Ruling party expresses “regret” over disappearances

The ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) expressed “regret” on Thursday over the disappearance of nine youths from Douala’s Bepanda neighbourhood, Cameroon radio reported. CPDM Deputy-Secretary General Gregoire Owona said his party regretted their disappearance and expressed its solidarity with the families, irrespective of their political leanings. The nine went missing on 28 February, after the Operational Command, a special crime-fighting unit, arrested them on suspicion of stealing a gas canister. Political activists and human rights advocates have established a commission of inquiry, independent of one set up a week earlier by President Paul Biya, to look into the disappearances.