National Unity Day in Cameroon: President Paul Biya presides over the parade
Cameroonian President Paul Biya here in Yaoundé, in 2022. (Illustrative photo) AFP - KENZO TRIBOUILLARD
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Cameroon celebrates, as every May 20, its National Unity Day. On May 20, 1972, the country's two entities - anglophone and francophone - met. It is therefore a day to magnify the newfound unity of Cameroon, after the pre-independence episodes when Cameroon was divided and under the tutelage of France and Great Britain.
Advertising
Read more
With our correspondent in Yaoundé, Polycarpe Essomba
This is the 51st edition of the national holiday and the festivities were especially marked by the great parade, military and civilian, which opened shortly after 12:00, at 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 Day, was very strongly applauded by the guests in the gallery.
The Cameroonian Defense and Security Forces, meanwhile, deployed their various units, a parade in show of force mode, means and capabilities by a parade of men and military equipment.
The civil phase of this parade was opened by pupils and students as well as associations.
Political parties also marched their activists. The ruling CPDM party lined up the largest number of squares, as an indicator of its power in terms of militants. The SDF (Social Democratic Front) of Ni John Fru Ndi or the PCRN (Party for National Reconciliation of Cameroon) of MP 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 tradition, was chaired by President Paul Biya.
► Read also 1st-May in Cameroon: unions reject the parade organized by the government
Newsletter Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Read on on the same topics:
- Cameroon
- Paul Biya