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28, September 2018

Calls for Cameroon’s suspension from the Commonwealth ⁰

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and 27 leading civil society organisations have called for Cameroon to be added to the formal agenda of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG). CMAG meets this week in New York and has the power to suspend Cameroon from the Commonwealth; it includes Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, and the foreign ministers of Australia, Barbados, Belize, Ghana, Kenya, Malaysia, Namibia, Samoa, and the United Kingdom.

Civil society is raising attention to indiscriminate killings, arbitrary arrests, detention without recourse to justice, torture, and asserts the Government of Cameroon to be in breach of the Commonwealth Charter, Latimer House Principles, and the Harare Declaration.

David White, CHRI’s London Head commented: ‘CMAG was set up to deal with serious and persistent violators of the shared principles, which is precisely the situation in Cameroon. This is a call from civil society for the the Secretary-General and CMAG to act in defence of the very values that bind our Commonwealth together.’

28, September 2018

No EU observers for Cameroon presidential election ⁰

The European Union will not deploy observers to Cameroon for next month’s presidential election due to limited resources, the agency confirmed.

The worldwide actor in international election observation has said in a mailed response that it was obliged to prioritise the beneficiary countries.

“An election observation mission of the European Union is indeed not scheduled for Cameroon for the presidential elections on October 7. In general terms, resources are limited,” the EU Delegation to Cameroon confirmed.

However, the EU said it was still ready to deploy observers for subsequent elections should the government invite them on time.

“We remain, of course, available for further discussion [with Cameroon] on electoral issues and on the broader reform process,” the EU said.

An invitation

“Should the Cameroonian authorities issue an invitation, we might be able to consider the possibility of an observation mission or an electoral experts mission for the legislative elections scheduled for 2019,” the EU promised.

An African Union (AU) mission has been assessing the electoral process in Cameroon. The 12-member long-term observation mission arrived on September 5 and will remain in the country until October 19, “to comprehensively assess the electoral process in line with the African Union Long Term Election Observation Methodology,” according an AU statement.

The Long Term Observation Mission, consisting of four core team of analysts and eight Long-Term Observers (LTOs), will be joined by a Short Term Observation Mission close to the polls, from September 28 to October 10.

Nine candidates, including the incumbent President Paul Biya, are in the race after being cleared by the polls agency, ELECAM, out of 28 aspirants.

No movement

The nine candidates and their supporters have been crisscrossing the country since the official launch of campaigns last Saturday to woo potential voters with their various manifestos.

Observers say the failure by the opposition to present a single candidate increased the chances of the incumbent as Cameroon has a one-round election system. A candidate only requires to garner the most votes to be declared winner.

Separatists have threatened to impose a ‘state of emergency’ on the troubled English-peaking Northwest and Southwest regions ahead the vote.

Anglophone separatist activists who have been clamouring for secession and the creation of the Republic of Ambazonia, have warned that they would not allow any election organised by the Yaoundé regime to take place in “their country”.

They have also announced there would be no movement in and out of the territory from September 25 to October 10, but the government has vowed that the election would take place in a serene atmosphere nationwide.

Source: The East African

28, September 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Will the Catholic Church Play Peacemaker in Cameroon? ⁰

Since 2016, Cameroon, the West African state most famous for its soccer prowess, has descended into conflict. With the country voting in an already discredited presidential election on 7 October, the need for strong leadership from the Catholic Church has never been greater.

The roots of the conflict

Cameroon’s English-speaking minority claims it has been increasingly marginalized by the Francophone majority since gaining independence. Of 32 cabinet members, only one is Anglophone, even though English speakers represent 20% of the population. In 2016, the government tried to impose Francophone judges in the Anglophone region’s courts, and to force the French language on its schools. This led to peaceful civil protests such as strike days when shops and schools closed. The authorities responded with disproportionate force, inadvertently fueling a militant secessionist movement. An example of this heavy-handed reaction, as reported by the impartial human rights watchdog, Crisis Group, was a government helicopter hovering over a church, shooting unarmed worshippers as they emerged.

The conflict deepens

The security situation is deteriorating rapidly. Dozens of secessionist leaders who were detained in January remain incommunicado, adding to Anglophone grievance. A recent Amnesty report describes the army’s scorched earth tactics, with 106 villages in the North West and South West regions raided, looted, and burned. Their ethnic cleansing strategy is working: 200,000 have fled into the bush, while 20,000 are in refugee camps in Nigeria.

