2025 presidentials: Don't ignore the alert from France!.

It would appear his disassociation with sit-tight leaders has not convinced the Cameroonian political class. 

In a statement published on the social media on Tuesday, the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, MRC, warned France and the United Nations, UN, not to interfere in the October presidential poll in which he has declared his candidacy.

Maurice Kamto highlighted the recent visit of the Director General of French National Gendarmerie, Hubert Bonneau, to Cameroon on June 8, 2025. 

He said he believes the meeting with the Cameroonian security authorities, on the eve of a sensitive election, raises serious questions about the tacit involvement of foreign actors in a “strategy of maintaining power at all costs” by the CPDM regime.

The visit followed a statement by the French Embassy, urging her nationals to prepare for a possible “crisis situation” as Cameroon heads towards the October 2025 presidential election in a climate of growing political and social tensions.

Although the official authenticity of the document has not been publicly established by the embassy, nor discredited, such alerts are not uncommon in a context of uncertainty.

The message, perceived as a diplomatic caution in the face of warning signals, can equally be interpreted as an implicit acknowledgment of a potential deterioration of the security climate as the 2025 poll approaches.

The government has, however, been calling for calm and giving an assurance of a peaceful and free election. So has the Parliament, the Bishops of Cameroon and some politicians. 

The embassy alert has, however, been a topic of a debate in the media, implying the October election could trigger a crisis, especially given that as a military personnel, rather than a career diplomat, the French Ambassador is well versed with intelligence prediction.

Speaking on Info TV, a political analyst, Pierre Blériot Nyemeck, accused France of being the second-largest source of poverty in Cameroon, with the ruling party the first. He did not say how.

He warned of the risk of foreign interference in the upcoming presidential election and urged citizens to be completely vigilant. 

He added that France "fears" perhaps that change will "not respect a number of agreements. 

“Our vigilance must be constant: we must avoid France and its assumptions of meddling in Cameroon’s electoral situation and creating a form of chaos. We don’t have to allow it,” he said.

President Macron has, however, reiterated his willingness to "build a balanced partnership" and "pursue common causes" with African countries. But with the FCFA still under the French monetary policy, that neutrality is difficult to be imagined.

It is not only France that has been accused of meddling in the national sovereignty and electoral transparency in Cameroon.

Kamto has repeatedly pointed out that the agreement signed between the UN and the elections management body, Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, which it accuses of lacking transparency, notably by refusing to publish the national electoral roll, is the first element of credibility of an electoral process.

The ELECAM and the UN on May 9, 2025, signed a cooperation agreement to “optimise elections in Cameroon, in a move aimed at strengthening the transparency and inclusiveness of the electoral process”. 

Kamto claims to have discovered the existence of the convention on social networks. 

“There can be no elections without political parties fielding candidates” wrote the MRC Secretary General who deplored an “undesirable move by ELECAM” as they were not aware of "the content of this convention”.

While Kamto and his party may get into the sensitive skin of France, The Guardian Post can vouch that the UN assistance is a step in the right direction towards a credible election.

By investing in the electoral process, the UN is, however, under obligation to ensure that ELECAM lives by the law and publishes the list of registered voters as the text demands.

As for the French, they need not panic, Cameroon "will not" burn or cease to exist after the October polls. Paris can exhibit that "partnership" of equals by allowing Cameroon and other countries tied to the FCFA to have their financial sovereignty, which is a harbinger of economic development, free, transparent and credible elections.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3477 of Wednesday June 18, 2025