CAMEROON'S DIPLOMATS: IN THE COUNTRY'S DISSERVICE,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 YAOUNDE 000179

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/C, CA/VO, AND EEB
EUCOM FOR J5-A AFRICA DIVISION AND POLAD YATES
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA ACTION OFFICERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2017
TAGS: CM CVIS KCOR KFRD PINR PREL NI
SUBJECT: CAMEROON'S DIPLOMATS: IN THE COUNTRY'S DISSERVICE,
FALLING DOWN ON THE JOB

REF: A. 1997 YAOUNDE 6690

B. 94 YAOUNDE 1224

Classified By: P/E Officer Tad Brown for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

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Summary
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1. (C) The recent death of Cameroon's long-serving
Ambassador to the E.U. resparked recurring public and media
commentary on Cameroon's dramatically stagnant diplomatic
corps. More than a dozen Cameroonian ambassadors have
occupied their positions for more than 10 years, several have
been in place for over twenty years, and tired Cameroonian
COMs are the Deans of the Diplomatic Corps in many important
capitals. Cameroonians complain that, despite the pressing
need for an energetic diplomatic corps to promote tourism and
foreign investment, their diplomatic emissaries prioritize
personal and political gain above any sense of national duty.
A shake-up of postings has been rumored to be in the offing
for some time now, and the main reason to believe the
situation will improve is that it could not get much worse.
While hope is in the air, this situation is a sad commentary
on how things "work" in Cameroon -- a land where years can
pass waiting for Biya's decisions to be taken -- and then
implemented. End summary.

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And We Thought Four-Year Tours Were Too Long
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2. (C) Isabelle Bassong, Cameroon's Ambassador to Belgium
and the European Union since 1988, died November 9, 2006 of
complications related to cancer. Bassong's death again drew
national attention to the unusually long tenures of
Cameroonian diplomats. On the list of embassies with a COM
in place more than 10 years: Washington, Rome, Addis Ababa,
Bonn (not Berlin!),Beijing, Moscow, and London. Despite
recurrent rumors of his recall (since at least 1997, ref A),
Cameroon's Ambassador to the United States, Jerome Mendouga,
continues to add to his nearly 13 years at his leafy
residence off Rock Creek.


4. (C) President Biya told Ambassador Marquardt nearly two
years ago that he was replacing Mendouga, a process which
continues to grind on without resolution. Indeed, Mengouga
spent three months in Yaounde in late 2006 literally waiting
for Biya to call him in to discuss his future, but he never
got the call and returned to Washington just before the
holidays. Before he left, Mendouga confirmed to the
Ambassador the rumor that he expects to be sent to London
after Washington. (Mendouga's successor Paul Pondi was in
Washington for more than 10 years, making the Pondi-Mendouga
tenure one of the few to rival Ahidjo-Biya for longevity.)


5. (C) Mendouga's counterpart at the UN, Martin Belinga
Eboutou, is a neophyte in comparison, having served only nine
years in New York. Belinga, who served for only ten months
as Biya's Director of Civil Cabinet (chief of Staff) before
being sent to New York, gets generally high marks for his
work there. Mendouga, for his part, is intelligent,
sociable, and clued in, but seems averse to heavy lifting to
advance important Cameroonian priorities, like qualifying for
MCA.

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What Do Diplomats Do, Anyway?
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6. (C) Globally, there is ample anecdotal evidence
suggesting that Cameroon's diplomats have less interest in
national or citizen services than in their private affairs.
One Cameroonian employee at Post recounts an exchange that is
not atypical: a Cameroonian Embassy official in Paris
explained frankly that the Embassy was uninterested in him or
any other Cameroonians whose parents were of no political
consequence. In our own experience, the Cameroonian Embassy
in Washington often is unable or unwilling to help with
bread-and-butter Embassy responsibilities like arrangements

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for official visitors (who do not trust the Embassy to
accomplish anything and so come to us for help).


