YAOUNDE, Feb 29 – Authorities in Cameroon on Thursday appealed for dialogue to end four days of social unrest, the worst anti-government riots in over a decade, to protest rising fuel prices and the cost of living in the Central African country, as main opposition leader John Fru Ndi of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) said President Paul Biya was “out of touch” with the people, referring to him as an “absentee landlord” during his 25 years in power.
Officials estimate up to 20 people have been killed in five days of protests in several cities, including the main economic and port city of Douala and the capital Yaounde. Protesters have vented their rage over high fuel and food prices and a bid by Biya to prolong his presidential mandate in the Central African oil producing country when last December 31 he announced his intention to modify the constitution to run for a third seven-year term when the present mandate expires in 2011.Â
Yaounde and Douala, which were paralysed by rioting and looting since Monday, remained tense but relatively calm on Thursday. Police and soldiers patrolled the streets, but most businesses were closed and public transport was not operating.
On Wednesday evening, a stern-faced 75-year old Biya, appeared on state television to accuse political opponents of fomenting the riots to try to topple him by force. He offered no concessions to protesters demanding falls in the cost of fuel and basic foods, beyond slight fuel price cuts agreed by the government on Tuesday. The government would use “all legal means” to guarantee the rule of law, Biya said.
“The issue at stake is the use, not to say exploitation, of transporters’ strike for political ends. For some people, who by the way, did not hide their intentions, the objective is to obtain through violence what they were unable to obtain through the ballot box, that is to say, through the normal functioning of democracy…,” he stated.
”These apprentice sorcerers who manipulated the youths behind the scenes, were not bothered about the risk that they made them to run by exposing them to confrontation with the forces of law and order. As a result, several of them lost their lives, which, of course, cannot but be deplore…It should therefore be made absolutely clear that Cameroon is a constitutional state and intends to remain so…To those who are responsible for manipulating the youths to achieve their aims, I want to tell them that their attempts are doomed to failure. All legal means available to government will be brought into play to ensure the rule of law.”
Communication Minister Jean Pierre Biyiti bi Essam followed up on Thursday with an appeal for dialogue. “Our beautiful country is at a crossroads, people are dying in our main cities and peace is in danger … Let’s call for dialogue and negotiations between people whenever there are differences,” he told Reuters after meeting newspaper editors to urge them to contribute to the dialogue process.
Biyiti bi Essam said it was difficult to give a precise death toll from the riots, in which stone-throwing protesters clashed with armed riot police and public buildings, businesses, shops and vehicles were set ablaze in a string of western towns. “The death toll is very high, but less than 20,” the minister said. But he said not all the deaths occurred in clashes between security forces and protesters. Some resulted from the settling of personal scores and fights over loot. But independent sources put the death toll at over 20.
Far from pacifying citizens, Biya’s broadcast appeared to have infuriated many protesters, including taxi drivers whose strike over high fuel prices on Monday triggered the wider unrest. Witnesses reported protests overnight in the western towns of Limbe and Bamenda and at least four persons were killed.
“This man is not serious. Is he taking us for fools?” said Sebastien Ebanga, a taxi driver in Yaounde. “The strike will continue,” he added. For his part, SDF leader John Fru Ndi denied Biya’s charge that the opposition was behind the demonstrations. He said Biya ruled like an “absentee landlord, not always in touch with the people. He does not know their problems.”
Biya announced eight weeks ago that he might change the constitution to stay in power when his present term ends in 2011. Critics say he could use his party’s majority in the National Assembly to make the constitutional amendments. This riots followed another one in the main economic centre of Douala last Saturday to denounce the proposed constitutional change in which police shot two people dead.
There are already growing concerns that Cameroon, the island of peace in a turbulent Central African sub-region, may, like Kenya in East Africa, slip into chaos. hence the multiplication of calls from development partners on president Biya to initiate dialogue with the opposition and other lively forces in the nation, to resolve issues concerning the state. But so far, Biya, reputed for his high-handedness, refuses to budge.(END)
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Published by API africanpress@getmail.no
