Hamadou Tidiane Sy
3 March 2008
West Africa — Yaoundé, the Cameroonian capital and Douala the economic hub of the central African nation, as well as several other major cities such as the north western town of Bamenda have been hit by scenes of violence which have left at least 17 people dead and crippled the entire country.
On Thursday, the nation's economic activities were brought to a standstill, and tension remained high in some areas following days of unrest, and the army was patrolling Yaoundé on the aftermath of a speech made the night before by President Paul Biya.
The president, 75 has pledged to ensure that calm and security will prevail, after days of looting and violence in several parts of the country.
Officially called off
The riots were triggered by a decision to go on strike made by transporters' unions over high fuel prices. Though the strike was officially called off on Wednesday, the protests continued.
Actually it now has clearly appeared that things have already gone far beyond proportions, with some protesters shouting slogans opposing a plan to amend the Constitution.
The intensity of the violence was so much that President Biya had to admit in his Wednesday night televised speech: "our country is going through events which bring back sad memories of an era that we had hoped was log ago behind us".
His speech did not deter protesters from taking to the streets the next morning, nor did a government decision to deploy the army in the capital city Yaoundé to prevent further chaos.
"The speech has been a very disappointing one", said Florane a young Douala resident speaking on her mobile phone to the Nation's correspondent in Dakar.
Florane was on Thursday still stranded in the small town of Baganté, in the western part of the country, five hours drive from Douala.
Parts of the country
Many Cameroonians were in the same situation in several other parts of the country, and until Thursday afternoon, moving from one part of the country to another was almost impossible. The government has accused the opposition of masterminding the violence, but according to media reports most of the unrest and violence was carried out by weary citizens.
While calling for a negotiated settlement to the unions' strike, president Biya criticised some of his political enemies who he suggested, used "the transporters strike for political goals", a clear allusion to the alleged role played by the opposition parties in the protest.
Opposition leader John Fru Ndi, rejected these accusations saying it was rather the despair and lack of decent means of survival which has brought prompted many citizens to join the rioters in the streets.
Several media reports and many witnesses indicated that the protesters were simply angry and weary citizens even though some of them chanted slogans hostile to the regime, including messages clearly saying "Biya must go".
These hostile slogans were mostly against the intended plan by the ruling party to amend the constitution to allow President Biya, who has been in power for 26 years now, to run for another term, which he can't do under the current legislation.
Even before the violence erupted this attempt to change the Constitution in favour of the incumbent has poisoned the political life of the country, during the past months.
Some high profile Cameroonian intellectuals, writers, artists and journalists, have also criticised the move. They have been joined by a small group of African peers to petition against the planned constitutional change with a clear warning: "scenarios such as those in Kenya, Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire and Chad", are so easy to generate.
They invited the Members of Parliament, where President Biya's party has the majority, to act "before its tot late".
"Our future is precious, please don't waste it for one man", the signatories of the petition said. They also highlighted that "changing article 6.2 of the Cameroonian Constitution will only help weaken the country's institutions which stand as the only barriers against barbarianism".
The unrest in Cameroon started on Saturday last week when a man was killed as riot police broke up an opposition rally in Douala. Authorities in the city had banned all demonstrations in mid-January. Freight transport workers and then taxi drivers went on strike on Monday.
But on the fringes of the strike groups of youths vandals vandalised petrol stations, looted shops and clashed with riot police in sometimes deadly confrontations.
Meanwhile, while troops were still out in Cameroon's capital at the weekend, cities were calm, but a private radio station said police had shut it down after listeners criticised the president during a talk show. Magic FM reported on Friday that gendarmes in the capital had confiscated their equipment a day earlier, after callers to a talk their phone-in programme criticised President Paul Biya.
"At the moment, we are not on the air any more," presenter and senior employee Roger Kiyeck said.
"About ten gendarmes arrived yesterday (Thursday) and confiscated all the equipment, saying that we had been irresponsible in letting listeners analyse the speech of the head of state," he added. The weekday talk show "Magic Attitude" habitually opens its airwaves for listeners to call in and give their thoughts on current affairs.
On Thursday's edition, listeners commented on Biya's televised speech broadcast late on Wednesday, in which he blamed the recent violence on "apprentice sorcerers in the shadows" who wanted to overthrow him.
"For some ... the objective is to obtain by violence what they have not achieved through the ballot box," said President Biya.
Seized computers
Mr Kiyeck said the gendarmes seized computers, the console and broadcasting equipment from the station.
The officers also questioned station owner Gregoire Mbida Ndjana and Jules Elobo, the presenter of the programme in question. The authorities in Douala, an opposition stronghold, shut down private broadcasters Equinoxe TV on February 22. Communications Minister Emmanuel Beyiyi Bi Essam cited non-payment of a deposit required for the broadcasting licence as the reason.
Paris-based media rights campaigners Reporters without Borders dismissed that as "a pretext for harassing a news media that has criticised the government's decision to amend the constitution."
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