How President Biya’s Tripartite Talks Killed The Coalition Of Opposition Parties And Civil Society Organisations

In 1991 – 92, Douala Was the ‘headquarter’ of hardliners against the Biya regime.

President Paul Biya, who in 1991 resisted the strong pressure by the Coalition of Opposition Parties and Civil Society Organizations to organize a Sovereign National Conference, instead convened the Tripartite Talks in the nation’s capital, Yaounde, on his own terms,  and chaired by the then Prime Minister, Sadou Hayatou. This was in the later part of tumultuous year, 1991.

Leaders of opposition parties were invited by government to the Tripartite Talks. But the hardliners in the opposition camp that included civil society and political activists, urged leaders of opposition parties that were invited not to attend. The opposition leaders were told to rather insist on the convening of the Sovereign National Conference.  The Coalition of Opposition Parties and Civil Society Organizations held a meeting on the issue, and the decision adopted by the end of the meeting, was the Tripartite Talks should be boycotted.

But most of the opposition leaders who were also under pressure by the Biya regime and others to attend the Tripartite Talks, ended up attending the event. For example, the then National President of the UNDP Party, Samuel Eboua, who was also the President of the Coalition of Opposition Parties and Civil Society Organizations, initially hesitated to travel to Yaounde for the Tripartite Talks, but finally yielded to pressure and intrigues,  and went for the talks. It was the same thing with the National Chairman of the SDF, Ni John Fru Ndi, who was also the Vice President of the Coalition. The National President of the CDU Party, Dr Adamou Ndam Njoya, also attended the Tripartite Talks.  In fact the only then frontline opposition leader who actually boycotted the Tripartite Talks was the National President of ‘Mouvement Progressistes’, Jean Jacques Ekindi.

 What Happened – intrigues By The Biya Regime

One of the things that was thought to had pushed the leaders of the opposition parties who initially hesitated to attend the Tripartite Talks to change their minds, was an intrigue that was played by the regime. The Government also invited ‘internal rivals’ to these leaders, to the Talks. For example, the regime quietly invited former Prime Minister, Bello Bouba Maigari of UNDP Party, to the Tripartite Talks.  On the eve of the Tripartite Talks, news got to the National President of UNDP, Samuel Eboua, who was also the President of the Coalition of Opposition Parties and Civil Society Organizations, that Bello Bouba had arrived Yaounde from Garoua to attend the event. Eboua panicked and took off for Yaounde.

It should be noted that Bello Bouba who sneaked into self –exile in neighbouring Nigeria following the attempted coup of April 6, 1984, returned to Cameroon in that 1991 after President Biya signed the General Amnesty Law. Upon his return to the country, Bello Bouba was being projected by his supporters as the Natural Leader of the UNDP, considered to be the party of  the ‘children’ of  the former President of the Republic, Ahmadou Ahidjo, or better still, a northern party.

Though Samuel Eboua was known to had been very close to the former President, Ahmadou Ahidjo, he was however a Southerner, and was seen as such by militants of UNDP who were predominantly northerners. Though Samuel Eboua was on paper the Pioneer President or the Founding National President of the UNDP, he was tacitly considered by many UNDP big wigs and militants in the Grand North as a ‘Caretaker President’, waiting for the Natural President. When Bello Bouba returned to Cameroon in that 1991, a couple of months after UNDP was legalized, Eboua started sensing a serious threat to his post of National President of the party.

Samuel Eboua And Fru Ndi Hurriedly Leave For Yaounde

So, when on the eve of the start of the Tripartite Talks in Yaounde, the National President of UNDP, Samuel Eboua, who as aforementioned was hesitant to travel to Yaounde for the Tripartite Talks was informed that Bello Bouba Maigari had been invited to the Talks, and that he had just arrived Yaounde from Garoua for the event, he was frightened. Though the former Prime Minister, Bello Bouba Maigari, was invited to the Talks in his personal name, Eboua knew that the Biya regime being so mischievous, would likely present Bello Bouba at the Tripartite Talks as the representative of the UNDP, If he failed to show up.

