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SDF: John Fru Ndi Dies at 81

13, June 2023

SDF: John Fru Ndi Dies at 81 0

Veteran Cameroonian opposition leader John Fru Ndi, who for decades fought to topple long-standing president Paul Biya at the ballot box, has died aged 81, his party said.

Fru Ndi, who dominated the opposition in the Central African country for a generation and was arrested and kidnapped for his politics, had been suffering from a long illness, the Social Democratic Front (SDF) said in a statement overnight.

“It is with sadness that we announce the transition into eternal glory of John Fru Ndi on June 12, 2023, at 11:30 p.m.,” it said.

An English-speaking businessman from Cameroon’s northwest region, he formed the SDF, the first opposition party in the bilingual Central African country, which is dominated by its French-speaking majority.

He ran for president several times, including in 1992 when he narrowly lost Cameroon’s first free presidential elections. Fru Ndi said the vote had been rigged and he was placed under house arrest as riots swept opposition strongholds.

Later, as Biya’s grip on power tightened, Fru Ndi secured fewer votes, according to official figures.

In recent years, a violent separatist uprising has rocked the English-speaking western regions. Fru Ndi was kidnapped twice in 2019 by gunmen after his party refused to endorse secession.

Biya, meanwhile, has ruled the central African country since 1982. He has repeatedly secured landslide election wins amid opposition claims of fraud.

Source: Reuters

Russia fires missiles on Kyiv in rare daytime attack

29, May 2023

Russia fires missiles on Kyiv in rare daytime attack 0

A series of explosions rang out in Kyiv on Monday as Russia targeted the city for the second time in 24 hours.

The latest barrages hit the pro-Western country as the Ukrainian capital was still recovering from an overnight Saturday drone attack, the biggest since Russia’s invasion began in February last year.

AFP journalists heard at least 10 explosions from around 11:10 am local time (0810 GMT) in Kyiv, starting just a few minutes after an air raid warning sounded.

Authorities later said Ukrainian air defences had downed all the Russian missiles launched against the Kyiv region.

One injured man was hospitalised, they said.

“A total of 11 missiles were fired: ‘Iskander-M’ and ‘Iskander-K’ from a northerly direction,” Ukraine’s armed forces chief Valery Zaluzhny said.

“All the targets were destroyed by air defences.”

Sergiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s city administration, said that Russians struck in the morning when “most residents were at work and on the streets”.

Source: AFP

Cannes spotlights Mambar Pierrette: ‘It’s high time Cameroonian stories influence world cinema’

26, May 2023

Cannes spotlights Mambar Pierrette: ‘It’s high time Cameroonian stories influence world cinema’ 0

In the Directors’ Fortnight, which runs parallel to the main festival, Rosine Mbakam’s “Mambar Pierrette” painted an intimate portrait of a Cameroonian seamstress and single mother struggling to make ends meet against a backdrop of social hardship and the threat of floods. 

Pierrette Aboheu Njeuthat stars as the titular character, a mother of three who works tirelessly at her sewing machine to provide for her children while customers and neighbours linger in her small shop, sharing their joys and disappointments in a deftly woven tapestry of communal life in the city of Douala.

A remarkable debut feature based on the life of Mbakam’s seamstress cousin, “Mambar Pierrette” draws on the director’s experience of documentary filmmaking, which has previously explored the themes of kinship and migration to Europe. FRANCE 24 spoke to the filmmaker about her focus on character studies and her commitment to promoting African stories in the moviemaking industry. 

“Mambar Pierrette” is your first feature-length fiction film, although it is based on your cousin’s life. Where do you draw the line between documentary and fiction?

I drew inspiration from Pierrette’s life to write the script, placing it at the very heart of the film. Once we started shooting, the other characters also added their input, bringing the screenplay closer to their own lives. 

Fiction never takes over. Its role is to add substance to the narrative and provide more context. In particular, the fictional element helps underscore the fact that Pierrette’s social predicament is not only a result of her small income, her husband’s irresponsibility or Cameroon’s politics. It is also derived from an enduring neo-colonialism that leaves swaths of the population in poverty.

