Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, has just celebrated 29 years of ‘blissful’ marriage to his wife, Chantal Biya, who is noted for her flaming red hair.

The pictures of the event, which have been trending online, were designed to demonstrate how powerful the couple is but feedback from many observers leaves much to be desired.

Supporters of the dictator have been trying to demonstrate that the 90-year-old was still strong and energetic, a reason for him to run again in 2025 in the presidential election.

But pictures do not always lie. Paul Biya, the man who was much loved by Cameroonians in 1982, is today a shadow of his former self. He is more of a bag of bones than the athletic person he was in the 80s. His physical attraction is today something of the past as violent molds threaten to take over his entire face.

In recent times, the ailing, aged and disoriented president has been a massive liability and embarrassment to his country and there are doubts even within his ruling and corrupt party, the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) about his ability to represent the party.

Mr. Biya, who has never really won any presidential election since 1992, has vowed to die in power with the support of the military and his fellow corrupt party members are doing their best to keep him in power so that they can continue to loot the system.

It is obvious that Mr. Biya is not in control of things in Yaoundé. His closest collaborators, including his wife, have created a ring of fire around him and they are running the show however they want and anybody suspected of not following their marching orders is immediately arrested on trumped up charges and sent to the Yaoundé Maximum Security Prison.

Biya really has a reason to celebrate that marriage of his which has been tested on many occasions and the results of the scrutiny point to something which keeps the 90-year-old president worried and awake at night.

Some of his own ministers have been looking at Chantal with the eyes of love but the fear of spending their whole lives in Kondengui has served as a restraint on those ministers with roving eyes.

The first lady herself has   been the subject of some unpleasant rumor and it is alleged that a former minister of public health, Urbain Olengena Awono, is languishing in jail today even when he has been absolved of most of the charges against him, because the first lady needed him in more ways than one, some of which were not work-related.

Though not loved by Cameroonians, the 90-year-old president is incontestably part and parcel of Cameroon’s political story and during the wedding anniversary, Biya and his flamboyant wife were cheered by family members who are all members of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate which has taken control of the country’s treasury.

As far as democracy is concerned, the problem is that Biya and his cohort of kleptocrats and kakistocrats are determined to hang on to power even after the next presidential election.

He has been in office for 40 years, but his decision to continue holding on to power is indeed unwise.  Ever since he was forced to reintroduce democracy in the country in 1990, elections have been about vote rigging, calls for boycott and abstention.

For a man who has always insisted that he was the president of all Cameroonians – even as those same Cameroonians particularly those from the English-speaking part of the country are constantly being slaughtered by his Francophone dominated security forces – Biya has, over the last two years, not ventured beyond his stronghold of Yaoundé.

There is a very obvious reason for that: a significant proportion of Cameroonians see him as a man without legitimacy. Many hold that a Biya-free Cameroon will be an El-dorado and that after 40 years of political and economic chaos, it is time for him to yield the floor.

Biya’s appearances in Etoudi in 2023 are politically intriguing and are all aimed at seeking to send a message to Cameroonians. His recent wedding anniversary ceremony was also meant to show strength but that too only proved that he clearly belongs to the past and if he harbors any thoughts of running again, he should shelve those plan as most Cameroonians are looking forward to a change in political personalities and approaches.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

In his December 31, 2022 end-of-year address to the nation, Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, announced that the country’s civil servants would be blessed with a 5.2% salary increase in the New Year.

Instead of triggering excitement and celebration, the president’s announcement was as unpopular as himself.  Indeed, the salary increase was long overdue and when it came, it sounded more like a drop in the ocean.

Cameroon has the lowest salaries in all French-speaking African countries. Following the devaluation of the CFA Franc in the early 90s, most French-speaking African countries increased the salaries of their workers, with some taking up the salaries of their civil servants by 100%.

On the contrary, Cameroon slashed civil service salaries by 66%, triggering a wave of corruption within government departments and a storm of migration which has resulted in the country’s best and brightest looking outward for greener pastures.

Today, the country’s economic outlook is grim and the economy has been weakened by both internal and external shocks.

 Among the most destabilizing shocks are COVID-19, rising oil prices and the Ukraine war which has triggered a global inflation which has left many Cameroonians in tough financial circumstances.

The 5.2% salary increase announced by Cameroon’s president was the government’s best effort to cushion the impact of inflation, but it, in turn, increased fuel prices, taxes and the prices of certain products, a clear contradiction which leaves doubts in many minds.

