DOUALA (Reuters) -Cameroon opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary dismissed the Constitutional Council’s declaration of President Paul Biya as winner of the October 12 election, calling the ruling a “fictitious victory” and pledging to resist.
Biya, the world’s oldest leader at 92, has ruled Cameroon since 1982. His re-election has deepened tensions in the cocoa and oil-producing nation, where critics accuse him of using state institutions to cling to power.
“The truth of the ballot is clear. We won this election by a large majority. This victory is not mine alone; it belongs to the Cameroonian people,” Tchiroma said late on Tuesday in his first public address since the council confirmed Biya’s eighth term.
VIOLENT PROTESTS
Violent protests intensified across several towns in the central African nation on Monday after the council’s ruling, which is final and not subject to appeal.
At least 10 people have been killed in the violence, local media reported, as hundreds took to the streets to denounce what they described as a rigged election.
“We demand an immediate end to the barbaric acts: the killings, the arbitrary arrests, and the intimidation,” Tchiroma said in a video address on his Facebook page, vowing to remain steadfast.
“We will not yield to fear or manipulation. We remain united and will continue to resist until final victory,” he said.
Cameroon’s Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji accused Tchiroma on Tuesday of inciting the violence and rebellion after prematurely declaring victory on October 13.
“This irresponsible candidate, driven by the desire to push through the plot to disrupt public order, issued repeated calls on social media inciting civil unrest,” Nji said in a statement.
He said small groups “often under the influence of drugs” looted shops and set fire to public buildings. He did not provide any evidence that the protesters had taken drugs.
In the country’s economic capital Douala, which has experienced some of the worst violence, Nji said many public and private properties had been vandalised.
He added that security personnel were injured and attackers killed during clashes.
The governor of the region told a press conference on Tuesday that over 200 people have been arrested in connection with the protests.
(Reporting by Amindeh Blaise Atabong and Bate Felix, editing by Ed Osmond)
