A strong nationalist and top Cameroonian opposition leader, Anicet Ekane, has died in detention in Yaounde on Monday morning, his party’s vice president told AFP.
“Anicet Ekane died this morning in Yaounde, where he had been transferred following his arrest at the end of October in Douala,” Valentin Dongmo of the African Movement for the New Independence of Cameroon (Manidem) said.
The exact circumstances surrounding the 74-year-old’s death remain unclear.
Ekane, a left-wing nationalist, was arrested in Douala on October 24, just before the release of presidential election results that secured 92-year-old Paula Biya an eighth term.
According to AFP, he was a close ally of opposition figure Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who challenged Biya’s 43-year rule in the October 12 election.
“Anicet Ekane was first detained in Douala before being transferred to Yaounde, where he was held at the State Defence Secretariat (SED). His health began to deteriorate there,” Dongmo said.
“We repeatedly appealed to the authorities, including the military court administration, to have him moved to a hospital with proper medical facilities, but our requests were ignored,” he added, noting that Ekane’s supporters had requested a “medical evacuation” just the day before his death.
Ekane and other opposition figures were arrested after publicly backing Bakary’s self-declared victory ahead of the official results. Manidem condemned the arrests as “arbitrary” and intended to intimidate Cameroonians.
Ekane led Manidem for several years and ran for president in 2004 and 2011. His death has sparked widespread reactions across social media.