For someone who earns CFAF 200,000 in Cameroon, a 5.2% salary increase will give them an additional CFAF 10,000 which will not afford them much in terms of goods and services.

Strangely, the government’s inflation-checking plan was not intended for everyone. The private sector has not sought to alleviate the financial pain of its workers. There are vulnerable segments of the population which have not been attended to and they are really hurting.

Among the hurting segments are retirees whose incomes are fixed and they cannot find any jobs by virtue of their ages in a country wherein unemployment has reached astronomical figures.

Retirees are hurting. They need help. The government plan never thought about them. Their pensions are fixed and inflation which actually stands at over 20% is diminishing the retiree’s financial ability.

The government has taken the first step, but it must go beyond what it has already done. More supporting measures are required if the impact of the devastating inflation must be cushioned.

Most retirees have been driven to the brink. With age, come many diseases. Many Cameroonian retirees are suffering from hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Their current incomes do not give them the financial leeway to operate the way they want.

If the Cameroonian government has to help retirees, it must come up with special programs which will help retirees to be hopeful.

Putting a good medical plan for retirees and giving them tax breaks will be one step that will bring them some peace of mind. A good health insurance program designed to meet the health needs of retirees will go a long way in addressing some of the financial stress generated by escalating goods and services prices.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

As the killings and maiming of innocent civilians in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions continue to play out, the Yaoundé government has instead decided to send a delegation to Washington D.C. to address the issue of the country’s eligibility for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), an American program which aims at granting duty-free treatment to goods of designated Sub-Saharan African countries. This access granted to African countries is contingent upon the human rights records of these African countries.

Cameroon once had access to the American market under AGOA, but when the Yaoundé government decided to use weapons designed to fight Boko Haram terrorists in the country’s northern regions on innocent civilians in the country’s two English-speaking regions where the English-speaking minority was indicting the Yaoundé government of marginalization and injustice, the American Administration of Donald Trump promptly cut off the Central African country from the attractive perks offered by the program.

Losing its privileges under AGOA also meant Cameroon could no longer have access to American sophisticated weapons, especially the night vision goggles, which made it possible for the poor Central African country to keep the terrorists at bay.

Since 2018, the Biya regime has been struggling to roll back Boko Haram terrorists and the absence of the right weapons has made their effort real hard labor, especially as the country’s army has lost and continues to lose many if its soldiers in a battle many experts say will be drawn out.

Cameroon’s numerous loses in its northern region against Boko Haram and its inability to bring about peace in its two English-speaking regions have resulted in massive frustrations, with the Yaoundé government clearly staring down the barrel of defeat.

The country’s Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Alamine Ousmane Mey, is currently leading a delegation to the American capital to plead for a forgiveness of the sins and crimes of the Yaoundé government.

When the Trump Administration pulled the plug on its deal with the Biya regime, the Yaoundé government’s surrogates and spin doctors were on many news channels to prove that the American decision would not hurt the Yaoundé government.

The Yaoundé government has been in the business of creating troll farms which will help it fight its fights in the media. Strangely, the government’s trolls are usually young and hungry people who hardly see beyond the next meal. They were blissfully oblivious of the consequences of their actions and those consequences have shown up today and they are biting the desperate government where it hurts the most.

At the time the American Administration rolled back its military help to Cameroon, the North American country had clearly pointed to Cameroon’s dismal human rights record. The Trump Administration did not mince its words but left a little window for the Central African country to return with a view to enjoying AGOA-related benefits if and when it addresses those human rights issues.

But the Yaoundé government is wont to placing the cart before the horses. The human rights abuses in the country’s two English-speaking regions have not been improved, with civilians still being killed like game by the country’s army soldiers.

In the North, Boko Haram remains a real threat and even the government’s worst enemies acknowledge that without external support, Boko Haram terrorists will, without a doubt, make that part of the country ungovernable.

Despite this unanimity, many rights groups have demonstrated that the Yaoundé government and its soldiers are not conducting the war against Boko Haram according to universally- accepted norms. Desperation sometimes pushes the soldiers into committing massive and despicable abuses on the civilian population and this is diminishing the country’s image on the global stage.

It is clear that it is impossible to wean the government from its old and bad ways. The Yaoundé government has only one major tool in its huge arsenal – violence – and this is usually employed to intimidate civilians suspected of aiding and abetting the terrorists and, in many cases, the soldiers get it terribly wrong as lost civilian lives cannot be restored.