The fabric shop is at the heart of your film. What does it symbolise?

My film tells the story of Pierrette, who is a seamstress in real life. Sewing embellishes, it brings people together, and her workshop is a place where people open up and share their secrets. I wanted to highlight the value of this work of dressmaking and transformation, which has all but vanished in the West. We shop, but we have lost this relationship with what we wear.

The sewing room also represents gender relationships in Cameroon. The men remain in the entrance, at the door, while the women establish themselves in the workshop, inhabiting the space. These opposing stances signal the contrast between a new generation of women who are increasingly assertive and men who don’t accept this reality – and are therefore in a vulnerable situation. Pierrette doesn’t sew for women only, she works for everyone, her workspace excludes nobody. By keeping at a distance, the men seek to protect themselves and avoid questioning their position in society.

Culled from France 24

French Cameroun: Tribal tensions spill onto the streets of Sangmelima

24, May 2023

French Cameroun: Tribal tensions spill onto the streets of Sangmelima 0

The tribal tensions which have been high for years in Cameroon have begun spilling out in Sangmelima, the economic capital of the South Region which is the region of the country’s president, Paul Biya.

It is being reported that a native of the West region murdered a native of Sangmelima and the locals have decided to take the law into their hands, sowing chaos and destroying anything in their path.

Shops and other businesses owned by the Bamilekes of the West Region are being ransacked and non natives are being asked to leave the region.

Recent reports hold that the government has sent troops to clean up the mess but a lot of damage has already been done with hundreds wounded, especially young men who want to protect their businesses.

Since coming to power in 1982, the Biya government has been using divide and rule tactics to keep a stranglehold on Cameroonians and this has resulted in identity politics.

By Rita Akana

More will be yours as we get the reports

Southern Cameroons Crisis Is Now a Full-Blown Civil War

16, May 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis Is Now a Full-Blown Civil War 0

Since 2017, Cameroon has been engulfed in a bloody civil war that has claimed more than 6,000 lives, forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes and left nearly 4 million people dependent on humanitarian assistance. Diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict have repeatedly failed, most recently in January, when a Canada-backed initiative was aborted before it even got off the ground. Now divisions among the armed separatist movement fighting the government risk escalating the conflict, raising further obstacles to reaching peace.

The conflict has its origins in protests that began in 2016 over language-based grievances in the Anglophone North-West and South-West regions of the majority-Francophone country. Led by lawyers, students and teachers, the demonstrations sought to block a new measure that imposed French-speaking teachers and judges in Anglophone schools and courts, while also calling attention to the broader marginalization of Cameroon’s Anglophone population, which constitutes roughly 17 percent of the country’s inhabitants.

After authorities brutally repressed the peaceful protests, a previously existing separatist movement radicalized and began to launch attacks against government forces the following year. In October 2017, Anglophone secessionist groups declared the creation of an independent Federal Republic of Ambazonia, with the Ambazonia Governing Council at its head. The following month, the Cameroonian government declared war on the secessionists and deployed soldiers to the Anglophone regions to crush them.

Since then, the violence has escalated into a full-blown civil war that has raged on despite domestic and international efforts to broker peace. In 2019, peace talks mediated by Switzerland followed by a week-long national dialogue initiated by the government failed to halt the fighting, partly due to infighting among the separatists. The following year, another dialogue involving several jailed members of the separatist movement’s leadership collapsed, this time due to divisions in the Cameroonian government as well as among the separatists.

The Canada-facilitated dialogue between the Cameroonian government and Anglophone separatists announced by Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly in January was the latest high-profile attempt to “reach a comprehensive, peaceful and political resolution of the conflict.” But three days after Joly’s announcement, a Cameroonian government spokesperson shot down the proposal, saying that Yaounde did not entrust any country with the role of mediating the crisis.

