After months of intransigence, Cameroonian President Paul Biya has created a surprise, Saturday, October 5, by releasing his great rival Maurice Kamto.
Paul Biya, 86, of whom 37 in power, has announced the release of Maurice Kamto and 102 of his supporters in a "insurrection" trial where they theoretically incur the death penalty.
On October 3, Paul Biya had already announced the arrest of 333 English-speaking separatists against whom the ruling power is waging a war in the north-west and south-west of the country. So far: more than 3,000 dead and 500,000 displaced, according to NGOs.
The Cameroonian president is experiencing the worst crisis in his country since taking office in 1982. These releases come at the end of a process supposed to calm tensions. "The Great National Debate", wanted by Paul Biya, was boycotted by the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon, chaired by Maurice Kamto, and widely criticized by English-speaking separatists who considered it too muzzled. The Cameroonian government is threatened by a double challenge: to manage the political opposition increasingly mobilized and to find a satisfactory arrangement with the English-speaking separatist regions of Cameroon.