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News and Publications
The IIJD Newsletter:
   
Cameroon: Mboua Massock, leader of the peaceful revolution, is missing
By Emily Ravenscroft
March 7, 2008
As of two days ago it was announced that Mboua Massock ma Batalong has been missing since last Saturday when he failed to appear at an arranged meeting in the carrefour Shell New-Bell in Douala. Mboua Massock is a primary force behind the many peaceful demonstrations and a leading advocate of change in Cameroon. A proponent of change by non-violent methods, he has nonetheless been subjected to violent treatment by the police and forces of order following his continued and increasingly impassioned protests against the government headed by the tyrant Paul Biya, whose recent push for an amendment to the constitution would give him a universal mandate and secure the country under an iron fist of dictatorial rule.
Mboua Massock’s family, close friends and fellow activists fear for his life. His son, who has also been subjected to brutal recriminations by the police, believes that Massock may have been kidnapped by an attack squadron that was sent to Douala this past week to “have the heads of Mboua Massock and Jean Michel Nintcheu.” It is reported that the night before the meeting to which he failed to turn up, a gang of armed men and an anti-gang squadron surrounded his house, named the “Pavilion of National Obligation.” This is all that is known as of yet.
  
 
“This is a standard way for the government of Cameroon to be acting” recalls Benjamin Ngachoko, President of the IIJD. In the 1990’s, with the formation of the student movements against the dictatorship of the government of Cameroon, Paul Biya supplied youths from his militia with weapons in order to tackle the student protests. Any sign of discontent or protest is swiftly and brutally put down and its proponents thrown in jail, thrown into the forest 100km away from the city or even removed from life itself.
  
 
The IIJD fervently calls upon those involved in the disappearance of Mboua Massock to restore him to liberty. Every man should have the right to express himself peacefully and in a reasonable manner as Mboua Massock has always done. Furthermore the government should be able to stand up and defend themselves against criticism in a democratic manner and through reasoned debate if they are to have any legitimate claim on power or any legitimacy to their actions. Making the voices that criticize them disappear only fuels the fire of discontent against government officials and proves them to be the cowards and criminals that they really are.
  
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Source:

Article: Mboua Massock porté disparu 3.5.2008
  
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