{"id":4119,"date":"2025-12-02T02:35:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T02:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/cameroons-opposition-leader-anicet-ekane-dies-in-military-detention\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T02:35:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T02:35:41","slug":"cameroons-opposition-leader-anicet-ekane-dies-in-military-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/cameroons-opposition-leader-anicet-ekane-dies-in-military-detention\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameroon\u2019s opposition leader Anicet Ekane dies in military detention"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>The death of veteran politician Ekane sparks accusations of medical neglect and intensifies the country\u2019s post-election crisis.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Veteran opposition figure Anicet Ekane has died in military custody in Cameroon, his family and legal representatives have said.<\/p>\n<p>Ekane, 74, passed away on Monday morning in Yaounde, the country\u2019s capital, 38 days after security forces detained him in the port city of Douala, France\u2019s public radio RFI reported.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/31\/protests-over-disputed-tanzania-election-enter-3rd-day-military-deployed\">Opposition says \u2018hundreds\u2019 killed in Tanzania post-election protests<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/6\/cameroons-biya-worlds-oldest-ruler-at-92-sworn-in-for-eighth-term\">Cameroon\u2019s Biya, world\u2019s oldest ruler at 92, sworn in for eighth term<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/23\/cameroon-opposition-leader-flees-to-gambia-for-safety-after-disputed-vote\">Cameroon opposition leader flees to Gambia for \u2018safety\u2019 after disputed vote<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>His death has sparked widespread outrage and threatens to deepen the political turmoil gripping Cameroon following October\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/6\/cameroons-biya-worlds-oldest-ruler-at-92-sworn-in-for-eighth-term\">disputed<\/a> presidential election, which saw 92-year-old Paul Biya claim another term after more than four decades in power.<\/p>\n<p>Ekane, the leader of the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy (MANIDEM), a left-wing party, was seized on October 24 after backing Biya\u2019s rival <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/23\/cameroon-opposition-leader-flees-to-gambia-for-safety-after-disputed-vote\">Issa Tchiroma Bakary<\/a>, who has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/14\/cameroons-issa-tchiroma-bakary-claims-presidential-election-victory\">rejected<\/a> official results and insists he won the vote.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities charged Ekane with insurrection and rebellion, allegations his party characterised as politically motivated.<\/p>\n<p>His eldest son, Muna Ekane, told the Associated Press news agency that his father\u2019s condition deteriorated sharply over the last week, with severe respiratory distress leaving him struggling to breathe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor one week, he had difficulties breathing; he was suffocating,\u201d he said, adding that the family repeatedly alerted officials, but \u201cnothing was done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ekane\u2019s lawyer, Emmanuel Simh, said his client had been\u00a0ill but was denied appropriate treatment. \u201cWe\u2019re still in shock and sadness,\u201d Simh said. \u201cEkane committed no crime, so we need to know why he was arrested and abandoned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ekane\u2019s party had issued an urgent appeal on Sunday demanding his immediate transfer to a civilian hospital, warning it would hold the government accountable for any consequences.<\/p>\n<p>Cameroon\u2019s government has said Ekane received treatment care from military doctors working alongside his personal physicians, and said an investigation has been launched.<\/p>\n<p>Communication Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi has expressed regret over the death, while President Biya ordered a probe into the circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>But Ekane\u2019s party has branded his death \u201cmurder,\u201d and the European Union delegation expressed \u201cdeep sadness\u201d and renewed demands for the release of all those arbitrarily detained since the election.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Delegation of the European Union to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea reacts to the death in custody of politician Anicet Georges EKANE\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0FTVroVvUc\">pic.twitter.com\/0FTVroVvUc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 L&#8217;UE au Cameroun et pour la Guin\u00e9e \u00e9quatoriale (@UEauCameroun) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UEauCameroun\/status\/1995527532297191804?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Ekane dedicated nearly five decades to political activism, emerging as a key figure in the early 1990s push for multiparty democracy.<\/p>\n<p>Ekane was viewed by his supporters as a political heir to Cameroon\u2019s nationalist heroes, but he witnessed the execution of independence fighter Ernest Ouandie.<\/p>\n<p>He remained a passionate advocate for social justice throughout his career.<\/p>\n<p>His death comes amid ongoing controversy over the post-election crackdown.<\/p>\n<p>While the government <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2025\/10\/27\/4-dead-in-election-related-clashes-as-cameroons-biya-wins-eighth-term\">claims<\/a> 16 people died in protests following Biya\u2019s declared victory, opposition groups and human rights organisations put the toll above 55.<\/p>\n<p>Tchiroma, the candidate Ekane supported,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/23\/cameroon-opposition-leader-flees-to-gambia-for-safety-after-disputed-vote\">fled<\/a> to the Gambia last month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The death of veteran politician Ekane sparks accusations of medical neglect and intensifies the country\u2019s post-election crisis. Veteran opposition figure Anicet Ekane has died in military custody in Cameroon, his family and legal representatives have said. Ekane, 74, passed away on Monday morning in Yaounde, the country\u2019s capital, 38 days after security forces detained him &#8230; <a title=\"Cameroon\u2019s opposition leader Anicet Ekane dies in military detention\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/cameroons-opposition-leader-anicet-ekane-dies-in-military-detention\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Cameroon\u2019s opposition leader Anicet Ekane dies in military detention\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}