7. (C) We know (and hear) little about working-level
diplomats in Washington, but receive fairly frequent calls
from the law firm hired to lobby on their behalf. It is also
clear that there is little concept of a normal chain of
command through the Foreign Ministry: ambassadors'
allegiances are to various individuals in the government, and
ultimately to Biya, which makes cohesive action elusive for
the GRC. Ambassadors know that their only real boss is Biya;
as long as he is satisifed (or at least not unhappy with
them),their tenure is safe.

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DIPLOMATIC COVER FOR POLITICAL,
PERSONAL MISSIONS AND VISA FRAUD
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8. (C) A review of Consular records reveals that less than
transparent factors might be at play in allocating precious
postings at Western embassies (and that such shenanigans are
not just the province of the Ministry of External Relations).
An A2 visa, for example, was issued in January 2006 to
Yvette Doris Mbogba to represent the Ministry of Finance at
Cameroon's Embassy in Washington, DC. Mbogba was joined by
her daughter, her niece and a domestic servant. Her boss at
the Finance Ministry, Finance Minister Polycarpe Abah Abah,
is also the father of her child. Abah Abah's wife, Caroline
Abah Abah, and daughter Josiane, have also served in the
Ministry of Finance but have not yet been assigned overseas.
Officials with the British High Commission in Yaounde have
told us privately that they have begun to refuse visa cases
recommended by Cameroon's High Commissioner in London after
determining that many applicants were improperly given
official cover.


9. (C) UN Ambassador Martin Belinga is also well known to
the consular section for needing to replace drivers and other
domestic help on a regular basis. The Department is still
considering a special advisory opinion request on a visa
application submitted by a relative of Belinga who was
recruited as a cook. In addition, an Embassy Yaounde
initiative to eliminate reciprocal visa fees, which would be
very advantageous to Cameroonian travellers and help promote
trade, investment, and tourism toward Cameroon, seems to have
faltered on the fact that the Cameroonian Embassy in
Washington depends on visa fees for its operating budget.


10. (U) Another problem is the failure of the GRC to
replace ambassadors who die or leave their posts. Philomen
Yang was High Commissioner in Ottawa "for 20 years and 8
months" before he was named a Minister at the Presidency in
December, 2004; the post has remained vacant ever since.
Cameroon's sensitive relationship with Nigeria is hampered by
the fact that there has been no High Commissioner there for
15 years. The last Charge d'Affaires left Abuja in November,

2005. Nigeria is pressing the GRC to name one, as part of
improving relations since the Bakassi issue was resolved last
June and in keeping with an agreement the two countries made
at the time, but that nomination seems caught up in the
overall reshuffle being prepared. The only movement at the
COM level in recent years, in fact, was the transfer to Paris
of the Ambassador in Tokyo after the death of the incumbent
in Paris in early 2006; the Tokyo slot remains vacant. At
the time of his death last year, Cameroon's Ambassador to
Paris had been there for almost 11 years.

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COMMENT: PLUS CA CHANGE...
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11. (C) We continue to hear rumors that President Biya will
soon announce a shake-up of at the top of Cameroon's
diplomatic missions. Last year saw a rotation at the DCM
level, the first in years. Foreign Minister Mebara recently
announced a "Conference of Ambassadors" -- which would be the
first time in two decades that Cameroonian Ambassadors return
to Yaounde to meet and discuss together. Mebara told the
Ambassador that the rotation of Ambassadors must occur before

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the Conference, so, despite his high-profile announcement, it
is obviously not imminent. Cameroon needs an energetic
diplomatic corps to lobby for much needed foreign investment,
tourism and other objectives. We will do our best to remain
optimistic that the new team, when announced, will be up to
the challenge. One worrying sign, however, is the GRC's
reaction to filling the vacant slot in Brussels, showing once
again that form takes precedence over substance. Mebara
confided to the Ambassador that Bassong would have been
replaced, but as a result of her death, naming the slate of
new ambassadors had to be postponed; it would be insulting to
her family, he said, to move "too swiftly". End comment.
MARQUARDT