But while Yaounde took the blame for scuttling the most recent initiative, some observers chalked up the abortive dialogue to internal disagreements among the Anglophone leaders. In an exclusive interview with World Politics Review, Capo Daniel, the former spokesperson of the Ambazonia Governing Council, which represented the separatists in preliminary discussions, said that “internal politics” within the organization’s hierarchy is as much to blame as Yaounde’s intransigence for the failure of the Canada-initiated peace talks.

The Hong Kong-based separatist leader was part of the Anglophone negotiating team at “pre-talks” between the Cameroonian government and the Anglophone separatists. But he resigned from his position as spokesman for the council and its military wing last month, citing fundamental disagreements with the movement’s leaders. “We had strong divergent views in the leadership, both about the commitment we secured from the state of Cameroon and the Canadians that facilitated the process,” he told WPR. “The commitment was for a negotiated settlement, but we failed due to the internal politics and the divided nature of our camps.”

The historical origins of the Anglophone crisis date back to the end of World War I, when German Kamerun—as the colonial territory was then known—was divided into two League of Nations mandates. Britain took over roughly one-fifth of the territory along the borders of neighboring Nigeria, while France assumed control of the remainder. When French Cameroon won its independence in 1960, the U.N. organized a plebiscite the following year to determine the fate of the British Cameroons. But that referendum offered voters only two options: to merge with either Nigeria or Cameroon. Northern Cameroon voted for union with Nigeria, where its former territory now makes up parts of Adamawa, Taraba and Borno states. Southern Cameroon opted for union with Cameroon.

To this day, many Anglophone Cameroonians consider the 1961 plebiscite to be an injustice. According to Samuel Ikome Sako, the president of the unrecognized Federal Republic of Ambazonia, that referendum presented Southern Cameroon with “two bad options,” instead of the self-government that many desired.

In the years after unification with Cameroon, a federal system was established to administer the country and preserve a sense of autonomy in the Anglophone regions. In that system, both English and French were established as the country’s official languages. But beginning in 1972, then-President Ahmadou Ahidjo introduced a process to centralize authority, which ultimately abolished Cameroon’s federal system, further concentrated powers in the hands of the president and effectively imposed a Francophone character on the Cameroonian state.

Cameroon’s civil war has now metastasized, turning most parts of the Anglophone regions into a battlefield between separatist militias and government forces.

It was against this backdrop of distrust and disillusionment that the 2016 demonstrations and civil disobedience erupted, triggered by policies that were seen as attempts to further erode the Anglophone regions’ language status and exacerbated by Yaounde’s brutal response to the peaceful protests. Ever since then, the conflict has metastasized, turning most parts of the North-West and South-West regions into a battlefield between separatist militias and government forces. There have been 30 attacks by separatist militias and Cameroonian security forces since January, with the violence taking place in rural communities like Bali, Bache, Bambui, Oku, Kumbo and Jakiri near the Nigerian border, but also in cities like Bamenda and Buea, where one person died in a separatist attack on April 10.

In addition, more than 700,000 children have had their education disrupted due to regular attacks by armed groups trying to impose school boycotts. The United Nations estimates that two out of every three schools in the Anglophone regions have closed indefinitely. This is aside from grave human rights abuses—including mass killings, rape, torture, assault and kidnappings of civilians—committed by both sides, according to Human Rights Watch.

The breakdown of the Canada-backed peace initiative now risks escalating the conflict indefinitely. As a result of the collapsed talks, violence spiked across the two Anglophone regions in February and March. This included the killings of unarmed civilians in Muea by Cameroonian troops and the brutal assassination of Chiabi Emmanuel—a prominent academic—by a nonstate armed group in Bamenda, the capital of the North-West region. On March 15, two students at the University of Buea were arrested by Cameroonian security forces, accused of links to separatist fighters. Hours after their arrest, one of the students, Ngule Linus, died in custody, prompting calls for an investigation.

Daniel, the former spokesperson for the Ambazonia Governing Council, has since launched a new movement called the Ambazonia Peoples Rights Advocacy Platform, with the goal of renewing efforts to resolve the conflict. He is looking to use a constitutional clause called “Special Status” that enables the central government to “take into consideration the specificities of certain Regions with regard to their organisation and functioning,” in order to enhance the Anglophone regions’ powers of self-governance.

