Burkina Faso is witnessing the result of the role of a Presidential Guard Corps that is set up to protect only the person of the President.

In 1984 the same Presidential Guard that had been set up to protect Ahmadou Ahidjo tried to stage a coup d’etat which resulted in a blood bath. It is alleged that over 1000 of Ahidjo’s guard corps drawn primarily from the Grand Nord were killed and buried in mass graves in Mbalmayo.

President Paul Biya dissolved that guard corps and proceeded to set up his own protection force.The presidential guard was initially only made up of gendarmes. Today, the better elements of each service are integrated into it. Such diversity allows the regime not to only rely on a single service. There are 1350 to 3000 men (according to different sources) in the presidential guard. These men have the same military status as the other armed forces.

The presidential guard is only answerable to the President of the Republic. They are exclusively in charge of the security of the President. The Guard has been headed by the same officer (a vessel captain) since 1984. The previous presidential guard, which was involved in the coup attempt against President Biba, was disbanded in 1984. The new presidential guard has been set up with the assistance of the Israelis.

Besides the presidential guard, there exists another outfit responsible for the security of the President: the DSP (Direction de la Securite Presidentielle – Presidential Security Direction): it is very hard to find information about this unit which stays as a covert organization.

In the light of the drama which is playing out in Burkina Faso, the question which Cameroonians should ask themselves is what role shall his Presidential Guards play in a future transition in Cameroon? Indeed Cameroon has a rendezvous with destiny.