Regarding the two English-speaking regions of the country, the international community, led by the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, has been calling on the Yaoundé government to adopt a more humane and diplomatic approach in its efforts to find a permanent solution to a crisis which has already  claimed close to ten thousand lives.

The international community has been backing any peaceful efforts which could result in lasting peace in the two English-speaking regions of the country, although not much has been achieved given that the Yaoundé government only believes in war as the only and ideal method which can restore peace in the two English-speaking regions.

The world was optimistic when the Swiss Talks were launched and the Vatican’s full support of the talks gave Cameroonians a real moment of hope. But in its characteristic manner, the Yaoundé government walked away from the talks, hoping that time would deliver the results it was looking forward to. Unfortunately, that is not happening.

The Yaoundé government holds that only time will address the Southern Cameroons crisis which has brought untold hardship to Cameroonians.

A war which started as a protest by lawyers and teachers has already lasted seven years and it has brought out the worst in humans as unnecessary killings and atrocities have become the order of the day. Schools in rural parts of the regions remain closed, with more than a million children being denied access to education which could help them unlock their potential and opportunities in the future.

The Southwest region, in particular, was, before the war, considered as the country’s bread basket, but following the war, food production has taken a nosedive, with food-related inflation hitting many Cameroonians like a ton of bricks.

The Southwest region alone accounted, before the war, for about 50% of the country’s cocoa production, but for more than five years, cocoa production has witnessed a huge decline as many farmers have escaped to the cities and towns where they can find some relative peace and many of them will not be returning to those farms anytime soon, especially after having had a taste of city life.

Despite the Yaoundé government’s withdrawal from the Swiss Talks, the international community has continued to find ways to bring the protagonists to the negotiating table.

The international community understands that without a full discussion on the core issues which caused Southern Cameroonians to pick up arms against the Yaoundé government, genuine peace would continue to be elusive in a country many hold, is responsible for the Central African region’s stability.

It was on these grounds that the international community designated Canada, a country noted for its diplomacy and experience in negotiating with linguistic minorities and leading intergovernmental negotiations, to lead talks between Cameroon’s separatists and the Yaoundé government.

The Yaoundé government accepted to come to the negotiating table and its Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, stood firmly behind the talks hoping that Canada’s experience and honesty would help to bring back peace to the country.

Three pre-talks had taken place in Canada. One in Toronto, Canada’s economic nerve centre and home to many rich Southern Cameroonians who have overtly and solidly stood behind the separatists, while two had taken place in Québec, Canada’s purely French-speaking province.

But when the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, Melanie Joly, announced early this year that Canada had been designated by the separatists and Yaoundé government to lead the talks, the Yaoundé government promptly issued a press release advising that it had not authorized anybody or any country to seek solutions to the crisis in the country’s two English-speaking regions.

Once again, the Yaoundé government had thrown a massive monkey-wrench into the works and this immediately destroyed the enthusiasm and hope the Canadian press release had generated across the globe.

The Yaoundé government took a lot of flax for its recklessness and constant refusal to be part of global efforts at finding lasting peace in the country after its unpopular press release.

But that did not dampen the enthusiasm and determination of the international community in general and that of Canada in particular. The U.S. and the UK promptly congratulated Canada on accepting to play such a key and positive role in a conflict which was destroying the country’s economy and offered their support when and if it would be needed.

The separatists, for their part, immediately formed a common front, proving that the Yaoundé government was the problem and not Southern Cameroonians who have been calling for peace. They accepted to attend any talks and urged the international community to support Canada in its efforts to engineer peace in Cameroon, though they have since failed to call for a resumption of schooling in the rural parts of the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Today, a delegation of the Yaoundé government is in Washington D.C. for reasons mentioned above, but before the delegation left the country to the U.S, the Yaoundé government on April 7, 2023 cancelled a planned visit by the Canadian deputy foreign affairs minister, Peter Macdougall, to Cameroon, once more underscoring that it had no appetite for peace.

However, if it has no appetite for peace, it has a huge appetite for money and this will bring it to the negotiating table as it has to deal with those who have been calling for peace talks with the separatists.

