After holding controversial meetings in Belgium, America and South Africa over the weekend, government ministers are expected to hold similar meetings in the UK on August 13 and Canada on August 10. Speculations are rife Laurent Esso, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals may not take part in any of the planned trips following humiliations he suffered in Belgium.

Thevoice newspaper reported yesterday August 7, that Minister Esso, under whose ministerial tutelage Cameroonian lawyers were teargassed and beaten in Anglophone Cameroon tasted what mob action can do to even the most respectable people.

A crowd of protesting Anglophone activists booed and jeered as he set up to address Cameroonian Diasporas in Belgium. He and his comrades, External relations minister, Lejeune Mbella Mbella and an Attaché at the Prime Minister’s Office, Tanyitiku Enoh Achuo could not have imagined the humiliation reserved for them as they carried out a presidential assignment to explain to Cameroonians abroad, the crisis rocking the North West and South West regions of Cameroon.

The height of the embarrassment that spoiled the Brussels rendezvous was when a pro Laurent Esso tried to confront the placard carrying protestors but was wrestled to the ground and he passed out. Pictures of the man lying helpless on the floor with Belgian police men looking is now rocking wild on social media. According the Belgian society norms, no crime was committed and so the police nabbed nobody.

According a report by the Yaounde-based thevoice weekly, Ahmadu Daiyebu, a journalist resident in Belgium revealed that when Minister Laurent Esso and his delegation arrived the meeting ground at situated at Avenue Georges Henri 451, 1200 Bruxelles Salle du Secretariat ACP, at exactly 3pm, they were immediately ushered into the hall and a rundown of activities was laid out by the MC.

Shortly had the latter ended than the vice chairman of Southern Cameroons in Belgium, Atanga Marcellus and a member of SCACUF called for a point of order and took over the microphone. He told the minister that Southern Cameroonians in Belgium were is in no position to dialogue with the delegation without the presence of their Chairman.

The mic was later handed to Larry Ayamba, the Secretary General of the Ambazonian Governing Council, AGC who presented a catalogue of grievances to the Minister and his delegation. Barely had he began enumerating their grievances than the Chairperson of Southern Cameroons in Belgium, Barrister Ndeh Tangie David and others stormed the hall bringing along with them, a coffin.

It was at this juncture that the technician cut of the mic and trouble started. Whistles were blown from all angles in the hall which led to total chaos and disorder.

In the midst of the bedlam, a security officer called to assure the protection of the Cameroon ministerial delegation tried to attack the wife of the Chairman of Southern Cameroonians in  Belgium with a chair and was beaten up by the southern Cameroonians in the hall. The Belgium police were immediately called in to restore order and began sending out all Belgian Southern Cameroonians in the hall with the exception of those from France.

The security was further reinforced when the police were informed that Southern Cameroonians came with weapons to cause trouble. Outside the hall, the police are said to have blocked all the roads leading to the area prompting demonstrations in front of the conference building. Informed of the events at Avenue Georges Henri, the mayor of the area immediately rushed in with to calm tempers.

Throughout the meeting, Laurent Esso was not given the opportunity to say something. “He was asked why Ayah Paul and other leaders of the Anglophone struggle were behind bars. He was reminded that he is a terrorist and a killer,” Ahmadu stated.

The message to Laurent Esso was clear – that Belgium is in no position to dialogue but those home. Let him go home and talk to those he has arrested.  They are in a better position to dialogue with him than anyone else.

The minister delegation dispatched to Europe and USA was criticised by the Social Democratic Front meeting in an enlarged NEC meeting in Bamenda last Saturday.

“Instead of wasting taxpayer’s funds dispatching delegations abroad to misinform the international community as to the true nature of the Anglophone Crisis, Biya and his cronies should look for solutions to the prolonged Anglophone crisis.”