Biya sacks head of anti-crime unit

President Paul Biya demoted on Saturday the head of the Commandement Operationnel, a special crime-fighting force accused of human rights abuses in Douala, including the disappearance of nine youths arrested on suspicion of theft, the Panafrican News Agency (PANA) reported. The officer, Brig-Gen Philippe Mpay, has been made head of the military in the western town of Bamenda. The Commandement Operationnel has been heavily criticised for the disappearance of the youths, who have not been seen since 28 January, five days after they were arrested for allegedly stealing a gas canister. A Cameroonian rights organisation has said that they were killed. The presidential decree announcing Mpay’s transfer also called for the arrest of those responsible for the disappearances, PANA said. Since February, a coalition of family members, opposition leaders and rights advocates have held weekly protests to press the government into solving the case. On 28 March, the group established a commission of inquiry, independent of one Biya set up a week earlier, to look into the disappearances.