Now that the Yaoundé government needs American financial support, will Americans yield to Cameroon’s plea for readmission into AGOA when its human rights record still leaves much to be desired? Will Americans just open the doors to Cameroon when the Yaoundé government has no plan to sit with Southern Cameroonian separatists for those issues which triggered the war to be discussed? Cameroon needs America more than America needs Cameroon.

If America truly believes in human rights, then it should oblige the Yaoundé government to immediately start talks with Southern Cameroonians with Canada moderating the talks. Cameroon should engage, first, in the right talks before going to Washington D.C. to ask for a forgiveness of its sins.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

There is no challenge greater than living as a desperate old person in any part of the world. This is all the more true in Cameroon where there are no social safety nets for the elderly and the country’s government is not in any haste to change things for the elderly, most of whom live in poverty from the cradle to the grave.

This unfortunate situation can be reversed through government policy which makes the elderly a key component of our society and a population segment which can be given a new lease on life.

Many elderly people in Cameroon have never earned an income. Most have either been farmers in their villages or the hustling poor in the country’s burgeoning slums.

Working on your own farm may be a guarantee of food for personal consumption while the energy levels are still good, but when nature’s rules kick in as time continues its onward march, these farmers and the hustlers start losing their energy and this makes it hard for them to continue producing food for personal consumption or for sale just to earn extra income which can help them address some of their multiple financial needs.

But when they start running out of energy, things usually take a turn for the worse. Things only become more desperate if their own children do not secure jobs which can enable them to reach out to their own parents.

The elderly constitute a key segment in our African societies. They are considered as human libraries whose role is to help transmit knowledge and our rich cultures to the young. However, how can they conveniently play their roles on an empty stomach or when they are sick and cannot access the care they need?

There is no gainsaying that age comes with a slew of  health issues. Diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and even kidney-related problems are some of the diseases which bring fear and uncertainty into the lives of the elderly, especially when they are cash-strapped.

However, their condition is not fatalism. It can be reverse where there is a political will. The government of Cameroon can help alleviate the apprehensions of our elderly by ensuring that the medication they need is available and highly subsidized.

Diabetics need a lot of money and discipline for them to live long. Those who are hypertensive need much support either through sensitization or financial support for them to be hopeful in the future.

Elderly victims of kidney problems, especially those who are on dialysis need more than family moral support to stay strong and hopeful! They need to be reassured that they can have their dialysis sessions on time and that they can eat properly in order to avoid creating new health issues for themselves.

While family support might be necessary, it might not go a long way in instilling confidence in the elderly who are being assailed by multiple ailments which require lots of financial support and much medical attention.

The government can put these elderly on a monthly allowance for them to face the future with confidence. CFAF 40,000 a month will inspire hope in many of these desperate Cameroonians. This financial support will be a breath of fresh air for our elderly who, for want of proper financial support, are always willing to die in order not to bleed their already impoverished families dry.

The problem in Cameroon cannot be that of a resource paucity. Cameroon’s problem is lack of planning and a political will which can transform the lives of the country’s citizens, especially those living in our forgotten rural areas.

There is money in Cameroon but it is in the hands of a select and corrupt few. Early this week, the salary of Adolphe Moudiki, the Managing Director of SNH, a state-owned corporation, was published online and this created a scandal.

The SNH boss is earning well over CFAF 50 million every month in a country wherein the average salary is CFAF 100,000 and the most disheartening thing is that there are SNH staff who earn less than CFAF 100,000 a month.

This type of salary disparity only points to the fact that the government prefers a system wherein a few call the shorts while the majority languishes in the slums, with the elderly left to their own devices.

A little largesse towards the elderly can go a long way in granting these people who are suffering from all types of ailments a new lease on life.

To ensure that such a safety net is functional, there should be a clear definition of the word Elderly. This could be someone who is 65 years old and more, and those who are receiving a pension should not qualify for this social support.

The modalities for the earning of such money can be defined by experts and all measures should be in place to ensure that there is no abuse.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

For decades, Cameroon has distinguished itself in more ways than one. The country was once considered a rising footballing nation in 1990s following its stellar performance at the 1990 World Cup.

But for some time now, the world has been helplessly watching the country’s footballing performance take a nosedive, with small countries like Cape Verde, the Comoros and Burundi demonstrating that the once ferocious indomitable lions are today toothless bulldogs.

Politically, the country has made massive giant strides backwards. Way back in the early 1990s, Cameroonians told the world that their version of democracy was advanced democracy even when in 1992, many experts agreed that the country’s president, Paul Biya, had lost the 1992 election by a wide margin but refused to yield the floor to the opposition leader, John Fru Ndi.

