Cameroon’s main opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, has been charged in a military court with rebellion and other offences, his lawyers have said. The former government minister was arrested in Douala on 28 January after his MRC party organised protests contesting last October’s election result. France says it is “worried” by the charges.

Kamto faces charges including “hostility against the homeland, incitement to insurrection, offense against the president of the republic, destruction of public buildings and goods.” If found guilty, he could face the death penalty, his lawyers said Wednesday.

The opposition leader, who says he was cheated out of the presidency in elections last year, was transferred to a prison in the capital Yaounde during the night by a military court.

Twenty-eight members of his Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) are also on trial for the same charges.

Meanwhile, 100 other supporters were due to appear before the Yaounde military court Wednesday to find out if they too will face a similar fate.

The fact that a military court is the one bringing the charges against Kamto has rattled critics.

Military justice

“How is it that someone who has never carried a weapon against the government, someone who has never called for armed struggle is judged by a military court?” asks François Ndengwe, Chairman of the African Advisory Board.

“Professor Kamto being judged in a military court is an outrage to the people of good will not only in Cameroon but all over the world,” he told RFI.

For Ndengwe, the charges against Kamto illustrate the challenges facing Africa’s justice system, often in the hands of autocratic governments.

“It is impossible to have a fair judgment in Africa,” he comments, blaming this failure on the “interference” of the International Criminal Court in African matters, most recently in the trial of the Ivory Coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo.

“Africans complained about the ICC trying Laurent Gbagbo but they shouldn’t complain. Africans are not able to judge themselves according to the minimum standards of justice and equity, and this is regrettable,” he said.

On the domestic front, the charges against Kamto risk aggravating the country’s post-electoral crisis.

Restricting democratic space

They are a “clear sign of a new step in the restriction of public liberties that the government of Cameroon has crossed,” explains Hans de Marie, a senior researcher at the International Crisis Group (ICG) in Nairobi.

“The charges could increase tribal and ethnic tension in the country, as well as social tension,” he told RFI. Implicit in de Marie’s remarks is the fear of a potential civil war.

“The anger and bitterness from opposition members and civil society groups is more and more expressing itself along ethnic lines between the Beti tribe of [president] Paul Biya and the Bamyleke tribe of Maurice Kamto,” he comments.

Cameroon is already grappling with unrest in its troubled western Anglophone region after residents there were repressed.

“We know from past experience that it is the restriction of liberties that has triggered the Anglophone crisis,” states de Marie.

Kamto has called for an end to the two-year conflict. The opposition leader and his supporters demonstrated in several cities and towns on the 26 January urging an end to the crisis and for a recount of October’s election result in which he came second.

Bogus charges

It was shortly after this demonstration that Kamto was arrested in the economic capital Douala and how we got to today’s charges.

For human rights lawyer Agbor Nkongho, the charges are all too familiar. “The charges are bogus. These are the same charges that they [the government] brought against me. It’s a way to fight against dissent, repress people, and to perpetuate Mr Biya’s reign as they have been doing for the last 36 years,” he told RFI.

RFI was unable to reach the Cameroonian government for a response, but their position is that Kamto is a an “outlaw” after he defied warnings and declared himself the winner of last October’s election results.

French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said Wednesday the government was “worried” by the charges against Kamto and urged Paul Biya to allow the opposition to “express itself freely.”

Risk of conflict

That may not be enough. “We find it very low compared to the gravity of the situation,” says de Marie.

“None of the key partners of Cameroon has clearly condemned the arrest and detention of Kamto or asked firmly the Cameroonian government to release him,” he said.

Rights groups though have condemned the attitude of the Cameroonian government, with Amnesty International saying the arrest of Kamto and his staff signalled an escalating crackdown on the opposition.

“For the sake of peace if not democracy, the international community must act,” argues Hans de Marie. The risk of conflict in a country already affected by Boko Haram attacks and grappling with unrest in the Anglophone regions stands to be high, he concludes.

RFI

More than 150 people have been charged with “hostility to the homeland” and “insurrection” for their role in anti-government protests in Cameroon, the vice-president of the country’s main opposition party said.

The president of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) opposition party, Maurice Kamto, was among those charged on Wednesday in a crackdown criticised by human rights campaigners.

He and around 150 other people were arrested in late January and have been held for nearly three weeks by police in the capital Yaounde.

