Cameroon:President Paul Biya in Buea for 50th Anniversary of Reunification

By Christopher Ambe 

    Cameroon President Paul Biya and  wife Chantal Biya ,Tuesday 18 February,landed at the  newly renovated Tiko airport  on their way to the historic town of Buea ,where  Mr. Biya will  on Thursday 20 February 2014 preside over activities marking  the celebrations of the 50th Anniversary of the Reunification of Cameroon. 

     The British Southern Cameroons gained its independence on October 1,1961 after a UN-supervised plebiscite, by joining La Republique of Cameroun that had earlier gained its independence on January 1, 1960,to form what is today known as Cameroon.. The 50th Anniversary event was initially programed to take place in 2011,but was delayed to ensure a hitch-free celebration this year.

President Biya and Wife,Chantal  being received at Tiko Airport/Photo Credit :PRC

     The  Presidential couple was accorded a hectic welcome at the Airport by  the population of the South West. Thousands of  people lined along the streets of  Tiko through Likomba to Mutengene  to catch a glimpse of the presidential motorcade drive   up to Buea. 

    The President last visited the town of Buea in 2000 , purposely to sympathize with victims of that year's Mt.Cameroon Eruption. 

     President Biya had promised while announcing the celebration of 50th Anniversary of Reunification,that it would  be done with all the solemnity 

     The President's coming to Buea was preceded  two days before by an ecumenical service at the Open-Air Am phi-theatre of the University of Buea  and one day before by a highly attended Colloquium still at the university on the theme:"From Reunification to Integration"

     Ahead of the celebrations proper,Buea has been given a facelift that it has never witnessed for decades: new roads,improved roads, street lights, renovated hotels etc.