Social media heightens the sense that English-speakers are being persecuted. Stories of government soldiers torturing and humiliating Anglophones are common, as are disturbing videos of human rights violations circulating online. In this tense atmosphere, there are rumours that political prisoners are being sprayed with chemicals that make them unwell. Cameroon authorities have reportedly denied visas to the International Committee of the Red Cross. On September 10th, soldiers demanded that doctors at Bamenda hospital hand over wounded patients, suspecting them of being rebels, rather than civilians caught in cross fire. There are also unconfirmed reports from the Africa-based Centre for Human Rights and Democracy that the government now requires Anglophones to have internal travel permits. Amnesty estimates 400 people have been killed, although sources in Cameroon believe the figure is much higher, claiming that there are mass graves in the bush.

The authorities’ harsh response to early peaceful protests has led to a polarization of opinion within the besieged Anglophone community. Secessionists are now using extreme violence, targeting security services and government representatives, and punishing civilians who fail to back their vision of a new independent Anglophone country called Ambazonia. Schools not participating in the general strike are being attacked, with 70 torched since 2016. Teachers and students have been seized, and parents are withdrawing their children from schools. The principals of several secondary schools have been kidnapped as retribution for keeping schools open. On an anecdotal level, a Catholic nun reports to your correspondent that her town is surrounded by forces from both sides, effectively holding civilians hostage; people who have fled to camps fear imminent attack; and members of the Diaspora worry constantly about the safety of their family back in Cameroon.

Although the Anglophone Diaspora has appealed to the UK, its former colonial power, it is clear from answers to Parliamentary questions from Lord Alton among others that Britain will go no further than appealing for dialogue. In the run up to Brexit, establishing trading relations is a priority; in June, the government announced that UK interests had signed a natural gas deal with Cameroon worth £1.5 billion. Furthermore, the international community is unlikely to apply pressure to Cameroon’s leader, Paul Biya, while his country’s troops are battling the Islamist terrorists, Boko Haram, in the Lake Chad region.

What can the Catholic Church do?

The church commands the respect of all sides of the population; it is seen as a legitimate voice of civil society. From the beginning of the current crisis, Anglophone faith leaders have called for inclusive talks aimed at finding a peaceful, federal approach, devolving some powers to disenfranchised English-speaking regions. These calls were first ignored and then rejected by Biya’s government. As secessionists have adopted increasingly violent means, the Francophone authorities have hardened their position, refusing to negotiate with terrorists.

The 85-year-old Biya will most probably be re-elected in October, after a process that will fail to meet international standards of free and fair elections, as it usually does in Cameroon. Observers fear that the closing days of the election campaign may spark even more violence. Biya, who has been in power since 1982, seems determined to ignore Anglophone calls for dialogue. Meanwhile, it is noticeable that few French-speaking faith leaders have expressed solidarity with their opposite numbers in the Anglophone region, or have put pressure on Biya to compromise.

In November there will be a conference of faith leaders, convened by the Anglophone churches. This is an opportunity for French-speaking Catholics to join moderate Anglophones in calling for inclusive dialogue to resolve the country’s crisis by non-violent, constitutional means. The church is in a unique position, with the moral authority to push the government into negotiations. The continuing disengagement of many Francophone faith leaders is unhelpful at best. While brave Anglophone priests and bishops demonstrate the courage to seek a peaceful and moderate way forward, they deserve the active support of their fellow religious leaders among the French-speaking majority.

Source: Independent Catholic News

27, September 2018

Why video evidence should not be the only thing that forces the Biya regime to investigate human rights violations ⁰

On July 12, Amnesty International released a detailed analysis in response to the emergence on the internet of a video depicting the execution of two women and very young children by Cameroonian armed forces. One of the children was killed strapped to a woman’s back, each executed by the same deadly hail of bullets.

The horror depicted in the recordings hit the international headlines, and the government immediately replied, dismissing the video as “fake” and designed to “tarnish the image of Cameroon’s defense forces.” Eventually, the government promised to look into the video and reported later on having arrested seven soldiers in connection with the event.

