Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08YAOUNDE949
2008-10-02 15:45:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Yaounde
Cable title:  

CAMEROON JAILS SINGER FOR ROLE IN FEBRUARY RIOTS

Tags:  PHUM PGOV PREL CM 
pdf how-to read a cable
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RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHYD #0949 2761545
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 021545Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9298
RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE 0217
INFO RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
UNCLAS YAOUNDE 000949 

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

STATE ALSO FRO AF/C AND DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL CM
SUBJECT: CAMEROON JAILS SINGER FOR ROLE IN FEBRUARY RIOTS

UNCLAS YAOUNDE 000949

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

STATE ALSO FRO AF/C AND DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL CM
SUBJECT: CAMEROON JAILS SINGER FOR ROLE IN FEBRUARY RIOTS


1. (U) On September 24, the Mungo High Court in the Littoral
Province
sentenced prominent singer and political activist "Lapiro de Mbanga"
to three
years in prison, claiming Lapiro had instigated rioting in the
Littoral
Province town of Mbanga during the February unrest that engulfed 31
cities in
Cameroon. Lapiro, whose real name is Pierre Roger Lambo Sandjo, was
also
ordered to pay 280 million CFA (about $560,000) in damages payable
to a
French-owned banana plantation and the local tax office. While not
commenting
specifically on the Lapiro case, Embassy contacts working in the
banana sector
told us that local political jockeying in the Mbanga area was
particularly
heated during the time of the riots.


2. (U) The government prosecutor had requested 20 years in prison
and
damages of 1.1 billion CFA ($2.2 million). Local administration
officials and
political figures (including rival traditional leaders) provided
testimony for
the state. Lapiro's lawyers have appealed the ruling, arguing that
the
testimonies were politically motivated and self-contradictory.
Lapiro's
appeal will be heard in the Littoral Court of Appeals in Douala,
Cameroon's
largest city and the locus of the February riots.


3. (U) A nationally-recognized folk singer who penned a popular
song
expressing opposition to Biya's removal of presidential term limits,
Lapiro is
associated with the leading opposition party, the Social Democratic
Front
(SDF). Many observers were shocked by the heavy sentence meted out
to Lapiro,
and most media reports highlighted the political and French business
angles to
the case.


4. (SBU) Comment: Despite clear political-economical overtones,
the
February unrest was marked by rampant criminal activity, including
looting and
rioting, that cost the country more than 32 billion CFA ($64
million)
according to the Ministry of Finance. Lapiro's conviction resonates
more as
scape-goating and political score-settling than genuine justice,
especially
since President Biya pardoned almost all of those arrested during
the riots.
It is not clear that Lapiro's case will catalyze any public
reaction, but it
will undoubtedly exacerbate the population's already simmering
political
frustrations.