By Atia Tilarious Azohnwi
Tibor Peter Nagy Jr., the United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs is turning out to be a foxy diplomat – blowing cold today and hot the next day. When he met President Paul Biya in Yaoundé on March 18, 2019, he reserved very kind words for the Cameroonian leader, as if to rubbish media reports on his hitherto very tough stance on the Anglophone crisis rocking the country.
Before arriving Yaoundé, Nagy had nailed the Biya government, accusing them of not handling the situation in the North West and South West regions properly. Before coming to Cameroon he blamed the escalation of the conflict on the Cameroonian authorities and argued that President Biya’s stay in power is responsible for what is now known as the Anglophone crisis.
On Cameroonian soil, President Biya suddenly became a man of “knowledge” and “wisdom”, according to the American diplomat. The moment he emerged from the close door meeting with Biya, his pitch hung more on economic cooperation between the two countries rather than the rumble pundits were expecting from him.
Nagy got a backlash from the Cameroon Diaspora that is for the most part in favour of separation. Mean ones accused him of receiving bribe from Yaoundé.
In 177 seconds video circulating over social media since Friday, the United States under Secretary for African Affairs Tibor Nagy makes a statement which contradicts his March 18, 2019 statements on Cameroon.
In his address to the Cameroon diaspora in Houston, Texas Thursday April 11, 2019, Nagy said plausible things to them to the point of stating that: “After Sudan, my next concern is Cameroon and you know how I feel about hating the violence that’s going on there.”
In the video, he said most of what he has heard from congress on the conflict in the North West and South West regions is largely thanks to the Cameroon Diaspora. These words are measured to give the Cameroon Diaspora the impression that their ‘diplomacy’ is paying off. His target audience in the said video is the Diaspora that dreams of a putative state, christened Ambazonia.
To further hold his audience, he told them the current US policy recognises the existing the boundaries of Cameroon. He repeated the word ‘current’, certainly for emphasises. He gives the false hope that this current US policy could be history in the future. Such words are heart-warming to secessionists. He plants the idea of possible recognition of the ‘Ambazonia’ state by the US in the future.
He insisted as it were that “the population of the North West and South West are fighting for their rights.”
His words: “As I said, we’ve had so much good news from Africa. Last year, look what’s happening in Ethiopia, look what’s happening in the whole of Africa; look what’s happening in Angola.
“More recently, look what’s happening in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which for the first time in its History may actually become Democratic and a Republic. And maybe, the world’s richest country may actually share some of its wealth with its own people.”
After Sudan, Cameroon is next!?
Nagy agrees that “People Power” overthrew the Regime of Omar al-Bashir in Sudan and commends the Sudanese people.
In two tweets on April 9, Nagy wrote: “I commend the Sudanese people for their peaceful & resilient expression of their legitimate demands for change, especially given the violent repression of some security institutions by the Government of Sudan. We support their desire for a Sudan that is more peaceful and prosperous”; “We call on the Government of Sudan to halt all use of force against protesters, including the current sit in. A decision to use violence against civilians in the coming days would impact all aspects of our bilateral relationship with the Government of Sudan.”
It is therefore not known how the US intends to tilt her attention to Cameroon but Nagy may well be the man to watch out for.