Less than a month later, another video came to the attention of Amnesty researchers, this one depicting a “kamikaze” reprisal mission, as jokingly described in the recording by one of the soldiers. The video documents the movement of soldiers on foot and vehicles through a village. Midway through the recording, with structures burning in the background, we witness the execution of a dozen people, sitting and laying against an exterior wall.

Then too, Amnesty released a statement condemning the executions carried out by Cameroonian armed forces. This time, rather than immediately dismissing the newly emerged video as fake, the Minister of Communications said the government would open an investigation, though at the same time claiming the government was facing a “campaign of denigration.”

As human rights investigators increasingly handle video and photographic evidence in the course of their work, the methods used to authenticate the “who, what, where, and when” of these materials have become more and more sophisticated. This authentication work is crucial as it is not uncommon for video or other material to be “fake” — staged, manipulated, edited or — quite frequently — from somewhere else.

Sometimes, it is material misattributed from another place or time. Or it may be a piece of content may show something, but whether it is evidence of a human rights abuse is ambiguous. Like other types of evidence, video and photographic material whose origin or history is unclear is treated with the rightful skepticism by investigators, precisely because misinformation is increasingly manifesting in visual form.

How we authenticated

In the case of the two recent Cameroon videos, the “what” is undeniable — the unambiguous executions of unarmed men, women, and children.

As to who the perpetrators are in the videos. Amnesty International investigators visually identified uniforms, weapons, other equipment, and military ranks, and were all known to be associated with, or belong to, Cameroonian security forces. In one of the videos, identification of the Zastava M21, an automatic rifle that is rare in Africa but used by a small section of the Cameroonian army, was an important clue. Analysis of the audio dialogue — accents and local languages spoken — was consistent with visual findings, and there can be little doubt that in both videos, the Cameroonian security forces were direct participants in the crimes recorded.

As to when and where the videos were taken, it is more generally difficult to conclude either with certainty without some knowledge of the other. In the case of the most recently released video, investigators identified possible locations through verbal cues in the recording and review by local contacts. Importantly for corroboration, the person recording the video walked for some distance while filming. This allowed analysts to identify many visual cues in the video — road intersections, oddly shaped buildings, trees, among others — as well as their spatial relation to each other.

Analysts at Bellingcat — a collective of online investigators using open source and social media — also working to locate the video — identified a possible location: the village of Achigachia. To independently verify the location, Amnesty investigators took the visual cues taken from the video and plotted against satellite imagery of Achigachia to determine if there was a perfect overlap. There was, including at the exact coordinates in the village where at least 12 people were executed against a wall by a barrage of automatic gunfire. In a longer version of the same video, which surfaced later, the soldiers themselves named the village where the events occurred.

With the confirmation of where the executions took place, the question became whether we could narrow the time in which the crime occurred. With no references to the date, season, or even the year in the video or audio, investigators again relied on satellite imagery. Since the “kamikaze” mission documented in the video included the burning of buildings, an Amnesty satellite imagery expert scanned imagery archives of the town to determine whether burning was evident at those precise points. With luck, two images taken close in time to each other in January 2015 captured the town before fires, and after.

The false-colour images above highlight the near-infrared band. Healthy vegetation appears red while unhealthy, or burned areas appear black and brown. On 10 January 2015, the burning structures from the video appear intact. On 26 January 2015, the structures appear burned.

Thus, through careful and detailed analysis, we concluded that the second video was taken in Achigaya between 10 and 26 January 2015 and depicts extrajudicial executions at the hands of Cameroonian security forces.

Why the videos should not have mattered more than previous violations

In today’s media-saturated world, one of the most notable characteristics about these recordings — aside from the uniquely horrifying events they document — is when they were captured. These videos did not capture breaking events. They are both years old.

In response to the video of the execution of the women and children, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights stated:

“The government of Cameroon has an obligation to investigate this atrocious crime urgently…I am deeply worried that these killings captured on camera may not be isolated cases.”

Indeed, they are not isolated cases, and in most respects, the videos do not reveal an unknown pattern. In September 2015 and again in July 2016, Amnesty issued extensive reports documenting widespread abuses by Cameroon’s security forces in the course of their fight against Boko Haram: arbitrary detention, torture, disappearances, and the killing of civilians.

