This is what would have happened if Kamala Harris visited Cameroon

By Hans Ngala

US Vice President, Kamala Harris has begun a three-leg journey across Africa to counter Chinese influence on the continent. Harris touched down on Sunday at Ghana’s Kotoka International Airport in Accra where she addressed a crowd that had turned up to welcome her.

“What an honour it is to be here in Ghana and on the continent of Africa” she said. “Today begins a week-long journey, first here in Ghana, then on to Tanzania and then Zambia” she stated.

“…I’m very excited about the future of Africa. I’m very excited about the impact of the future of Africa on the rest of the world…” Harris said.

She also added that she was hoping to increase the US’ economic investments on the continent – a subtle reference to counter China’s growing influence across the continent.

Harris’ trip comes at a time when the US has significantly lost influence across Africa and at a time when the continent has for the most part taken a neutral stand in the war in Ukraine, a position the US finds akin to support for Russia and has been trying to push some countries on the continent to be more overt in their condemnation of Russia. South Africa for example has been scolded by the US for openly conducting naval drills with the Russian navy and while there have been calls from some quarters for South Africa to arrest Putin when he visits South Africa later this year to attend a BRICS summit, South Africa has been very reluctant in outright condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, preferring to look to a time when the former USSR (mainly today’s Russia), supported the anti-Apartheid struggle overtly, when the US and Western allies for the most part were on the fence.

This overt support for Russia would explain why Kamala Harris isn’t making a stop in South Africa, one of the most important countries on the continent, which she would normally visit otherwise.

Harris is also not stopping in Cameroon, a fact which also speaks to how the US sees Cameroon in its foreign policy wherein Cameroon is not necessarily too important to US foreign interests. In sharp contrast however, is France whose interests are so sharply vested in Cameroon that French President Emmanuel Macron began his Africa tour in Cameroon in July 2022 before later visiting Benin and Guinea-Bissau.

However, here are three things that would likely have been top of the agenda had Kamala Harris visited Cameroon:

Discuss the Anglophone Crisis

Since the Anglophone Crisis started in its current phase in 2016, the US has been very vocal and pushing for government to heed the voices of the dissenting Anglophones. As early as 2017, just a year into the conflict, House speaker Karen Bass chaired a committee to discuss the Anglophone Crisis and later on, a group of US senators signed a petition calling for stronger measures in resolving the conflict.

When an American Baptist missionary was killed In Bamenda, NW of Cameroon, the US again pushed for dialogue.

So this would likely still be the tune if Mrs. Harris were to make a stop to meet with Cameroon’s President Paul Biya.

Terrorism up North

Since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in the US in 2001, the US has developed a strong anti-terrorism policy, fighting against terrorism not only at home but also abroad, taking a sort of “If-we-can-stop-it-there, then-we-are-safe-here” approach, resulting in the invasion of several countries in the Middle East in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

This would also likely be top on the agenda for the US government if Harris were to visit Cameroon. The US has been collaborating extensively with the Cameroonian army, supplying weapons and training to combat Boko Haram militants who have been launching attacks in northern Cameroon since 2013.

While in February 2019, the US announced that some of the aid was being “reduced” after “credible” reports of human rights abuses whereby Cameroonian authorities were diverting weapons meant for combatting Boko Haram to the Anglophone Regions, the US government did not completely halt all aid or collaboration with the Cameroonian army, a clear indication of their commitment to the fight against terror.

Discuss Biya’s succession

While Cameroon’s Paul Biya has been in office since 1982, the US has over the years played it safe, preferring not to directly confront him over his long stay in power. However, that changed in 2018 when the-then US Ambassador to Cameroon Peter Henry Barlerin said that Biya “should be thinking about his legacy and how he wants to be remembered in the history books,” adding that George Washington and Nelson Mandela were excellent role models he could emulate.

At the time, Biya had been in power for 36 years and was 85 years old. In February this year, Mr. Biya turned 90 and it is certain that Kamala Harris who is 58 years old (and was 18 at the time Mr. Biya took office) – would have asked Biya to think about stepping down. However, during Macron’s visit to Cameroon several months ago, a French reporter put the same question about Mr. Biya’s long stay in power, to which he simply replied “Power is not for those who want, but for those who can”.