 Fru Ndi Also Rushed To Yaounde

So Eboua who was at his home in Nkongsamba quickly packed his bag that night and left for Yaounde. Hearing that Eboua was on his way to Yaounde that night for the Tripartite Talks, the National President of the SDF, Ni John Fru Ndi, who was also the Vice President of the Coalition of Opposition Parties and Civil Society Organisation, also hurriedly packed his bag that night and left Bamenda for Yaounde. Fru Ndi had also got information that night that Bem Muna had been invited to the Talks.  Though Ben Muna was invited as the President of the Cameroon Bar Council, there was no doubt that the regime could present him as the representative of the SDF. So the population that went to bed thinking that  the main opposition leaders were to boycott the Tripartite Talks, got up in the morning of the opening day of the event to learn that they had just arrived Yaounde for the Talks.

Fru Ndi Walks Out Of The Tripartite Talks

Meanwhile at one point at the Tripartite Talks, the opposition stormed out. Following discussions with Government envoys or agents, Samuel Eboua and his other colleagues, with the exception of the SDF Leader, Ni John Fru Ndi, decided to return to the hall. Fru Ndi was accompanied by Joseph Mbah Ndam to the Talks.   Ni John Fru Ndi and Mbah Ndam abandoned the Talks, and Fru Ndi left Yaounde. The SDF leader thus did not take part in the adoption and the signing of the resolutions of the Tripartite Talks.

From Yaounde, Fru Ndi drove to the nation’s economic capital, Douala, which then was the ‘headquarters’ of the hardliners against the Biya regime. Upon arrival in Douala, Fru Ndi went to the office of Jean Jacques Ekindi, who was happy to receive him, for he felt isolated, after the other frontline opposition leaders, including Fru Ndi, decided to travel to Yaounde to attend the controversial Tripartite Talks.  The hardline political and civil society activists were also very happy with the fact that the National Chairman of the SDF abandoned the controversial Tripartite Talks that was organized by the Biya regime, which was opposed to the popular demand of the Cameroonian people to convene a Sovereign National Conference.

The hardliners went on to organize a grand political rally outside the Omnisport Stadium in Douala the next day, where the SDF leader addressed the population and explained why he left the Tripartite Talks. Fru Ndi played his politics by saying that after he observed that the decisions to be taken by the Tripartite Talks were so controversial, or were against the what the Cameroonian people wanted, he as the servant of the people decided to come back to ask the people if he d= should go and sign those resolutions or not. Of course, the response of the huge crown at the rally was a no. That is, Fru Ndi should not go and sign.   Fru Ndi also went on to hold a similar rally in Limbe and other towns. It should be noted that the SDF leader, Ni John Fru Ndi, gathered a lot of political points with his decision to pull out of the Tripartite Talks, as well as what he said at the rallies that followed.

The Creation Of ARC – CNS

Meanwhile the hardliners in the opposition camp, that is the political and civil society activists that were against the Tripartite Talks, and who were insisting on the holding a Sovereign National Conference, went on to create what became popularly known by the French appellation, ARC – CNS. In English it meant, Alliance for the Reconstruction of Cameroon through a Sovereign National Conference. The base of ARC – CNS was of course Douala.

The creation of ARC – CNS was tacitly the beginning of the end of the once powerful Coalition of Opposition Parties and Civil Society Organization, which had as President, Samuel Eboua. The principal mission of the Coalition in 1991 was to mount incessant pressure on President Biya to convene a Sovereign National Conference. But Biya resisted despite all the odds, and instead went on to organize the Tripartite Talks on his own terms.

More disappointing to the hardliners in the opposition camp, was the fact that the President of the Coalition, Samuel Eboua, did not only attend Biya’s Tripartite Talks, but adopted and signed the resolutions.  This greatly weakened both Samuel Eboua and the Coalition of Opposition Parties and Civil Society Organizations, as  the hardliners in the opposition camp  moved away to create ARC – CNS.  That was how the once powerful Coalition of Opposition Parties and Civil Society Organizations, died. So as can be seen, Biya’s Tripartite Talks weakened the force of Samuel Eboua in the opposition, and also killed the once powerful Coalition of Opposition Parties and Civil Society Organisations.