Over the last 2 years, Amnesty has continued documenting abuses amounting to war crimes by the Cameroonian security forces operating in the Far North and elsewhere. Just as the crimes depicted in the videos are unambiguous, so too are the crimes documented by Amnesty and others over the intervening years since they were first recorded.

While it is not uncommon for additional evidence to emerge after a report publication, this instance is notable because of the attention received in news media, likely a result of the abject cruelty the videos depict. While the government has made initial statements at least paying lip-service to accountability, it should not come only in response to the emergence of video, 3 years after the fact.

While video evidence can be a powerful tool for human rights defenders, and digital connectivity is empowering ever-larger segments of humanity to document the struggles they face, there is a risk. Video documentation cannot become the minimum evidentiary standard that compels governments and authorities to act in the face of abuses by police or security forces.

The absence of a meaningful response by authorities to these horrific acts is part of a larger pattern of unwillingness or inability to hold the perpetrators to account in Cameroon’s fight against Boko Haram. Such an atmosphere of impunity causes the horrific acts witnessed on the videos and documented in extensive reporting. And it leads to equally horrific acts that are not captured in video and will never similarly capture the attention of news media and the broader public.

Scott Edwards is a Senior Crisis Adviser at Amnesty International based in Washington DC.

27, September 2018

Cameroon’s Nigerian Refugees Return to School as Boko Haram Worries Fade ⁰

Nigerian refugee children have returned to schools on Cameroon’s northern border as the threat of attacks from Boko Haram Islamist militants has reduced. But some feel it is still not safe enough to return home.

On a bright Monday morning at the government primary school in the Minawao Refugee Camp, thousands of children gather for their morning assembly.

They pray and listen to news about their school, the camp, their host country Cameroon, and their country of origin — Nigeria.

They are among some 75,000 Nigerians, most of them women and children, who fled Boko Haram Islamists to live along Cameroon’s northern border.

Traumatized

But even inside the refugee camp, the fear of Boko Haram attacks kept school enrollment last year to around 10,000 children. Many students were too traumatized to study while security forces also worried the militants could infiltrate the schools.

In the last year, Boko Haram attacks have drastically reduced. And, since the school year began on September 3, the children at the camp’s schools has nearly doubled to 20,000.

Teacher Lawrence Nyamnjo says with only 190 teachers, they are now more concerned about resources than suicide bombers.

Teacher Lawrence Nyamnjo being interviewed.

“Problem of teachers, infrastructure, even of school kits since the children don’t buy,” said Nyamnjo.

Nyanmjo says they are waiting for the United Nations Refugee Agency to help provide school supplies.

Positive change

The United Nations Children’s Fund representative in Cameroon, Jacques Boyer, visited the refugee camp schools along with the Korean ambassador. He says they noticed a positive change in the children.

“Four months ago, I was in this same place, these children were sad, traumatized,” he said. “What we have witnessed with her excellency the ambassador of Korea is smiles on their faces. Children, four months ago were drawing people with weapons and drones, now they are drawing flowers, houses, so for us it is important on the psychological aspect that this change occur.”

The Boko Haram conflict has displaced about 200,000 people in northern Cameroon.

But while there has been no major Boko Harm attack in the past year, only about 8,000 Nigerian refugees have felt safe enough to return home.

Harisa Aisatousays she wants to be journalist.

Hope of return

Nigerian student Emma Hamadou, 11, fled from the Nigerian town of Banki three years ago after Boko Haram fighters torched the houses, markets and schools.

She says, when it is safe, she dreams of returning to her country to teach friends that Boko Haram’s opposition to western education is wrong.

“I am in group five. I come here for learning. When I finish my school, I will want to be a teacher,” she said.

Cameroon on September third re-opened 40 schools on its northern border with Nigeria that were sealed for four years because of Boko Haram threats.

While the central African state says the Islamist threat has drastically reduced, it warns people should remain vigilant and report any suspects.

Culled from the VOA

27, September 2018

How BBC exposed killing of women, children by Cameroon Army using Google Earth ⁰

A video emerged earlier this year, showing some armed men in uniform brutally killing a group of women and children, and triggered uproar across the globe. It was alleged that the video, released by Channel 4, showed killing of civilians by Cameroon’s army over alleged links with dreaded terrorist group Boko Haram.

The Cameroon government denied the claim, saying that the video was not shot in the country and that the Army was being wrongly blamed for killing civilians. A statement was released by Cameroon Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, to deny the claims.