Mr. Fru Ndi had claimed victory and many reports, including that of the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, had demonstrated that the election results had been tampered with to give the incumbent a victory he did not deserve. And to punish Mr. Fru Ndi for drawing negative attention to the unpopular president, a three-month state of emergency was declared in the Northwest region where Mr. Fru Ndi was living at that time.

After the 1992 presidential election, Mr. Biya and his party have claimed many election victories which have been questioned by many monitoring bodies around the world and opposition political parties in the country.

Cameroon’s advanced democracy has been tested on many occasions and it has not been up to the billing. Corruption, supported by a flawed electoral code, has become the major determinant of election victory in the country.

Today, the country’s ruling party, the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM), has clearly demonstrated that democracy as practiced in Western countries is not in its political ecosystem. Corruption is in the political party’s DNA and it is obvious that with the current electoral code, only the incumbent and his party can win an election.

The country’s senate is today a purely CPDM affair with children replacing their dead parents. Even those who are still alive are unable to walk because of age and retiring or resigning is not something that can be put in the same sentence with the CPDM.

The country’s president, Paul Biya, is 90 years old, the senate president, Marcel Niat Njipenji, is 89 years old and the Speaker of the House, Cavaye Yegue Djibril, is well over 85 years and has been a parliamentarian for 53 years.

Today, there is no opposition in Cameroon. Opposition politicians are being hunted like game in Cameroon and many are in jail on trumped up charges.

Many journalists have been killed for expressing views which are not music to the ears of the members of the ruling party. Samuel Wazizi, a prominent journalist, was tortured and killed by government-trained forces and his body has never been returned to his family.

Recently, Martinez Zogo, a whistleblower and firebrand who had assigned to himself, the duty of exposing the regime’s moral decadence was killed with the help of the country’s intelligence community. He was kidnapped, tortured, killed and dumped like trash on a dirt road as a message for others who may nurse the idea of criticizing the government or members of the ruling party.

Cameroon’s advanced democracy has simply morphed into advanced dictorship wherein the country’s president is treated like a demi-god and every decision, including the appointment of night watch men, must be signed by the president.

However, the most baffling thing is the way the country’s legal system operates. Cameroon is unique in the world and nothing in the country works for the taxpayer. Nobody understands how the country works, including the president who rules by decree. Democracy has been replaced with kleptocracy, gerontocracy and kakistocracy.

The president’s age and diseases have reduced him to a pawn in the hands of the members of his inner circle and these members are using their new found power to settle scores and to eliminate those whose political views are at variance with theirs. The country’s judiciary has been emasculated and most court decisions are dictated by those who are holding the ailing and old president as a captive.

In other countries where the judiciary is independent, crimes are investigated by the police and if there is probable cause, the matter is sent to the courts for a fair trial of the suspects.

In Cameroon, it is the president who must order the investigation into a crime like the case of Martinez Zogo. Without the president’s intervention, the matter would have been swept under the carpet, especially as the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Finance were cited as possible suspects in the death of the whistleblower.

Despite such irregularities, the supporters of the moribund government still insist that the country’s judiciary is still independent. How independent can the courts be when appointments and promotions in the judiciary are the president’s prerogative?

Politics trumps everything in Cameroon. A few days ago, a young lady was robbed of her baby in a Douala hospital. The matter had gathered momentum and social media was giving Laquintini, the hospital wherein the incident took place, a very bad name.

It was alleged that two nurses in the health facility were involved in the trading of newborn babies, a situation which should have brought in the police.

Strangely, it was the governor of the Littoral Region who set up a commission of inquiry and the next day, the country’s Health Minister travelled to the crime scene. After a discussion with the victim’s lawyers and family members, the lady who had declared on social media that her pregnancy was over eight months, had to change her story, accepting that her pregnancy was only five months old and that there was a fetus and not a baby.

Childbearing has not started today in Cameroon. Every hospital has laid down procedures, especially in the maternity wards. Those procedures were put in place to ensure transparency and confidence. How come the minister’s arrival in Douala had to result in the victim’s change of heart? If there was a fetus, where was it buried? And since when did hospital staff start to bury fetuses and placentas without the presence of family members of a woman who was pregnant?

