At least four opposition supporters have been killed in a crackdown by the armed forces in Cameroon as a result of protests over President Paul Biya’s declared re-election victory.
As Biya, 92, prepares for an eighth term that could keep him in power until 2032 as he nears 100, protesters are taking to the streets in several cities demanding fair results from the African nation’s contested presidential election on October 12.
Biya is one of the oldest and longest-serving leaders in Africa and whose election victory was finally confirmed by Cameroon’s Constitutional Council on Monday. He has been in office for almost half his life for 43 years. Through elections that political opponents claimed were “stolen,” he has ruled Cameroon, a nation of 30 million people, since 1982.
What led to the heinous protests?
Before the announcement of the election results, supporters of opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary of the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon have defied a ban on protests, setting police cars on fire, blocking roads, and burning tires in Douala, the financial capital. There have been about 30 arrests of activists.
To dispel the protesters who had endorsed Tchiroma, who had declared himself the real winner and demanded that Biya concede, police used tear gas and water cannons.
The protesters attacked police stations in the city’s second and sixth districts, according to Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, the governor of the region that includes Douala.
Four people, he said, “unfortunately lost their lives,” and several security forces members were hurt. The campaign team for Tchiroma confirmed that protesters died on Sunday.
Opposition supporters claim that Biya and his supporters’ election results were rigged. The current government refuted these accusations and advised people to wait for the outcome before the result was announced.
Who is Cameroon’s principal adversary?
A coalition of opposition parties called The Union for Change was established in September to challenge Biya’s dominance of the political landscape.
With the goal of fielding a consensus candidate, the forum brought together more than 20 political parties and civil society organizations in opposition to Biya.
Tchiroma was chosen as the group’s preferred candidate to face Biya in September.
Tchiroma, 76, previously served in the Biya government and held various ministerial positions for 16 years. He defended the army when it was accused of killing civilians while also serving as the government’s spokesperson for the Boko Haram armed group. He once fought for “change,” but he has since made the promise to “change” in his campaign.
What transpired following the election?
Tchiroma won the election after the voting ended on October 12.
“Our victory is obvious,” he said. In a video statement posted on Facebook, he said, “It must be respected.” He demanded that Biya “accept the reality of the ballot box” or “trouble the nation.”
Tchiroma claimed to have received 55% of the vote in favor of him. More than 8 million people registered to cast ballots in the election.
However, Biya received 53.56% of the vote, according to the Constitutional Council on Monday.
Tchiroma came in second place with 35.19 percent, according to the report.
Clement Atangana, the council’s leader, criticized the opposition for “anticipating the result” and said the election process was “peaceful” after the results were announced on Monday.
What are Biya’s main flaws?
Despite having abundant resources like oil and cocoa, under Biya’s rule, Cameroon has struggled with a myriad issues, including persistent corruption that critics claim has slowed economic growth.
The president is renowned for his absence because he reportedly spends long periods of time away from the country. He has won eight contests that are held every seven years.
In the run-up to this month’s election, the 92-year-old promised voters that “the best is still to come” at just one campaign rally.
He frequently takes his entourage on private or medical trips to Switzerland. Since becoming in power in 2018, an investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project discovered that Biya had spent at least 1, 645 days (nearly four and a half years) in the European nation, excluding official visits.
Opposition politicians have frequently accused the electoral authorities of conspiring with the president to rig elections under Biya. Parliament approved a resolution to remove the maximum number of terms a president can serve in 2008.
Prior to the election, the Constitutional Council forbade the popular opposition candidate Maurice Kamto of the Cameroonian Renaissance Movement from running.
On a number of charges, including plotting violence, have some opposition leaders and their supporters been detained by the police.
Two well-known figures from the Union for Change, Anicet Ekane and Djeukam Tchameni, were detained on Friday.
The party’s leader, the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy, claimed that the local security forces had abducted its treasurer and other members in an effort to “intimidate” Cameroonians.
Additionally, according to experts, Biya’s ascendancy could cause instability if he eventually leaves.
What security measures exist in Cameroon?
In the Far North Region of the nation, attacks by the militant group Boko Haram have increased steadily since 2015.
Additionally, Cameroon has struggled with conflict since escaping French rule in 1960 due to its deep linguistic and political divisions, which resulted from the merger of French and English-speaking regions into one state.
The Francophone-dominated government in Yaounde has felt increasingly marginalized Anglophone Cameroonians in the northwest and southwest of the country because French is its official language.
When teachers and attorneys demanded equal recognition of English-language institutions in 2016, their grievances turned into widespread protests – over language, education, courts, and resource distribution.
The government made arrests and blackouts on the internet, which eventually led to an armed separatist fight for an independent state known as Ambazonia.
The most recent presidential election since the conflict has grown more heated. The Anglophone population is prohibited from taking part in government-sponsored events like national day celebrations and elections by armed separatists.
In consequence, there were a lot of abstentions on October 12 and a 53% turnout in the Southwest and Northwest regions. In the two regions, Biya received 68.7% and 86.31 percent of the vote, respectively.
What will occur at this point?
According to observers, protests are likely to spread.
Before the results were released, Tchiroma paid tribute to the four protesters who had died before being killed by a “regime that has become criminal during a peaceful march.”
He demanded that the Biya government “stop these arbitrary arrests, killings, and acts of barbarism.”
Source: Aljazeera
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