“The video that is currently going round is nothing but an unfortunate attempt to distort actual facts and intoxicate the public. Its sincerity can be easily questioned,” Bakary had said in his statement. While the statement came in July 2018, the government a month later said that seven members of the military were facing investigation.

BBC, however, decided to carry out a fact check of the video and the claims and counter claims around it. And the media group did so with the help of Google Earth. It based its investigation on three points – where exactly did it happen, when did it happen, and who is responsible for the atrocities. The BBC released its findings in a video titled ‘Cameroon: Anatomy of a killing’.

Where:

The first 40 seconds of the video captures a mountain range with a distinctive profile. BBC journalists spent hours to match the range with the topography of northern Cameroon, but it failed to give desired result. After a tip off from a source, they studied the topography of a particular region and discovered that the range was near a village named Krawa Mafa, few hundred meters away from the Nigerian border. Other details in the video, such as houses and dirt tracks, were matched with the topography of the village and found to be same.

When:

This was the trickiest part of the investigation done by BBC journalists. Several bits and pieces were put together to identify the range of period when the civilians were killed. A building was visible on the satellite imagery but only till 2016, which suggested that the killings took place before that period. Another building was spotted to have come up in March 2015. Then, a path was traced which appeared only between January and July. The journalists also analysed the shadow of walking assailants on basis of concept of sun dial. After the whole analysis, it was confirmed that the killings took place between March 20 and April 5, 2015.

Who:

The statement released by Cameroonian Minister of Communication Issa Tchiroma Bakary was used for this purpose. For instance, the minister in his statement claimed that the weapons in the video were not the ones used by the Cameroonian Army, but BBC analysis showed that one of the guns used was Serbian made Zastava M21, which is used by some sections of the country’s military. The minister also claimed that the dress worn by the assailants was one used for operations in forests. Bakary claimed that the soldiers in the said area wore desert-style uniform. But Cameroonian soldiers in the region in a Channel 4 video of 2015 were seen wearing forest-style camouflage, similar to those seen in the video.

The focus then shifted to a statement released by the government in August 2018, which named seven soldiers who were arrested and under investigation. The names mentioned in the video, such as Corporal Tchotcho, were matched with some Facebook profiles. A profile of Tchotcho Cyriaque Bityala, who was among the detainees named by the government. Two other soldiers, named in the government list, were identified in a similar manner.

The findings were shared by BBC with the Cameroonian government. Responding to it, the Bakary said, “Seven soldiers were arrested, disarmed. They are under investigation right now. I can confirm that all seven of them are in prison.”

Culled from ZeeNews

27, September 2018

Menchum County: Prison attacked by armed men, about 70 inmates escape ⁰

Separatists in Cameroon’s restive English speaking regions staged a prison break leading to the escape of about 70 prisoners, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

The incident took place in Wum, a town located north of the regional capital Bamenda. Witnesses say the preceding the prison break was exchange of gunfire at the town’s prison lasting several hours.

They added that the mastermind of the attack sustained gunshot wounds but was carried away by members of his team.

This becomes the second such incident in under two months. In late July 2018, over 160 inmates in the Ndop prisons were released after an attack by separatists.

The attackers who “fired from everywhere”, were able to “break the gates of the prison” before “setting fire to all the buildings,”he added, …

At the time, William Benedict Emvoutu Mbita, head of the department of Ngoketunjia where Ndop is located confirmed that some escapees had voluntarily returned and were due to be transferred to the regional capital, Bamenda.

The attackers who “fired from everywhere”, were able to “break the gates of the prison” before “setting fire to all the buildings,“he added, stressing that they had brought fuel to cause the fire.

Armed separatists since October last year have faced off with state security forces in an increasingly deteriorating security situation in the Anglophone regions – the North-West and South-West.

Source: Africa News

26, September 2018

Cameroon: Senate President dies in French hospital ⁰

Cameroon’s Senate president, Marcel Niat Njifenji, 84, has died in a French hospital a few days after he was evacuated due to respiratory problems. Mr. Njifenji who was reappointed by his friend, classmate, and president, Paul Biya, as senator and Senate president has, for some time now, been suffering from a respiratory problem.

