2008 Cameroonian Anti-government Protests - Aftermath

Aftermath

The government of Cameroon has held three press conferences regarding the crisis. The latest was on 10 March 2008. On 27 February, President Biya made a rare appearance on state-owned television. He accused "certain politicians", whom he dubbed "apprentice sorcerers in the shadows" with fomenting unrest and attempting to orchestrate a coup d'état.

On 27 February, the government reduced fuel costs. On 7 March, Biya declared a rise in pay of 15 percent for civil service employees to take effect 1 April and suspended duties paid on basic commodities such as cooking oil, fish, and rice. He also raised the pay of military personnel. The government reduced the custom duty paid on cement from 20 percent to 10 percent to address a shortage of building materials. It also announced plans to look at bank and telephone charges.

The government claimed to have arrested more than 1,600 people and to have found 200 guilty of looting and destruction of property with sentences of six months to three years. Human rights groups assert that the actual number of arrests is much higher, with as many as 2,000 arrests in Douala alone, due in part to an apparent randomness to the arrests of both youths who did and did not participate in the demonstrations. As of 26 March 2008, 800 accused were reportedly being held in Douala Central Prison and the government had charged 1,000 to 1,500 citizens. Such organisations and the Cameroon Bar Council spoke out against the trials, deeming them summary and secretive, with extreme sentences. A lawyer in Yaoundé claimed that defendants were being given no time to prepare a defence, and a lawyer in Douala said there was evidence the detainees had been beaten and tortured. According to one report, the defendants are tried en masse (one trial had more than 150 defendants), and defence attorneys are not alerted beforehand whom they will be asked to represent nor given access to police reports and files.

On 5 March, Jean-Michel Nintcheu, chairman of the SDF in the Littoral Province, was arrested in Douala on charges of violating the government ban on public demonstrations. On 7 March, Nintcheu announced that the SDF was calling off demonstrations in the Littoral Province due to "the recent upheavals that rocked many parts of the province, occasioning deaths and destruction of property." Another SDF leader was arrested at the airport attempting to travel to Europe. He was accused of being the mastermind of the demonstrations.

Some semblance of normalcy had returned to Cameroon's cities by 8 March, with traffic jams and people going about their daily business. However, Cameroonians report that the government reprisals and fear of another uprising have created a "climate of terror" in the country.

International media watchdog groups have claimed that the government has heavy-handedly censored the press in Cameroon and intimidated journalists with methods that include beatings and confiscation of equipment. As of 8 March, three media outlets had been shut down by the government, which claimed the moves were in the interest of "stability and social order".

As of 10 March, troops were reportedly searching homes in Kumba for property stolen from Les Brasseries du Cameroun, a brewery, and Transformation Reef Cameroon, a logging company. The Post newspaper, located in Buea, claims that the troops "torture and arrest" anyone in possession of allegedly stolen beverages or computer equipment. If the home is clear of such items, the troops are said to destroy radio and TV equipment. Some residents accuse the soldiers of raping women and stealing money. One man reportedly committed suicide rather than face arrest after troops allegedly found 25 crates of stolen beverages in his home on 6 March.

Despite the protests, the National Assembly voted to change the Constitution to remove term limits on 10 April 2008. Given the CPDM's control of the National Assembly, the change was overwhelmingly approved, with 157 votes in favor and five opposed; the 15 deputies of the SDF chose to boycott the vote in protest, denouncing it as a "constitutional coup". The change also provided for the President to enjoy immunity from prosecution for his actions as President after leaving office.