As many as four have been killed in Cameroon’s largest city, Douala, after police and protesters clashed ahead of the much-awaited presidential election results, officials said.
The clashes which broke out on Sunday saw hundreds of supporters of opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma defy the ban and gather in the streets of Douala. Sensing the escalatory nature and the confrontational mood of the protesters, police fired tear gas and water cannons on the defiant crowd.
Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, the governor of the region that includes Douala, said angry protesters attacked police stations in the second and sixth districts of the city. He said several personnel of the security forces were wounded, and “unfortunately, four people lost their lives,” he said.
The opposition alleged “rigged elections”, with local media declaring the loser as the winner of the elections, which would make 92-year-old Biya the president of the country for the record eighth time.
However, the opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma claimed he won 54.8 per cent of the votes against Biya’s 31.3 per cent and called on Cameroonians on Wednesday to protest if the Constitutional Council announces “falsified and distorted results”.
Responding to his calls, hundreds of protests have since flared in several cities, including the capital, Yaounde; Tchiroma’s hometown, Garoua; and Maroua, Meiganga, Bafang, Bertoua, Kousseri, Yagoua, Kaele and Bafoussam.
Cameroon, like many other African nations, is marred by decades of violence, systematic corruption, unemployment issues, poverty, and poor governance.
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