Cameroon stalemate

M.I.A.: BIYA SWORN IN AS COUNTRY REELS FROM SCHOOL ABDUCTIONS

Separatists wreak havoc in order to get own state.

As Cameroon reels in the wake of the abduction of at least 79 students and three staff members from a Presbyterian school in the troubled English-speaking region, it was business as usual on the political front yesterday with the swearing-in of president-elect Paul Biya.

On Monday, the final leg of preparations were under way at the National Assembly, Cameroon Online reported.

The ruling party, Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, is mobilising members and sympathisers to honour the ceremony in a “special way”, said Jean Nkuete, the party’s secretary-general.

Biya has been head of state since 1982 when he took over following the resignation of Ahmadou Ahidjo, who was in power since independence in 1960.

Under Ahidjo, Biya worked as a bureaucrat in the 1960s, serving as secretary-general of the presidency from 1968 to 1975 and then as prime minister until 1982.

He has ruled virtually by decree since before eliminating constitutional term limits in 2008, which allowed him to run for election again.

The move, however, sparked riots in which some 40 people were killed.

After the formalities, the president will continue to face the problem of English-speaking separatists wanting to cede and establish the new state of Ambazonia, claiming they suffer discrimination at the hands of the Francophone government.

Peaceful protests last year turned violent after a brutal crackdown by security forces led to numerous deaths, the enforcement of stringent curfews and the mass arrest of political opponents.

The insurgents subsequently stepped up their attacks as the bloody stalemate continues.

On Sunday night, the students, aged between 11 and 17, and the three staff members were abducted from a school in Nkwen, near the northwestern capital of Bamenda by suspected separatist militants. – ANA