How African governments benefited from the September 11th 2001: the case of Cameroon

While Paul Biya and his government officials wanted to reap benefits from the Twin Tower attacks of September 11^th 2001, they never knew how to position themselves or what to offer or appear indispensable in the eyes of the US administration. For since the cold war ended in 1989, with the Western world led by the United States, defeating the Communist USSR and their East and central European satellites, most African governments were no longer of interest to Westerners. This meant that, some countries and their governments such as Cameroon were no more receiving huge financial help, which the ruling class transferred immediately into their private bank accounts in the Caribbean, UK, France and Switzerland. The only African countries that attracted interest were South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt. These countries attracted interest because of their vast minerals, Oil and Gas potentials and also because they were the largest African economies and natural regional leaders. In short, they were of geo-strategic importance. But there also existed other African countries that, in spite their inferior mineral and industrial or regional potentials, were still of importance to Western countries and the US in particular. These African countries were some on continental East Africa and also some maritime African Indian Ocean Island countries such as: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles.

As for the Reunion and Mayote Islands, even though they are African countries or Island countries, they are controlled by France that is an ally of the United States. But on the East African main land, countries such as: Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia were and are still of strategic importance to the US and her allies, especially in the fight against Islamic terrorism. But Cameroon offered little in term of strategic importance to the US administration, especially that, she was isolated diplomatically even within the minuscule regional body called CEMAC. In Yaoundé, Biya was aware of the handicaps of his country; hence he and his advisers were working hard, but they could not truly see an appropriate bait to offer to the US administration, in order to show them that, they were also vulnerable to Islamic attacks and at such, shared the same pains and fears of the US government. One of Biya’s brilliant minister by name Reka Nyolo ordered members of the presidential team who monitors world and national news on Radio, Television and also on the World Wide Web, to open their eyes and ear wide, in order to get something in the national or world news, that, they could capitalise on. Immediately, one monitor by name Bella Mbong brought some briefings about the Anglophone nationalist movement, the Southern Cameroon’s National Council (SCNC) and he said to Mr Nyolo: “we could present the SCNC as a terrorist group”.