ON MAURICE KAMTO’s "ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION"

During my two-month detention-September -November 1991 as a political prisoner (since there was no trial and I never appeared before a judge), some of the faces of the provincial security officers became etched in my memory. Stayed in Limbe a month after my release (based on the government releasing political prisoners---a precondition the opposition set for attending the 1991 Tripartite Conference). My party at the time (SDF) returned from that Tripartite triumphant as one of the few parties that saw through the Biya regime's deception and had the fortitude not to sign the agreement that marked the death of the powerful "Coordination of Opposition Parties". To celebrate its success, the party decided to organize the first of its "Nation-wide tours". It was a Fru Ndi-led rally in Limbe that December 1991, and the SDF Victoria Electoral District did a marvelous job of making it a grand event.

Just before the close of the rally, my detention mate Frederick Babilla and I noticed one of the security officers in the crowd, in plain clothes. We approached him and quietly asked him why he was there. He said he was sent to observe. Then we found out he was with a colleague.

“You know you can be lynched if we let the people around know about you?”

They nodded.

“Any guns?” I asked.

“No guns!” they said in unison.

We did not frisk them, but hung around them until the end of the rally, and then walked them away all the way to Half Mile, before returning to our members just as they were putting away the gadgets and party materials. We explained what happened to the leadership, and all was fine. 1992 saw the SDF become a huge success and the number one political party in the country.

Simply, governments of regimes send undercover agents to major events, especially those organized by their opponents. I incorporated that aspect of the Cameroonian security service into the first chapter of the book Triple Agent, Double Cross.

“Now, has the custodians of the French-imposed system assassinated their opponents in the past?”

“Yes, they have; several times actually.”

“Was there a government plot or a plot of a faction in the system to assassinate Maurice Kamto?”

“That, I don’t know.”

“Does the story of Kamto’s attempted assassination boost his narrative that he is now the head of the opposition---what I would call Cameroon’s so-called opposition?”

“Yes, it serves Kamto’s and the MRC’s purpose.”

“Does it serve the purpose of others?”

“Yes, it does, and it doesn’t, depending on the kaleidoscope of possibilities you are capable of fathoming.”

Janvier Tchouteu