Fallen Idol

The French thought they had found the ideal man last May when they picked Andre-Marie M'bida, 40, to serve as first Premier of the semiautonomous French Cameroons, the California-sized territory near the equator on Africa's west coast. His forehead bears a blue tribal tattoo; he is a Roman Catholic; and like the French themselves, he does not want to rush into independence before the 3,300,000 African inhabitants are prepared for it. When M'bida wanted to get tough with Communist-led rebels who were terrorizing parts of the country's coastal regions from jungle bases (TIME, Dec. 2), the French approved and dispatched two companies of French troops to help out.

But M'bida became careless with the label of "Communist"--he began to use it against anyone who disagreed with him. He banished political opponents to remote areas, imprisoned an opposition editor who published an article written by Ruben Um Nyobe, Red-trained leader of the rebels. The French themselves gradually became disenchanted with M'bida. Last month to the Cameroons Paris dispatched a new high commissioner: energetic, 44-year-old Jean Ramadier, son of former Socialist Premier Paul Ramadier. Within days of Ramadier's arrival, M'bida's coalition partners ganged up on him. demanded his resignation. M'bida promptly accused Ramadier of trying to unseat him. Although his own Cameroons Democrats Group was outnumbered 48 to 19 in Parliament, M'bida tried to hold on with a one-party government. "I will take this to the highest level," he cried, and flew off to Paris.

There, in words Frenchmen hardly expect to hear these days, M'bida, the African, complained that Ramadier. the Frenchman, was trying to propel the Cameroons toward independence too rapidly. And with one of those sideswipes for which he had become notorious. M'bida declared: "I regret that in disavowing me, Mr. Ramadier furnished support--which I would like to believe was involuntary--to the agents of the Soviet Union."

The best M'bida could manage was a kind of double knockout. Gerard Jaquet, Minister for France Overseas, transferred Ramadier to another post, but gave M'bida no help at all. The Premier dejectedly flew back to the Cameroons' capital of Yaounde, where, realizing that he faced certain defeat in Parliament, he resigned. As successor, the French chose Amadou Ahidjo, 33, who had served as Vice Premier and Interior Minister in M'bida's government. Ahidjo announced his policy: independence (but without a timetable), union of the British and French Cameroons, cooperation with France on a basis of equality and confidence--a program that should steal thunder from the supporters of Moscow and Cairo. Ahidjo also is expected to try to lure the rebels out of the jungle with the promise that they will suffer no punishment if they surrender--the kind of offer M'bida had refused to make.

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