Cameroonian opposition leader dies in detention

Cameroonian opposition figure, Anicet Ekan, on Monday, died in detention in Yaounde, the vice president of his party told AFP.

“Anicet Ekane died this morning in Yaounde, where he had been transferred after his arrest at the end of October in Douala,” Valentin Dongmo of the African Movement for the New Independence of Cameroon (Manidem) party said.

The exact circumstances of the 74-year-old’s death remain unclear.

The left-wing, nationalist politician was arrested in Douala on October 24, on the eve of the publication of presidential election results that returned 92-year-old Paula Biya to power for an eighth mandate.

Ekane was close to fellow opposition figure Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who contested Biya’s 43-year grip on power in the October 12 election.

“Anicet Ekane was arrested in Douala and then transferred to Yaounde, where he was held at the State Defence Secretariat (SED). It was there that his health began to deteriorate,” according to Dongmo.

“We repeatedly alerted the authorities, including the military court administration, requesting that Anicet Ekane be transferred to a hospital with the appropriate facilities for better care, but our requests did not receive a favourable response,” he said.

He added that “just yesterday”, Ekane’s supporters had called for a “medical evacuation”.

Ekane and other political leaders were arrested for publicly supporting Bakary’s self-proclaimed presidential victory ahead of the publication of official results.

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Manidem had denounced the “arbitrary” arrests aiming to “intimidate” Cameroonians.

Born in Douala in 1951, Ekane joined the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) party in 1973 — which he then quit to create Manidem in 1995.

In February 1990, he and other members of the Yondo Black group were arrested. He was condemned in a military trial before being pardoned several months later.

Ekane led Manidem for several years and ran as its presidential candidate in 2004 and 2011.

His death has triggered a groundswell of reactions on social media.

AFP