Cameroon is sick. It is an Augean Stable which needs to be cleansed by a new team. Those who are governing the country have made corruption a way of life. Nothing works in the country without money changing hands and poverty has made Cameroonians who are the primary victims of the system to lose their sense of decorum and principle.

The country’s legal system like its political system is nothing but a farce. In Cameroon, losing a life is the easiest thing. Without social media, the government will never take any action to address all the ills which have become normal in Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Nothing has changed ever since the awful death of a third year law student in the University of Yaoundé II, Soa last year. So, the men who rape, harm and kill women are multiplying and consolidating their gains all over the national territory.

President Biya, his government, the police force, the gendarmerie and the judiciary are maintaining their observer status as seven women were recently abducted, raped, murdered and in the words of their beloved mothers, “bodies disposed of as if they were rubbish”.

In all the seven killings, Cameroon Concord News Group is aware that the suspects are all men. We of the Cameroon Concord News Group know this but not the Biya government and not the Delegate General for National Security. To be sure, the seven women will have died in terror and pain, just like the third year law student in Soa. All of them leave behind grieving families and friends for whom their loss will last a lifetime.

Cameroonian men’s violence against women is growing at catastrophic rapidity throughout the national territory and cuts across all sections of society, Francophone, Anglophone, across ages, class and ethnicity. But like with the media in Cameroon, it is almost always the young, conventionally attractive, middle-class Francophone girl killed by a stranger that makes headline news in Yaoundé. We of the Concord Group want every woman’s death to be a reason for soul-searching and a very productive national discourse.

Southern Cameroons women are disproportionately victimised, yet more likely to receive a sub-standard response from the security apparatus of the state dominated in all towns and cities in Southern Cameroons by Francophones.

Nothing indeed has changed ever since the third year law student in Soa was abducted, raped and murdered.  There is completely nothing on the government table on how to tackle violence against women in Cameroon. The women are partly to blame for Biya’s regime’s deliberate silence!!

We of the Concord Group think it is time to set an ambitious program to end men’s violence against women.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Prominent businessman Amougou Belinga was charged on Saturday with complicity in the torture of a journalist who was murdered in a high-profile case that has rocked the country, his lawyer told AFP.

Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, reputedly close to ministers and senior officials, was arrested on February 6 and brought before a military court in the capital Yaounde on Friday before being remanded, his lawyer said.

A source at the court confirmed the report to AFP on condition of anonymity. The authorities did not respond to requests for comment on the charges Amougou Belinga faces.

Radio journalist Martinez Zogo, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered in January, was outspoken against graft and financial sleaze and had often faced threats over his work.

Amougou Belinga, owner of L’Anecdote media group, “was arrested… at dawn” last month, the company said.

The tycoon has holdings in banking, finance, insurance and property, as well as L’Anecdote, which owns a daily newspaper of that name and several pro-government TV and radio stations.

Belinga’s lawyer said his client was “not charged with the murder of Martinez Zogo”, adding: “It is only an indictment, the judicial investigation has only just begun”.

Belinga “was placed under a detention order… at the main prison in Kondengi” after being “presented before an investigating judge at the military court,” a media group he owns said in a statement.

– Suspects –

Several people suspected of involvement in the case were also brought before the military court on Friday evening, according to an AFP reporter on the scene.

Leopold Maxime Eko Eko, head of the General Directorate for External Investigations (DGRE) and its director of operations, Justin Danwe, are among those suspected, a communication ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity, alongside other official sources who also requested confidentiality.

Denis Omgba Bomba, head of the National Media Observatory, a unit attached to the communications ministry, previously confirmed the arrest and said the tycoon had been “named a suspect in the killing of Martinez Zogo”.

Zogo, 50, was the manager of the privately-owned radio station Amplitude FM and host of a daily show called Embouteillage (Traffic Jam).

He had frequently named Amougou Belinga in his corruption accusations.

Zogo was abducted on January 17 outside a police station in the suburbs of the capital Yaounde, and his mutilated corpse was found five days later.

Just days before he was killed, he had told listeners about threats he faced.

The murder sparked outcry, including a protest by 20 leading Cameroonians over the government’s “long tradition of trivialising impunity and accepting atrocities.”

RSF’s Press Freedom Index ranks Cameroon a lowly 118th out of 180 countries.

The government has insisted Cameroon is “a state of law, where liberty is guaranteed, including the freedom of the press”.

Reported by AFP