Reacting to proposals made to Prime Minister Dion Ngute Joseph in Bamenda that troops be withdrawn from the North West and South West Regions so that dialogue can start, Lipot says the military is performing her regular missions – that of securing the citizens and safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country.

The UPC lawmaker said when some people pick up arms against the institutions of the republic, the role of the Head of State is to mobilise one of the institutions of the state, which in this case is the army, to restore order.

“We cannot even imagine that the army that took an oath before the national flag to safeguard the sovereignty of the people, the integrity of the territory, and the security of the citizens, can be asked to leave a certain area. The army is playing its role,” Lipot said.

On President Biya’s readiness to dialogue on all subjects except separation, as stated by the Prime Minister, Lipot said “it is a republican decision because President Biya was sworn into office to guarantee the unity and indivisibility of the country”.

“The unity of the country was hard earned, with the founding fathers of the nation earning it with their blood so that we can become a nation,” said Lipot.

The Secretary General of the opposition party that is in alliance with President Paul Biya’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) party says images of the Prime Minister’s recent visit to Bamenda are testament to the fact that the people of the North West and South West Regions “are not for secession. They feel Cameroonian and are attached to the unity of the country.”

Lipot said Biya has always chosen dialogue to solve problems and that for the UPC, the essential thing today is to safeguard Cameroon’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity. He regretted that “we have an opposition that thinks that their true country is the international community.”

Such an opposition, he says, always looks up for solutions to domestic problems from the international community. He said those who want to use Cameroonians as sacrificial lambs to achieve their ends will not succeed because “the people of Cameroon are sovereign and a problem that concerns Cameroonians should find its solution within Cameroonians.”