At least two students shot dead in university protests

Two university students have been shot dead in a clash with soldiers at Buea University in English-speaking western Cameroon, the government said on Friday. The deaths follow several days of protests at the English-speaking university in Cameroon's southwest province bordering Nigeria, and come as angry students at the country's largest university, Yaounde One, negotiate with officials to end 10 days of trouble there. In a statement read on state-run radio on Friday, Higher Education Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo appealed for calm and said President Paul Biya "has requested a judicial enquiry to establish the exact cause of the deaths." One of the students was shot in the head and the other hit in the chest. Both died instantly. Independent newspapers however said a third, female student had died of wounds sustained during the clash with police and paramilitary gendarmes. Thursday's protest was the second in two days at Buea University where protesters are demanding the suppression of annual school fees of 50,000 CFA francs (US $99) instituted in 1993 in all six state-run universities in the West African country. Striking students are also demanding more food and toilets. The clash occurred when students took to the streets to reach the office of the province's governor and hand in their complaints. Police and troops used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd, and independent newspaper reports say many students were injured and taken to hospital for treatment. Classes have been temporarily halted at Buea University. Meanwhile in Yaounde, student protesters were in negotiations with officials on Friday after strikes caused a 10-day stoppage of classes over demands for an end to fees and an improvement in academic and living conditions. The strike at Yaounde One has also spread to other institutes of higher learning, such as the teacher-training school Ecole Normale Superieure, the Ecole Nationale de Polytechnique and the Advanced School of Mass Communications (ASMAC). President Biya has ordered the government to disburse 2.4 billion CFA francs (US $4.7 million) to resolve the crisis at Yaounde One. But the higher education minister said at a news conference last week that the government could not simply suppress school fees given that the nation's financial situation was not that healthy. Minister Ndongo is scheduled to meet with student leaders of the Association for the Defence of the Rights of Cameroon University Students (ADDEC). But there are fears that student dissatisfaction could extend to other state-run universities and teaching institutions.