Ethiopian PM, a model for Paul Biya in peace building?
It will not be an exaggeration to say that the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, should be an example for President Paul Biya to follow in peace and negotiation.
After almost two years of intense fighting in the Northern Tigray region, the PM has set up a body to negotiate with the forces from this area.
This is seen as a step forward towards peace.
More than 9 million people have been displaced in the war, thousands killed and famine struck the areas concerned but continuous fighting will mean more suffering to Africa’s second-most populous country.
“A committee has been established and it will study how we will conduct talks,” the Ethiopian PM told his Parliament.
Deputy Prime Minister, Demeke Mekonnen, who has at most two weeks to release terms of negotiation, is leading this committee.
The Tigray opposition has agreed to send a delegation provided the process is credible, impartial, and principled.
In Cameroon, Anglophones have been fighting the central government to restore the state of Southern Cameroons. More than 60, 000 civilians are seeking refuge in Nigeria, while millions are being affected with the majority being IDPs, and thousands have also died.
But between September and October 2019, the country’s President Paul Biya ordered the holding of the Major National Dialogue, an initiative that grouped stakeholders from all 10 regions despite the fact that the Separatists’ agenda was the main reason for the dialogue.
The international community has said the dialogue has failed to achieve its objective and was not inclusive.
In 2016 when the Anglophone crisis erupted, the Presidency ordered that the then Prime Minister, Philemon Yang holds talks with the Anglophone Cameroon Civil Society Consortium but the talks ended in a fiasco.
Today, the difference between Ahmed and Biya is that one has accepted to talk directly with the separatists while the other has been making political games with political figures instead of dialoguing with those having arms.
