The Observer (2022-01-09)

The Observer
26 09.01.22 World

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The much-anticipated African Cup of
Nations football tournament opens
today , hosted by Cameroon for the
fi rst time for 50 years. Yet behind the
celebrations – slightly tempered by
strict pandemic restrictions – are ten-
sions from a security crisis spreading
from anglophone regions, shaping
daily life in Cameroon and potentially
even the tournament.
Authorities in the west African
country have ramped up security,
particularly in the capital, Yaoundé ,
and other host cities.
In Limbe , a peaceful coastal city
where Mali, Tunisia, The Gambia and
Mauritania will play group matches,
an explosion near the city centre
last Wednesday left six injured and
destroyed property.
Marinette Abah, 33, was returning
home from evening prayers at the
time. “We were home when we

Liverpool striker

Mohamed

Salah’s Egypt

are one of the

favourites to win

the tournament.

Cameroon’s pride as

hosts of African Cup

of Nations tempered

by sectarian violence

Rising tension over

Anglophone zones

threatens tournament

received a call that Marinette had

been wounded in the explosion,” her

brother Calvin Nang said. “We met

her with blood all over her body.”

A faction of the separatist

Ambazonia movement claimed

responsibility, and the wider move-

ment, which has condemned the

government in Yaoundé as a colonial

administration, has pledged to

disrupt the tournament.

Tensions in the north-western

and south-western anglophone

regions boiled over in late

2016, when protests against

marginalisation of the English

language, by lawyers and

teachers, were brutally put

down  by Cameroonian

security forces.

It fuelled a rise in armed activities

by separatist groups seeking inde-

pendence for the English-speaking

parts of Cameroon. The groups have

been accused of several attacks and

blasts, including against schools,

escalating an education boycott that

began in 2017, and depriving a gener-

ation of Cameroonian children of an

education , according to a report by

Human Rights Watch. Cameroonian

security forces have been accused of

Ugandan satirical novelist Kakwenza

Rukirabashaija , who was named

International Writer of Courage

by PEN last year, has been illegally

detained and tortured for criticising

the president and his son, his law-

yer said.

Gunmen came to the writer’s

house on 28 December after a series

of tweets about the country’s presi-

dent, Yoweri Museveni , including one

calling him a thief and his son and

presumed successor “an incompetent

pig-headed curmudgeon”.

In his last tweet Rukirabashaija

said he was under house arrest and

the men were entering by force. He

has not been able to contact his law-

yers since then, and no charges have

been brought.

On Monday police took him with

them to search the family’s country

home. His wife was there and was

horrifi ed to see her husband weak,

injured, limping and wearing blood-

stained underwear.

She said she saw wounds on his

feet and he told her there were others

on his buttocks, and that he had been

deprived of food. “[He] told me he was

starved, asked for what to eat, when

I served him with a glass of milk, he

human rights abuses against anglo-

phones, especially in rural areas.

Many anglophones in Cameroon

accuse the government of marginali-

sation and of attempting to assimilate

their education and legal systems into

the dominant francophone system.

A spokesperson for Samuel Eto’o ,

a hugely popular figure as one of

Africa’s greatest ever footballers and

now head of Cameroon’s football

association, refused to be drawn on

the security crisis, focusing instead

on preparations for the tournament,

including 30 new or renovated foot-

ball stadiums and training pitches.

For many in a football-loving

nation, the tournament is a proud

moment, where Cameroon start as

underdogs behind favourites Algeria,

Egypt and Senegal. For others in the

English-speaking parts of Cameroon,

the tournament is a sideshow to an

ongoing crisis.

Wilfred Taka, a student in Bamenda ,

one of the cities in the anglophone

north-west , said abuses by security

forces were a constant reality, as well

as the activities of armed separatists.

“So many people have left Bamenda

and the north-west to safer towns.

Many of the businesses have shut

down. For the past fi ve years, things

have not been easy,” he said.

“Hardly will the month go to an

end before you will hear of killings

and kidnappings. The tournament

is a good thing for the country, but

would it not have been better if they

had focused on peace fi rst? ”

comments from the government,

and the author remains in jail with-

out charge, despite growing interna-

tional pressure.

PEN America called for his urgent

release. “Kakwenza Rukirabashaija is

no stranger to the Ugandan authori-

ties’ systematic suppression of dissi-

dent views, yet he has courageously

continued to speak out,” said Karin

Deutsch Karlekar , director of Free

Expression at Risk programmes.

Rukirabashaija is best known for

his novel The Greedy Barbarian , which

tackles corruption in a fi ctional coun-

try. He was arrested in April 2020 and

held for seven days and tortured, then

detained again in September of that

year. He detailed that treatment in his

latest work, Banana Republic: Where

Writing Is Treasonous.

“In Africa , when you write fi ction,

especially political fi ction, such as

the political allegory Animal Farm by

George Orwell, the leaders will always

think that one is writing about them,”

Rukirabashaija wrote.

“Yoweri Museveni, the president

of Uganda, felt that it was him that I

had written about and so he sent his

hoodlums to arrest and torture me

in order to hamper my creativity. The

idea was to completely stop me from

being creative.”

retched it,” she said in an affi davit to

court.

His lawyer Kiiza Eron is demand-

ing that the author is released, as

under Ugandan law police can only

detain people for 48 hours without

charge. He has obtained a court order

for Rukirabashaija’s release, but the

authorities are ignoring it.

“Police have admitted holding him,

but they are not willing to allow us

access... he has been incommuni-

cado apart from the day of the search,”

Eron said.

A spokesman for the criminal

investigations directorate (CID) said

on Monday that the author was being

held over “abusive” tweets from late

December. Charles Twiine of the

CID claimed an investigation was

nearly complete and Rukirabashaija

would be taken to court by Tuesday

to face charges of “offensive

communications”.

But there have been no further

Prize-winning Ugandan writer held

Emma Graham-Harrison

Kakwenza

Rukirabashaija

has been illegally

detained for

criticising the

president, say his

lawyers.

A fan shows

his support for

Cameroon in

Yaoundé.

Kenzo

Tribouillard/AFP

Emmanuel Akinwotu

West Africa Correspondent