UN 79th General Assembly presidency: Philemon Yang in pole position as ECCAS states support candidacy.

This follows a decision of member states of the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS, to throw their weight behind Yang’s candidacy for the coveted position.

The Heads of State and Governments of ECCAS, during their 23^rd Conference, which took place in Libreville, Gabon, July 1, pledged their support for Cameroon’s candidate. 

They equally urged the entire African continent to rally behind the candidate for the election, billed for 2024.

Cameroon was represented at the meeting in Libreville, Gabon, by the Minister of External Relations, Lejeune Mbella Mbella, personal representative of the Head of State, President Paul Biya.

The meeting, chaired by the president of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, in a communique, resolved to support the candidacy of Philemon Yang, for the presidency of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The ECCAS leaders decided that Philemon Yang, who was also onetime Cameroon’s Ambassador to Canada, would be the sole candidate for Central Africa.

“The Conference pledges to give him its full support. It calls for the solidarity of the Community and its member states, as well as the support of other African countries, to ensure that this candidacy is supported by the African Union," the communiqué issued at the end of the proceedings partly reads.

The main theme of the meeting was: "Meeting the challenge of financing the community to accelerate the integration process in the Central African Region and support the implementation of the institutional reform". 

Participants thus identified difficulties in the financing of ECCAS and reiterated the importance of operation of the Community Integration Contribution, CCI, mechanism in order to provide Central Africa with the appropriate autonomous financial resources for the sustainable implementation of its integration programmes and projects.

Within the framework of CCI, some countries have already repaid part of their arrears, while others have promised to do so as soon as possible. 

The security situation in the Region was also of particular interest to participants. The atmosphere in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, was of particularly concern, with Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs estimated at over two million in the east of the country. 

Philemon Yang the man

Born in Jikejem-Oku, in Oku Subdivision, Bui Division of the North West Region, Philemon Yunji Yang, is a career diplomat who served as Prime Minister from June 30, 2009 to January 4, 2019. 

Previously, he was Assistant Secretary General at the Presidency, with the rank of Minister, from 2004 to 2009. He served in the government from 1975 to 1984 and was Cameroon's Ambassador to Canada from 1984 to 2004. He is the longest-serving Prime Minister in Cameroon’s history.

After studying law at the University of Yaounde, Yang became a Prosecutor at the Court of Appeal in Buea, in January 1975. He was appointed Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration on June 30, 1975, and promoted to the post of Minister of Mines and Energy on November 8, 1979. 

Yang remained in the latter position for more than four years before being removed from the government on February 4, 1984. He then became Cameroon’s Ambassador to Canada on October 23, 1984, remaining in that post for 20 years; his title changed to High Commissioner when Cameroon joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1995. He also served as the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Canada for about 10 years.

Yang's time in Ottawa was dedicated to securing more foreign aid for Cameroon. He headed Cameroon's delegation to the negotiations on the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety from February 1998 to January 2000. After the Protocol was adopted on January 29, 2000, he became Chairman of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Cartagena Protocol, ICCP.