In June 2024, the former prime minister Philémon Yang will take up his duties as President of the 79th General Assembly of the United Nations, which opens on 10 September in New York in the United States of America. Here we take a look at his personality and the challenges facing Cameroon, which will be the pride of his country throughout the discussions on security, global geopolitics and climate.
After Uganda (2014) and Nigeria (2019), Cameroon becomes the 13th African country to be appointed President of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. From 10 to 24 September 2024, former Cameroonian Prime Minister Yang Philémon will lead the 79th General Debate of Heads of State and Government meeting in New York, as well as other diplomatic activities planned by the UN body.
Philémon, who has virtually no political baggage and whose composure has enabled him to govern in Yaoundé for a decade (2009-2019), has been endorsed by the member states of the African Union (AU). They inevitably expect Philémon Yang to communicate, through his look, his gestures, his reminders and his recommendations at the UN podium, the values of sovereignty and cooperation between equals that the continent has been trying in vain to convey over recent decades.
Between the armed conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as other dossiers on climate and sustainable development, the choice of subjects and the turn of international disputes will depend on this diplomat, who in 2017 visited the war zone in the English-speaking part of Cameroon.
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The 79th UN General Assembly will present another challenge for the country of the Indomitable Lions: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this area, the Cameroonian authorities, like those of the rest of the world, will have to present their progress in implementing the 17 SDGs. And there is plenty of reason to anticipate any criticism of the exemplarity of Philemon Yang’s home country during his UN mandate, since Cameroon has, for example, set up a National Observatory on Climate Change (ODD13). The initiative is one of the concrete responses to the 36 major disasters, notably floods and landslides, which have killed up to 4,587 people between 1984 and 2008 in this Central African country.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi
