CAMEROON: BIO OF DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE

UNCLAS YAOUNDE 000856

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT also FOR AF/C and INR


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL CM

SUBJECT: CAMEROON: BIO OF DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE
PRESIDENCY, PHILEMON YANG YUNDJI


1. (U) Summary. Philemon Yang, already a senior official in
Cameroon's Presidency, is pegged by many for more senior positions
in the Government of Cameroon, including perhaps as a future Prime
Minister. Anglophone and comfortable with the Western (especially
English-speaking) world, Yang has impressed us with his
professionalism. End summary.


2. (U) In October 2004, when President Paul Biya was elected for a
third consecutive mandate, he asked Philemon Yang Yundji to fill the
role of Deputy Secretary General of the Presidency in the new
Cabinet. Yang has held this position since December 8, 2004. He is
a member of the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM),
an unwritten requirement for senior government officials.

Career
--------------


3. (U) Yang returned to Cameroon in 2004 from his previous position
as High Commissioner to Canada. He had served a twenty year term in
Ottawa, and had been Dean of the Ottawa Diplomatic Corps for over
ten years. He had also served as President of the Cartagena
Protocol on the Prevention of Biotechnological Risks from 2000 to

2004.


4. (U) Yang's career began in January 1975 when he joined the
Cameroonian civil service, working as a State Counsel/Prosecutor in
Buea, South West Province. Within six months, at the end of June
1975, Yang was appointed Vice Minister of Territorial
Administration. He remained there until November 1979, when he took
his first Cabinet position as Minister of Mines and Energy, under
former Cameroonian President Ahmadou Ahidjo.

Education
--------------


5. (U) Yang graduated with a BA in Law (1972) from the University of
Yaounde. He earned his Master's degree in the same field from the
University of Ottawa, and an MBA from Century University in New
Mexico. Yang is a magistrate trained at Cameroon's National School
of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM). He also holds a diploma
from the Paris-based International Institute for Public
Administration, and completed field training at Colmar High Court in
France. A native of the Anglophone Northwest Province, Yang is
fluent in English and French.

Comment
--------------


6. (SBU) Upon returning to the Cabinet after 20 years in Canada,
Yang would have noticed that the government no longer functions with
the rigor that marked the Ahidjo administration. In 2006 and 2007,
Yang was quite vocal in campaigning for government anti-corruption
policies, and for his party's victory in the 2007 municipal and
legislative elections in his native North West province. Yang
belongs to Cameroon's "old school" technocrats, motivated more by
conventional notions of civil service then by party ideology. Yang
has been long rumored as a possible future Prime Minister. Future
PM or not, Yang's profile means he will likely feature prominently
in the government if Biya pushes ahead with promised reforms to
improve governance and reduce corruption. End comment.
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