They have gone before a judge in groups, starting with Kamto overnight Tuesday to Wednesday. He was charged with “rebellion, insurrection” and “hostility to the country”.

Around twenty of those detained have been released on bail, MRC’s vice-president Emmanuel Simh told AFP.

“Hostility to the country” is punishable by the death penalty in theory, but the penalty has not been carried out in Cameroon for more than 30 years.

Maurice Kamto says he was cheated out of the presidency in last October’s elections, when Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, 86, was re-elected for a seventh term.

Around 200 people were arrested in subsequent protests, the MRC said. Amnesty International said the wave of detentions “signals an escalating crackdown on opposition leaders, human rights defenders and activists.”

AFP

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya Wednesday celebrated his 86th birthday with supporters organizing lavish parties and opponents calling on him to resign.

Biya is the oldest president in sub-Saharan Africa and one of the longest-serving, but critics say his long rule has put the country in a bad position.

Supporters of Biya wished him a happy birthday Wednesday at a party attended by thousands in the capital, Yaounde.

Fadimatou Iyawa Ousmanou, president of Cameroon’s National Youth Council, said they bussed in Biya’s young supporters from all over the country to show respect and gratitude.

“You can see more than two thousand and five hundred Cameroonian young people that came to celebrate that birthday, and we came here to tell the head of state we are willing to work with him. We are encouraging him for what he is doing for the Cameroonian young people and also to promote our patriotic and civil behavior so that we can help in the building of a peaceful Cameroon,” Ousmanou said.

While supporters wished Biya divine guidance and a long life, he did not attend the celebration at the Yaounde Conference Center. He organized a private, and reportedly lavish, party at his home village of Mvomeka in southern Cameroon.

While Biya’s supporters celebrated, the opposition Renaissance Movement Party held a protest march in Yaounde calling on Biya to resign and for their leader, Maurice Kamto, to be freed.

Kamto, who claims Biya stole the October 7 presidential election, is under arrest and facing charges including rebellion for protesting the election results.

Thirsty for change

Kamto supporter Clement Metuge said he has known only one leader – Biya – since he was born. He condemned the large birthday celebrations for the president.

“We have constraints economically in Cameroon to deal with Boko Haram, our resources are not even enough for us to manage. All of us are sensitive about the fact that it is not just about his willingness to be in power, it is also about the performance, his age and everything. There is need for change and Cameroonians are thirsty for that change,” Metuge said.

In 2008, Biya revised the constitution to remove presidential term limits. Critics called the move authoritarian and have long accused his government of rigging elections — allegations that officials deny.

University of Yaounde political analyst Christophe Tiennteu said Biya has ruled with an iron fist for too long. Cameroon, he said, is plunging into an indescribable chaos with incoherent governance and democratic practice. Faced with these challenges, he said, and while craving for change and an end to domination by one man, people are distancing themselves from moves by Biya and his followers that go against Cameroon’s interests.

If something were to happen to the 86-year-old president, said Tiennteu, Cameroon could face a very difficult transition.

While the constitution stipulates new elections if the office of president becomes vacant, Biya is not known to have prepared a successor.

VOA

France has officially reacted to the arrest of Cameroon opposition chief Maurice Kamto and hundreds of his supporters.

The French Foreign Ministry said it was following developments in Cameroon and called on the government to respect the rights of people to freely express their opinions.

“We are concerned at this legal development and are continuing to follow the situation of Mr. Kamto and that of approximately 200 of his supporters who are being held in detention. The Cameroonian opposition, of which Mr. Kamto is a leading figure, must be able to freely express its opinions, in accordance with the law,” a response to Q&A daily press briefing read.

Kamto was on Wednesday charged with rebellion by a military tribunal, his lawyers confirmed to Reuters news agency. One of his lawyers said the charges were political and nothing of a judicial nature.

Another of his lawyers, Emmanuel Simh, told Reuters the charges he faces include: “hostility against the homeland, incitement to insurrection, offence against the president of the republic, destruction of public buildings and goods.”

Twenty-two members of his Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) are also on trial for the same charges, lawyers said.

Kamto was arrested in late January after he led a protest of supporters against the October 2018 presidential polls he claims was rigged. He came a distant second to President Paul Biya.

The police at the time said the gathering was not sanctioned hence his arrest. As to why he was not arraigned before a civil court, Cameroon has in the past few years charged politicians, journalists and suspected separatists to military court over charges relating to subversion and terrorism.

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