Two Cameroon opposition figures arrested as country waits for election results
Cameroon’s electoral body is expected to announce the official results on Monday. In the meantime, opposition supporters have staged protests across several cities, warning against what they call an attempt to manipulate the outcome.
Two prominent opposition leaders in Cameroon have been arrested by security forces, their parties said, as protests spread over disputed presidential election results expected to be announced Monday.
According to media reports, those detained late Friday in the economic hub of Douala include Anicet Ekane and Djeukam Tchameni, two senior figures in the Union for Change political platform that backed opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary in the October 12 vote.
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Tchiroma has claimed victory over longtime President Paul Biya, who has ruled the Central African nation for more than four decades.
Biya’s party, meanwhile, has accused the opposition of seeking to disrupt the electoral process.
The African Movement for New Independence and Democracy (MANIDEM), one of the coalition’s member parties, said its treasurer and several other members had also been “kidnapped” by security forces. The party accused the government of using arrests to “intimidate Cameroonians” and silence opposition voices.
The circumstances surrounding the arrests remain unclear. Authorities have not confirmed the detentions.
Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji told reporters Saturday that several people had been arrested across the country on suspicion of planning violent attacks disguised as protests.
“Their planned modus operandi is to infiltrate groups of protesters and commit terrorist attacks, leading to the loss of human lives which will later be attributed to the forces of law and order,” he said, without further details.
Cameroon’s electoral body is expected to announce the official results on Monday. In the meantime, opposition supporters have staged protests across several cities, warning against what they call an attempt to manipulate the outcome.
On Saturday, demonstrations erupted in Bafoussam, the capital of the West Region, where motorcyclists flooded major roads calling for a credible election process. Clashes between protesters and security forces have also been reported in other cities.
Protesters clashed with security forces in other cities earlier in the week.
Some protesters were arrested, and one person was killed in the northern city of Garoua, authorities said.
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