born abroad to train in Cameroonian diplomacy at IRIC to occupy positions of diplomats in the diplomatic representations of Cameroon in their country of birth.