“Contrary to rumours, the French government has not even one soldier on Ambazonia Soil. We have accessed the situation and have never for once seen the need to deploy troops, to come kill citizens who more or less are not terrorists.” These are the utterances of Gilles Thibault, French Ambassador to la Republique du Cameroun (LRC).

He was answering pertinent questions from denizens of Northern Zone, recently, while on a fact-finding mission on the root-cause of the Southern Cameroons crisis. He also sought possible ways of putting a lasting end to the crisis.

According to the French Official, his country has never nursed any plan on assisting LRC in escalating the way in Southern Cameroons. He refuted all allegations that France is providing LRC with ammunition, intelligence gathering, and foot soldiers, to battle it out with Restoration Forces.

“We understand the situation in Ambazonia. We cannot fuel the crisis by assisting the (LRC) government. I should say it here, loud and clear, that we are not assisting the LRC in anyway, be it with ammunition, intelligence gathering, or foot soldiers,” Ambassador Gilles Thibault said.

Dialogue is Key To Solving the Crisis

The French Diplomat sue for dialogue as the only credible tool to solving the restive situation in Ambazonia. According to him, an inclusive, pacific, and taboo-less dialogue, will see a lasting peace to the crisis. He pleaded for denizens of Ambazonia to accept the dialogue process, whenever it is called up. He indicated, he shall stop at nothing, in pursuing for the colonial regime of Yaounde, to initiate the dialogue process.

“Dialogue is the only way out of this crisis. My government shall continue to mount pressure on the (LRC) government so an inclusive, pacific, and a taboo-less dialogue process can be sorted out. I pray and wish that when such time comes, you all seated here, and even those out, shall join forces so we can put an end to this crisis,” the ambassador said.

Meanwhile, the Ambazonian denizens who attended the meeting, pressed for withdrawal of troops in Ambaland. Many say, LRC is committing war crimes in Ambazonia, and it must be stop before things get to the worse.

“Our villages are being burnt, women are being raped, men are being killed, maimed, or arbitrarily arrested, and what have you. We live in total fear, because the (colonial) army invade our privacy on daily basis, and make life difficult. We can only have a credible dialogue process if you tell them to stop the atrocities they are causing on our land,” Shey Abraham Musa said.

The meeting also saw the French diplomat recording all the plights of the people, while speaking subtly on the people to restrain from violence on their part.

It should be noted that the meeting held at a time when a similar one was organised by the US government in LRC capital, Yaounde. It grouped Civil Society Activists, Religious leaders, and some politicians. All the meetings sought to have a clear path, wherein, dialogue process can hold.

By Lucas Muma,

Managing Editor – Baretanews