Cameroon’s main opposition leader Kamto arrested for protest

FAN Editor
FILE PHOTO: Maurice Kamto, a presidential candidate of Renaissance Movement (MRC), reacts as he holds a news conference at his headquarter in Yaounde
FILE PHOTO: Maurice Kamto, a presidential candidate of Renaissance Movement (MRC), reacts as he holds a news conference at his headquarter in Yaounde, Cameroon October 8, 2018. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo

January 28, 2019

DOUALA (Reuters) – Cameroonian authorities arrested opposition leader Maurice Kamto on Monday, his lawyer said, after weekend protests that security forces dispersed with live bullets, wounding six people.

Kamto has been mobilizing dissent against President Paul Biya since losing what he says was a fraudulent election in October. Kamto declared himself winner at the time of the poll and has since challenged Biya’s win in the African Union court.

Protests are rare in Cameroon, outside its troubled Anglophone western region, and tend to be swiftly put down by force and mass arrests.

“I can confirm that professor Maurice Kamto was arrested (today),” his lawyer, Agbor Bala, told Reuters by telephone, adding that it was because of the weekend protests in which dozens took part. The treasurer of his Cameroon Renaissance Movement party, Alain Fogue, was also detained, Bala said.

At 85, Biya is the oldest leader in sub-Saharan Africa and most Cameroonians have known only him as president. He holds Cabinet meetings only every few years and spends a lot of his time on private trips to Switzerland. But the opposition has been unable to mount a credible challenge to him.

The election cemented his place as one of Africa’s longest- serving leaders, but allegations of ballot stuffing and intimidation loomed over his victory, and turnout was low because of a secessionist uprising in the Anglophone regions in which hundreds have died.

Biya’s camp has denied all allegations of electoral fraud.

(Reporting by Josiane Kouagheu; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Free America Network Articles

Leave a Reply

Next Post

Support for Australian government rises ahead of election

Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison reacts during the APEC CEO Summit 2018 at the Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 17 November 2018. Fazry Ismail/Pool via REUTERS January 28, 2019 By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) – Support for Australia’s conservative government edged higher over the last two weeks, a widely […]