Anglophone Crisis: Cameroonian writer detained after criticising Biya

A celebrated Cameroonian writer who wrote a piece critical of the government’s handling of a separatist crisis in its Anglophone region was detained at Douala airport on Thursday, his wife and lawyer said.

Patrice Nganang, a prize-winning poet, professor and author who lives in New York, was due to board a Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi and then onwards to Harare to join his wife on Thursday but never arrived. 

After 24 hours of trying to track him down, Nyasha Bakare said he had been found by his lawyers at a government detention centre in Yaounde, the capital.

“He’s apparently OK. That’s the main thing,” Bakare said, adding that the authorities appeared to be preparing for a legal hearing.

His lawyer Emmanuel Simh said: “He is accused of insulting the president of the republic, and after the hearings we will be able to give further information.”