Gov't blasts "terrorists" for beating Minister, Ambassador in Belgium.

Government’s position on the ugly scenes that trailed Minister Mounouna’s visit to Belgium, was made public Tuesday in a statement. 

In the release, the Minister of Communication and Government Spokesperson, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, said the attacks were carried out by persons whom it said acted like terrorists.

 Contextualising the nature of the attack, Minister Rene Sadi wrote that those who attacked the member of government and diplomat are members of the anti-Biya regime Diaspora movement, Brigade Anti-Sadinard, BAS.

Rene Sadi said what happened was the handiwork of “a small group of Cameroonians claiming to be members of the Brigade Anti-Sardinard (BAS), like a band of crazed terrorists who had clearly been manipulated...they stormed the Claridge Hotel to disrupt the ceremony, using unprecedented violence and brutality”.

The minister recounted that the attackers first disrupted a meeting of his colleague, Mounouna Foutsou, on Friday, February 28, 2025; adding that on Monday March 3, when the minister was about to leave where he was staying to return home, he was attacked alongside Ambassador Evina. 

Minister Rene Sadi wrote that both officials “were again savagely attacked by the same outlaws, whose behaviour on foreign soil, directed against officials of the country they claim to belong to, was quite simply appalling, intolerable, and can in no way be justified”.

The communication minister said the battering of Mounouna Foutsou and Evina is an attack on the entire nation. He stated that the attitude of the attackers is contrary to the mobilisation of the government to engage young people in State policies geared towards their socio professional integration.

He condemned “with utmost firmness these irresponsible and barbaric behaviours, senseless acts, directed against representatives of the State…”. 

The minister appealed to citizens within the country and the Diaspora to protect the country’s image.

Every Cameroonian, he added, whether in the Diaspora or at home “is bound to respect the institutions of the Republic, as well as those who embody them”. 

He appealed to those in the Diaspora to have confidence in the leadership of the country to complete development projects underway.

Insisting that Cameroon is a State of law, Minister Rene Sadi equally evoked the need for mutual respect in line with the international conventions the country has with friendly nations.

Nonetheless, he said, “appropriate measures will be taken to find the perpetrators of the attacks,” which he said are “seditious acts,” to answer for their acts.

In the meantime, Minister Mounouna Foutsou is said to have returned to the country Monday night and resumed work in Yaounde Tuesday.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3383 of Wednesday March 05, 2025