Cameroon: Biya bows to International pressure, orders his junta courts to free Patrice Nganang

Patracie Nganang, a US based professor of Cameroonian origin and a fierce critic of the Biya has regained freedom from Yaounde's central prison today. Patrice Nganang was arrested and looked up three weeks ago as he was boarding a flight to leave Cameroon at the Douala International Airport. The activist who is also a professor in the US was accused by the regime of inciting hatred and attacking the president through a comment he made on his Facebook profile on the ongoing anglophone crisis that has plagued the nation for over a year now. He appeared in court last week Wednesday in Yaounde.During that court session, some of the charges against him were dropped and the case was adjourned to be heard again on January 19th, 2018.

Today's unexpected court appearance and subsequent freedom is seen by many observers as a result of Iinternational condemnation of Biya's crackdown of freedom of expression and intimidation in the country.He was ordered to leave Cameroon for good after today's court appearance.There was a motion of jubilation early this morning amongst Anglophone detainees at the kodengui maximum prison as news of the liberation of Patrice Nganang went viral.

Born in 1970, Nganang is a professor of Literary at the State University of New York. However, it is his facet as a writer that has earned him so much international recognition, especially since the publication of his second novel Temps de chien in 1999, with which he received the Marguerite Yourcenar Prize and the Black Africa Literary Grand Prize, both in 2002.

From his position as a well-known writer living abroad, Nganang is the real black beast of the authoritarian regime of Mr Biya and the external amplifier of the deep political crisis that Cameroon is experiencing.