Tensions grow between Cameroon and France

Tensions are growing steadily between Cameroon and France over the fate of the correspondent of Radio France Internale in Cameroon.

Cameroon lashed out at Rfi and France on Friday in retaliation to strong accusations over  alleged injustice inflicted upon Ahmed Abba who was sentenced to ten years in prison by a military tribunal in Yaoundé last Monday.

A critical editorial from the state-run broadcaster, CRTV, declared and reaffirmed that Mr Abba deserved the sentence. It went further to ask France about the raison d’être of her own numerous prisons. CRTV also reiterated that Ahmed Abba is a Cameroonian, so tacitly he ought to have mastered Cameroon’s judicial life as well as been more patriotic. Cameroon is a sovereign state and will not receive orders from whomever in the name of freedom, concluded the editorial.

The National Communication Council issued a communiqué in the same light to warn some media outlets and practitioners who have been very critical of the sentence.

Mr Ahmed Abba was arrested in July 2015 when he was covering the activities of Boko Haram in Cameroon. Accused of complicity with terrorism and silence to terrorist acts, Abba was detained in a military tribunal in Yaoundé where he was later sentenced to ten years in prison on Monday 24.04.2017 after more than ten adjournments of the trial. Throughout the trial, he had claimed innocence. There have been repeated calls from some media groups and France for an unconditional release of Mr Ahmed.