Assessing the Role of President Paul Biya of Cameroon in conflict Management: The Case of His End of Year Speeches from 2016 to 2020
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65826/IJPCR.1.2.2026.32Keywords:
Anglophone Crisis, Conflict Transformation, presidential Rhetoric, Cameroon, PeacebuildingAbstract
The crises in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of the country have had negative impact to the population of these regions. Over the years various stakeholders have been trying to resolve the crisis among which is President Paul Biya in his various end of year speeches to the nation. This paper set out to examine the role of President Paul Biya of Cameroon in conflict resolution in his end of year speeches. This paper analysis the end-of-year speeches that President Paul Biya delivered from 2016 to 2020 to understand his attitude towards the Anglophone crises. The innuendo of the study is to evaluate the extent to which Biya has been intelligent in his rhetoric towards actualizing the resolution of the conflict and the reformation of country unity. Performing quantitative content analysis, fundamental patterns like security, nation oneness, and dialogue aspects are discussed to conceptualize the trajectory of Biya’s rhetoric over the years. The first texts discussed military solutions and law enforcement, the announcement of the National Dialogue in December 2019 was another stage in the recognition of the Anglophone problem. The failure of and the absence of any productive change-making and the absence of youth and the different ethnic groups in the power structure led to doubts regarding Biya’s genuineness in the conflict resolution process. The paper recommends that the socio-economic disparities in the two regions should be addressed. Finally, as a result of this study, it is important to assert that there is a semantic politics of postwar Cameroon; there is a disparity between the discourse and the achieved phenomenon of peace and stability in Cameroon.
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