Why Biya should rethink the Canadian mediation.

Countries in this uneven diplomatic, military and economic world are under great pressure than ever before to engage more widely in all spheres, at home and abroad, to explain, consolidate, support and promote foreign policy positions, while correcting or contesting policy missteps and misunderstandings.

In the case of Cameroon, the pressure is even more daunting given the challenges it faces with Boko Haram in the Far North region, the armed conflict in the South West and North West regions, refugees from Nigeria and Central African Republic and mounting debts.

Among all the challenges, the one that has been devastatingly predominant is that in the two Anglophone regions. In its sixth year, it has attracted international condemnation due to the barbaric violations of human rights with both combatants implicated in crimes that attract international law.

As one of Cameroon's  closest ally, by virtue of both being in the Commonwealth and only two countries in the  world with French and English as official languages, Canada did not hesitate to accept an invitation from Yaounde for peace mediation to bring peace to the country.

Even though it had never been officially announced that Canada was in tripartite talks with the Cameroon government and separatist groups, there had in the past few months been unconfirmed reports that such negotiations were going on. Neither Canada nor Cameroon reacted until last Friday when the Canadian Foreign Minister, Melanie Joly, let the cat out of the bag.

Melanie Joly did so in a written statement that was widely disseminated and praised around the world. She did not only confirm the talks, but added that it was on the initiative of the Cameroon government.

Her statement named names, but the Cameroon government, through the Minister of Communication and Government Spokesman, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, on Monday, disavowed the Canadian statement. He did not mention Canada in his lengthy statement, the crux of which was that Cameroon had never asked any country to mediate in the conflict.

So who is the exponent of post-truth diplomacy? The question answers itself.

The moral philosopher, Sissela Bok, in her contemporary classic titled Lying, argues on what she calls the “principle of veracity” as a minimally necessary basis for a functioning society. It is the "lowest-common denominator principle based on the common human intuition to favouring truth over lies. Humans across time and cultures prefer truth because, trust in some degree of veracity functions as a foundation of relations among human beings; when this trust shatters or wears away, institutions collapse”.

Cameroon or its institutions won't collapse for reneging on the Canadian deal in which several reports have confirmed that a delegation from Yaounde attended at least four meetings in Canada before their foreign minister made it public.

But there are implications given Cameroon's special relationship with Canada. In July 1961, Dr Aimé Raymond N’Thepe, Cameroon’s ambassador to the USA at the time, visited Canada to plead for help in the creation of a bilingual civil service in Cameroon with the coming of reunification.

Canada did so by opening an embassy in Yaounde, which today is a High Commission because of Cameroon's membership of the Commonwealth. This made Cameroon the first French-speaking African country to host a Canadian embassy.

During an international colloquium last year to mark 60 years of relationship, it emerged that there has been cooperation and collaboration between the two countries on "diverse domains of the economic (mining, trade and various exchanges), social and cultural (education, health, religion), political and military, etc".

It was, according to the organisers, "with a view to providing politicians and development actors with the necessary tools to substantially improve relations between the two countries".

There is no question that the ties have been cordial, but with that snub from Cameroon, the implications are that internally, the suffering people of the North West and South West regions, who were jubilant following the Canadian announcement, are once more in pain, fear and continuous insecurity, school boycotts and ghost towns.

On the international scene, it would be difficult for any country to heed to Yaounde's appeal to repatriate the separatist warlords abroad. There is even the risks of a foreign country giving diplomatic and covert military assistance to the separatists to push Yaounde to hurry to the dialogue table. There is also the peril of losing of confidence and trust in Cameroon in foreign economic and political negotiations.

The global support given the Canadian initiative should be an indication of the failure of the Yaounde regime to convince the international community that the military can offer a solution to a political deadlock.

The Guardian Post is, however, relieved to note that even after Yaounde on Monday tried to sell the fantasy that the Canadians are liars, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, on Tuesday, magnanimously still said her country wants to broker peace.

The Cameroon government should swallow its dented pride, disavow those egocentric officials reaping from the blood of innocent compatriots and accept the Canadian offer for mediation with humility, which will be a sign of diplomacy of collaboration, not confrontation.