Cameroon’s top opposition leader dies after weeks of detention

DOUALA, Cameroon (AP) – Cameroon’s top opposition leader, Anicet Ekane, has died after weeks of detention at the age of 74, his lawyers and family said Monday, alleging that he had struggled to breathe but didn’t receive proper care.

Ekane was arrested in late October alongside other top figures of his African Movement for New Independence and Democracy party as protests rattled the country over allegations of fraud in the presidential election. He was detained on charges of insurrection, his lawyer Emmanuel Simh told The Associated Press.

“Mr. Ekane was critically sick, he was denied appropriate treatment,” Simh said. “We’re still in the shock and sadness. Ekane committed no crime, so we need to know why he was arrested and abandoned in the prison cell of the paramilitary gendarmerie.”

Cameroon’s communication minister, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, expressed the government’s regret and said President Paul Biya has ordered an investigation into the circumstances leading to Ekane’s death.

Ekane was among opposition figures objecting to the result of the Oct. 12 election in which Biya, the world’s oldest president at 92, was declared the winner of another term. Rival candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary claimed to have won and has called on Cameroonians to reject the official result.

Cameroon’s defense ministry on Monday said Ekane died “following an illness.” It said an investigation has been opened.

“The deceased, who suffered from various chronic illnesses, had since been hospitalized at the National Gendarmerie Military Medical Center,” the ministry said. “He was receiving appropriate care from the Military Medical Corps, in conjunction with his personal physicians, and benefiting from additional follow-up care in local hospitals.”

Both Ekane’s party and the Union for Change political platform that he led asserted in statements that he was “murdered,” and called for an international investigation.

Muna Ekane, Ekane’s eldest son, told the AP his father’s health had worsened Sunday.

“For one week, he had difficulties breathing; he was suffocating,” the son said. “He was diagnosed while in detention but no proper treatment was followed. He had difficulties eating. We spent the whole week alerting public authorities about his worsening health situation but nothing was done.”

He did not say what his father was diagnosed with, describing it as “respiratory problems.”

He added that he believed his father had been arrested for supporting Tchiroma, who fled to Gambia last month.

Following the announcement of the election results, deadly protests erupted in key opposition strongholds. While Cameroon’s government said 16 people were killed, opposition figures and human rights groups estimated the death toll at more than 55.

The European Union has called for the release of those “arbitrarily detained” since the election.