President Paul Biya already used the clause in 2019 to institute measures that transformed the Anglophone regional councils into more powerful regional assemblies, with authority over the local education system, regional development institutions and relations with traditional chiefs—all powers that the Francophone councils do not have. But a report by the International Crisis Group argued that Yaounde “undercut the impact and legitimacy of the 2019 measures by filling the assemblies with government proxies and giving veto power over their decisions to the centrally appointed governors.”

Daniel’s goal is to see whether more concessions can be won beyond the limited autonomy granted by Biya four years ago. But many critics, including among the separatists, argue that this approach would not go far enough in granting autonomy to the Anglophone regions, where popular opinion since 2017 has oscillated between federalism and secession. Given the absence of opinion polls, it is difficult to gauge the extent of public support for secession. But it is clear that many English-speaking Cameroonians do not trust that their rights will ever be fully guaranteed if they remain in the union. 

But in addition to the flaws in the Special Status approach, it is not clear how many within the separatist camp will accept Daniel’s leadership. Tse Anye Kevin, one of the organizers of the 2016 protests, dismissed Daniel’s credibility, blaming him and other separatist leaders in the diaspora for “creating chaos on the ground.” Kevin was the deputy president of the Confederation of Cameroon Trade Unions in 2016, but in the wake of the brutal repression that followed the protests he fled to Nigeria, where he remains. While still active in efforts to attract international attention to the Anglophone crisis, Kevin is critical of the factional struggles among Ambazonian leaders, which he considers to be the major obstacle to achieving freedom for Cameroon’s Anglophone communities.

He nonetheless believes that, despite the disunity abroad, the disparate groups that make up the liberation movement on the ground in the Anglophone regions—including their armed factions—are willing to work together. But that might be too optimistic. Following his resignation from the Ambazonia Governing Council, Daniel promptly assembled fighting units loyal to him under a new group called the Ambazonia Dark Forces, with the intention of launching a campaign of economic sabotage targeting the Biya regime’s investments in the Anglophone regions.

The aim, according to Daniel, is “to cripple the Biya regime and force it to agree to a cease-fire by denying it economic revenues.” But that will mean further escalation of the conflict, both with the government and potentially among the separatists, with all the implications that holds for the residents of the region.

Culled from World Politics Review 

Yaoundé: Road users express concerns following Touristique Express’ suspension

13, May 2023

Yaoundé: Road users express concerns following Touristique Express’ suspension 0

Several users of the Maroua-Yaoundé transport line expressed concerns following the decision announced by Transport Minister Jean Ernest Ngallé Bibéhé to suspend the operator Touristique Express.

As a reminder, the company was suspended after being involved in a fatal accident that killed 14 people and injured several others on May 9 on the road between Garoua-Boulaï and Ngaoundéré. Physical damage, material losses, and loss of life were also reported.

Users fear that Danay Express, Touristique’s only competitor, will not be able to handle the flow of passengers on its own and will soon be overwhelmed. “This measure will put great pressure on Danay. And that may cause other accidents. I don’t know if Danay has enough buses to carry everyone,” said Arthur Akoa, a civil servant in Maroua. Journalist and media owner Guibai Gatama said the suspension decision could leave room for “inexperienced occasional carriers and could cause even more damage to travelers.”

For now, the measure taken by Jean Ernest Ngallé Bibéhè on May 11 is in effect. It should last one month but may be renewed. Minister Ngallé Bibéhè also prohibits the rental or transfer of the company’s rolling stock. The license of the driver involved in the accident will also be suspended for two years.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Antigua and Barbuda: Stranded Southern Cameroonians growing increasingly desperate

29, April 2023

Antigua and Barbuda: Stranded Southern Cameroonians growing increasingly desperate 0

Cameroonian migrants stranded in Antigua say they’re reaching breaking point as the stress of surviving on meagre funds, separated from loved ones, takes its toll on their health and wellbeing.