He was once the country’s deputy prime minister and a former managing director of the country’s only power utility corporation, SONEL, in the 1980s. Mr Njifenji has been accused by many of his collaborators in SONEL at the time of embezzling the funds of the state corporation which later faced serious management problems in the 1990s.

Mr. Njifenji who just started his second term as the Senate president has been one of the many reactionary elements who have ensured that no meaningful political change takes place in the country. He has also worked with members of the ruling party to ensure that the Southern Cameroons crisis that has resulted in the deaths of some 4,000 Cameroonians does not get addressed at the negotiating table.

Mr. Njifenji was supposed to lead a delegation to his native region to campaign for outgoing President Paul Biya’s reelection.

Mr. Biya, who is himself suffering from a heart problem and a distended prostate, has not yet been seen on the campaign trail although his surrogates are all over the place trying to convince the population that he will be campaigning soon.

Mr. Biya’s poor economic performance and his inability to steer a prosperous country to safer shores makes it hard for his candidacy to be sold to a population that is hankering for change. Mr. Biya has ruled the country for 36 years and his incompetence has not only left the country with a tough economic situation, it has also caused the country to deal with a civil war that might take decades to address.

Speaking to a member of the ruling party who elected anonymity, the Cameroon Concord News Group gathered that there was a huge division within the ruling party.

The ruling party member said that it was good for some of the old members to start quitting the scene in order to create room for the new generation that could easily deal with some of the economic and political challenges facing the country.

“I have just been advised of the Senate president’s death in a French hospital. I would like to use this opportunity to extend my condolences to his family,” he said.

“With people like Niat out of the picture, our country could start healing. He was one of those reactionary elements of the government who have been blocking efforts to address the Southern Cameroons crisis through peaceful means,” he added.

Mr. Njifenji will be succeeded as Senate president by Chief Tabetando of the Southwest region who has been Mr. Njifenji’s vice for more than four years.

He will surely not be missed by Cameroonians who have been calling for change at the highest level of the country’s political realm. The government is yet to make any official statement regarding his death and our call to his office has not yet been returned.

By Kingsley Betek in Yaounde

26, September 2018

Unknown gunmen ‘kill 12’ in Mali ⁰

Unknown gunmen have attacked an area torn by tribal strife in eastern Mali, killing at least 12 people, security source say.

According to the sources, the attack occurred in the remote Menaka region on Tuesday.

“Armed men on motorcycles killed at least 12 civilians,” a security source was quoted by AFP as saying.

“For now, we do not know exactly who did it. I don’t know if it was the result of a dispute between tribes or a terrorist act,” the source added.

A former rebel group said armed men had “executed 17 civilians” from two Tuareg camps.

Some 200 people from tribes known as Fulani and Tuareg have been killed in Menaka region this year.

France launched a military operation in Mali back in January 2013, after the region was hit by unrest between local tribes and militants.

The French military still maintains a significant military presence in the West African country.

Source: Presstv

26, September 2018

Canada issues Cameroon travel advisory over rising insecurity ⁰

The Canadian government on Tuesday issued a travel advisory for Cameroon cautioning citizens on the security situation ahead of October 7 presidential polls. A summary of the safety and security tab read: Presidential elections are due to take place on October 7, 2018. Demonstrations could occur before, during and after the elections.

Avoid areas where demonstrations and large gatherings are taking place
Follow the instructions of local authorities
Monitor local media for the latest information

The upcoming polls have been cited as a key test of the security apparatus in the country especially with threats from separatists elements that voting will not take place in the English-speaking regions – North-West and South-West.

Specifically on the situation in the two regions, the advisory said: “Since late November 2016, demonstrations, general strikes and clashes stemming from local tensions have led to casualties in the North-West and South-West regions.

“The security situation has deteriorated since the beginning of 2018. Kidnappings have occurred and foreigners have been targeted. A curfew is in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

“Unofficial road blocks could be set up by armed groups. At any time, local authorities could impose movement restrictions. Telecommunications could be disrupted.”

It also warned against the Far North and Mayo-Louti Department and areas bordering Nigeria, Chad and the Central African Republic.

Cameroonians go to the polls to elect a new president. Incumbent Paul Biya is up against eight other candidates. The vote is the final process for a busy electoral year that has seen legislative polls being organised by the elections body, ELECAM.

Source: Africa News