Residents of Garoua protect home of Cameroonian opposition leader ahead of election results

Following Cameroon's presidential election on 12 October, both parties have claimed victory, despite official results not expected for another week. In the port city of Garoua in northern Cameroon, supporters of opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary are keeping watch outside the former minister's house, wary that President Paul Biya's government could order his arrest.

Young Cameroonians, both men and women, take turns day and night on the forecourt of Issa Tchiroma Bakary's home in Garoua, armed with slats and clubs. They are there to protect the opposition leader from arrest after he challenged the outcome of Sunday’s election. 

Hassana Tchiroma is a relative of Issa Tchiroma:

‘Minister Tchiroma simply had enough of the hostile rhetoric coming from President Biya's entourage.’

The inhabitants of Garoua have organised themselves so that one group can keep watch at night and another during the day. They are also calling for 92-year-old President Biya to resign after 43 years in power.

‘Cameroonians are suffering," says Moussa Iya Mohaman Adama, a resident of Garoua. "If you see the young people out there, you have to understand that we are tired. We are graduates and we have no work. We need to change the country. We want change from north to south, from east to west. We don't want war. Sorry, Papa Biya, you have to hand over power to the people."

Following the October 12 election, violent demonstrations shook the city when young people who joined the procession of Garoua's strongman were dispersed by riot police.

"It was the people who made the decision to protect Minister Tchiroma and his home," says Hassana Tchiroma, speaking outside the minister's home.

"You see, we didn't do anything, and when we returned the other day, on the day of the vote, we found riot police and lots of gendarmes at the crossroads at the entrance to the minister's home. But we did everything we could to get three vehicles through and disperse the others. It was the next day that the minister was finally able to return to his home, and since then he has been confined to his residence. Everything he does, his statements and everything else, is done from his home."

The situation remains tense in Garoua, a city under siege. Issa Tchiroma claimed victory in an address to Cameroonians from his home on Monday night.