Hundreds of refugees who arrived on charter flights from Nigeria late last year are believed to remain in the country, with their intended destination – the USA – seeming increasingly elusive.

Risky sea voyages to neighbouring islands taken by those hoping to reach the United States via South America have already claimed an estimated 16 lives. News broke on Thursday that several of those rescued from the March 28 boat disaster in St Kitts while attempting to reach the US Virgin Islands had escaped a Basseterre detention facility.

While many of the migrants still in Antigua have secured casual work, they say the paltry income falls far short of financing their onward journey.

One of those who spoke to Observer admits falling victim to scammers who conned him out of money wired from loved ones back home to pay for a fake passport that never transpired.

Thirty-five-year-old Jean* – who hails from one of Cameroon’s Francophone regions – says he arrived in Antigua on December 29, after forking out a colossal US$5,000 for a journey he was told would take him to Suriname.

From there, he planned to travel overland to the US, which last June offered temporary protected status to Cameroonians already in the country and where he hoped to claim asylum.

“The Nigerian agent abandoned us here,” he tells Observer. “When we call the agent or send a message – no reply.”

Desperate to get to South America, Jean says he paid another US$1,500 for a flight to Suriname.

“But when I get to the airport they say no, not possible, because Suriname say no Cameroonian in this country. I lost the flight,” he explains.

Suriname requires Cameroonians to have a visa to enter the country. Jean says he applied for one online and was initially successful.

“It is blocked because they found that it was a passage to the United States,” he says.

Exacerbating Jean’s anxiety is being separated from his wife and four-year-old son who he left at home, planning to send for them once he had secured his status.

Four months later – and still thousands of kilometres from the US – his frustration and anguish are palpable.

Jean is not an English-speaking Cameroonian – who have suffered years of discrimination in the majority French-speaking nation – but he says the bitter separatist conflict has become pervasive.

Many Cameroonians in Antigua say they face prison or even death if they were to return.

The pain of not being able to see or to provide for his family is insufferable, Jean says, adding that he occasionally avoids speaking with them because it torments him further.

“When I think about it sometimes I feel like collapsing, I can’t stop crying,” he tells Observer.

The Antigua and Barbuda government has waived work permit requirements for Africans who arrived on Antigua Airways and Hi Fly flights last November and December.

And it has told the migrants they are welcome to stay.

Indeed, around 60 percent of the 110 people interviewed by UN agencies recently indicated their intention to do just that.

Jean claims this is not the case in reality and that interviewees were simply keen to throw the authorities off the scent as they continue to find ways to leave the island covertly.

“No one wants to stay,” he says flatly. “Here, life is so difficult, everything very expensive. If I tell you that I live well here, I am lying. You think I can support my family? Do I eat well? With what appetite?

“The day I get out of here I’ll be relieved. Look at my face full of spots and pimples; these are the results of stress. Who can live away from his family and be comfortable?”

Jean might consider himself one of the lucky ones. More than 80 percent of those who spoke with the UN agencies reported being unemployed. Jean is eking out a living as a labourer for a benevolent Antiguan.

But as a trained lawyer, it’s far from what he envisaged as a young man studying to make a life for himself back in Cameroon.

“We had the chance to grow up with our own people and to have a reliable education. We didn’t ask for war.

“I was a young and brilliant lawyer of my state who had dreamed of becoming great. Today I am either a labourer or a worker, and it hurts me so much.

“If nothing is done for me I feel that I will crack, I assure you.”

Jean concedes that Antiguans have been good to him and his compatriots.

“Antiguans are kind to us, very nice people here, plenty people help us and send food. Every time we go to the shop they give us food,” he says.

Still, the 108-square mile isle doesn’t offer the opportunities Jean dreams of. Those, he thinks, can be better found in Florida where he has friends.

Several of his Cameroonian associates have already left the country on fake passports, he claims.

“Many have left this way; I do not hide you. I have someone who helped me with this but I never received it,” he says.

