Cameroon: How Tchiroma’s ally, Anicet Ekane, died in detention

Cameroonian opposition figure Anicet Ekane died in detention in Yaounde on Monday morning, the vice president of his party told journalists.

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 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 Ekane’s death remain unclear.

“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” (Sunday), 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.

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

According to political analyst Stephane Akoa, the SED, an administrative unit attached to the defence ministry, has allowed the political system to “maintain strict control over VIP detainees or those considered as such”, without guaranteeing them “better treatment.”

Akoa added that the death of Ekane “crudely reminds us that detention conditions in Cameroon are extremely poor, including, in some cases, a disregard for human rights”, despite international conventions the country has ratified.

Investigation ordered

The defence ministry, in a statement on Monday, denied any negligence, insisting “he was appropriately cared for by the medical staff”.

The ministry noted an investigation has been opened to “precisely determine the circumstances of death”.

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 convicted at a military trial before being pardoned several months later.

Ekane, whose death triggered reactions on social media, led Manidem for several years and ran as its presidential candidate in 2004 and 2011.

The government said it had learned of his death “with consternation” and called on the public to “remain calm”, adding that Biya had ordered an immediate probe to establish “the real causes” of Ekane’s death.

The European Union delegation in Cameroon renewed its call for the release of everyone who had been arbitrarily detained since the presidential elections.

It also stressed the need for “justice” to prevent such tragedies from happening again.

It pointed to its previous calls to “guarantee the safety and physical integrity of all political actors” and to “combat the excessive use of violence and human rights violations”.

Cameroon’s October 12 presidential election has plunged the country into political turmoil.

Official results declared Biya the winner with 53.7 per cent of the vote, extending his 43‑year rule, while opposition candidate, Tchiroma, secured 35 per cent.

Tchiroma has since rejected the outcome, claiming victory and alleging manipulation.

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