President Paul Biya presides over the parade

President Paul Biya presides over the parade

Cameroon celebrates, like every May 20, its national unity day. On May 20, 1972, the two entities of the country – Anglophone and Francophone – met. It is therefore a day to magnify the found unity of Cameroon, after the pre-independence episodes where Cameroon was divided and under the tutelage of France and Great Britain.

With our correspondent in Yaoundé, Polycarp Essomba

This is the 51ᵉ edition of the national holiday and the festivities were especially marked by thehe great parade, military and civil, which opened shortly after 12:00 p.m., on the boulevard du 20 Mai, which traditionally hosts this ceremony.

The main attraction of this beginning was the passage of a detachment of the Egyptian army band. The Egyptian army which is the special guest of this fifty-first edition of the Cameroonian national holiday was very strongly applauded by the guests in the gallery.

The Cameroonian Defense and Security Forces, for their part, deployed their various units, a parade in show of force mode, means and capacities by a parade of men and military equipment.

The civil phase of this parade was opened by pupils and students as well as associations.

The political parties have also paraded their activists. The ruling CPDM lined up the most squares, as an indicator of its strength in terms of militants. The SDF (Social democratic front) of Ni John Fru Ndi or the PCRN (Party for the national reconciliation of Cameroon) of the deputy Cabral Libii also beat the tarmac of the boulevard du 20 mai.

All these parties brandished messages magnifying the virtues of national unity.

The parade, as usual, was chaired by President Paul Biya.

► To read also May 1st in Cameroon: unions reject the parade organized by the government

rf-5-general