Asked how he got the money to pay for what he says was a counterfeit Ghanaian passport, he replies, “My share was paid from my home country by my close friend – US$2,000.

“The strategy was to make the passports that are visa-free for the countries that are on our way [to the US].”

Jean’s primary reason for speaking out now is in the hope someone can help him.

“If this message could reach the immigration officials of Guyana, Suriname, Nicaragua, for compassion to accept me in their territory,” he says.

“On the material level, any help is welcome, especially for housing here. The little money we had on arrival is completely finished; now we are just looking to eat.”

He adds, “I also need prayers.”

*Speaking on condition of anonymity

Source: Antiguaobserver

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Public debt estimated at CFA12.203 billion over first three months of 2023

29, April 2023

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Public debt estimated at CFA12.203 billion over first three months of 2023 0

The public debt of Cameroon was estimated at CFA12.203 billion over the first three months of 2023. Compared to the same period last year, the amount is up 5.2%, and now represents 43.7% of the country’s GDP, according to data published by the Autonomous Depreciation Fund (CAA).

This debt level remains bearable and in line with the government’s 2023-2025 strategy, which aims to keep it below 50% of GDP, the threshold for the CEMAC region being 70% of GDP. The large part of Cameroon’s outstanding public debt during the period under review was incurred by the central government. The outstanding direct debt of the central government grew by 5.6% YoY over the period to CFA11,314 billion, representing 40.5% of GDP.

“The direct debt of public enterprises and entities, at the end of March 2023, is estimated at CFA879 billion, or 3.1% of GDP. This amount is up 0.9% YoY, but down 1.1% MoM and 1.9% QoQ,” the CAA said.

At the same time, the outstanding debt of decentralized local authorities reached about CFA10.2 billion in Q1 2023. It was mainly driven by the Urban Community of Douala. “Work to evaluate this category of debt is ongoing, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Decentralization and Local Development,” the Autonomous Depreciation Fund explained.

Source: Business in Cameroon

World Bank says commodity prices to register sharpest drop since the pandemic 

27, April 2023

World Bank says commodity prices to register sharpest drop since the pandemic  0

Global commodity prices are expected to decline this year at the fastest clip since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, clouding the growth prospects of almost two-thirds of developing economies that depend on commodity exports, according to the World Bank’s latest Commodity Markets Outlook report.

The drop in prices, however, is expected to bring little relief to the nearly 350 million people across the world who face food insecurity. Although food prices are expected to fall by 8% in 2023, they will be at the second-highest level since 1975. Moreover, as of February this year, annual food price inflation is at 20% globally, the highest level over the past two decades.

“The surge in food and energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has largely passed due to slowing economic growth, a moderate winter, and reallocations in the commodity trade,” said Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. “But this is of little comfort to consumers in many countries. In real terms, food prices will remain at one of the highest levels of the past five decades. Governments should avoid trade restrictions and protect their poorest citizens using targeted income-support programs rather than price controls.”

Overall, commodity prices are expected to fall by 21% in 2023 relative to last year. Energy prices are projected to decline by 26% this year. The price of Brent crude oil in U.S. dollars is expected to average $84 a barrel this year—down 16% from the 2022 average. European and U.S. natural-gas prices are forecast to halve between 2022 and 2023, while coal prices are expected to decrease 42% in 2023. Fertilizer prices are also projected to fall by 37% in 2023, which would mark the largest annual drop since 1974. However, fertilizer prices are still near their recent high last seen during the 2008-09 food crisis.

Ayhan Kose, the World Bank’s Deputy Chief Economist and Director of Prospects Group, said: “The decline in commodity prices over the past year has helped reduce global headline inflation. However, central bankers need to remain vigilant as a wide range of factors, including weaker-than-expected oil supply, a more commodity-intensive recovery in China, an intensification of geopolitical tensions, or unfavorable weather conditions, could push prices higher and reignite inflationary pressures.”

Despite the large declines expected this year, prices of all major commodity groups will remain well above their 2015-2019 average levels. European natural gas prices will hover at almost three times the average in 2015-19. Energy and coal prices will also remain above the pre-pandemic average.

“Metal prices, which increased slightly early in the year, are expected to fall by 8% relative to last year, primarily because of weak global demand and improved supplies,” said Valerie Mercer-Blackman, Lead Economist in the World Bank’s Prospects Group. “In the longer term, however, the energy transition could significantly lift the demand for some metals, notably lithium, copper, and nickel.”

A Special Focus section of the report evaluates the performance of a wide range of approaches used to forecast prices of seven industrial commodities (oil and six industrial metals). A key finding of the study is that futures prices, which are widely used for price forecasts, often lead to large forecast errors. Econometric models based on multiple independent variables tend to outperform other approaches as well as futures prices. The analysis suggests that augmenting model-based forecasting approaches—by incorporating the dynamics of commodity prices over time and controlling for other economic factors—enhances forecast accuracy.

Yaoundé: Journalist Killings Cast Chill Over Investigative Reporting

22, April 2023

Yaoundé: Journalist Killings Cast Chill Over Investigative Reporting 0

Cameroonian journalists say they remain fearful more than three months after the abduction and killings of investigative journalist Martinez Zogo and radio presenter Jean-Jacques Ola Bebe.

Dieudonne Koutche was among several dozen civilians who stopped by a memorial to the slain journalists at Amplitude FM radio in Yaounde on April 21, 2023.

He said he feels for journalists in Cameroon because it is a country where officials and business executives can decide one morning to abduct and kill a reporter.

Charges of torture and complicity in torture for the more than 20 people arrested in connection with Zogo’s killing are not convincing, Koutche added. The culprits should face more serious charges, he said.

Zogo was a radio host at Amplitude FM. The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists reports that Zogo had been investigating allegations of corruption involving senior officials in the central African state.

His mutilated body was found on January 22 in Yaounde, five days after he was abducted.

Cameroonian President Paul Biya ordered an investigation into Zogo’s killing after a national and an international outcry.

Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, a prominent business leader with holdings in banking, finance, insurance and property, as well as the L’Anecdote company, which owns a daily newspaper and several pro-government TV and radio stations, was arrested.

Zogo had reported in one of his radio programs that many senior officials, including Belinga, wanted to kill him. But Zogo pledged to continue digging deep into corruption, which he said involved Belinga and many government ministers.

The police also arrested a former chief presidential security guard, senior police officers and a police chief in connection with Zogo’s killing.

Charly Tchouemou, editor-in-chief of Amplitude FM, said reporters are receiving threats, and the momentum to report graft is fading.

He said since Zogo was killed, some Amplitude FM journalists are scared of reporting corruption and social ills. Tchouemou said Amplitude FM reporters are particularly scared because they receive anonymous phone calls from suspected government officials, as well as supporters and business partners of Belinga. He said the callers threaten to kill journalists who continue to report that the business mogul may have masterminded Zogo’s killing.

A court in Yaounde has twice denied bail for Belinga.

Charles Tchoungang, who leads Belinga’s legal defense, said it is not proper for his client to be in jail while other suspects are free. He spoke to VOA by telephone Friday from Douala, Cameroon’s economic hub.

Tchoungang said he is surprised that Belinga was arrested, while some government ministers who are prime suspects are still free. He added that keeping Belinga detained does not answer the question as to who killed Zogo, because he is sure that the killers are high-profile government officials who are falsely accusing Belinga.

The government has yet to respond to Tchoungang’s allegations that senior government officials planned Zogo’s killing. The government, however, says it will investigate and punish all killers according to Cameroonian law.

Jean-Jacques Ola Bebe, another radio presenter, was found dead outside his home in the capital on February 2, allegedly gunned down by unknown assailants. The government has not commented on his killing.

Cameroonian journalists say the two deaths scare them, and they have reported threats to the police. The police told VOA that it had received complaints from reporters and that it is its duty to protect every civilian.

Source: VOA

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