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E. I.2.1.b.i. Cameroon

The villes mortes (ghost towns) movement in Cameroon was particularly impressive, although the opposition failed to win the elections it had demanded, The two-year movement looked likely to defeat President Paul Biya, but in the October 1992 elections the opposition was divided between two political parties, and electoral fraud gained Biya a narrow majority (40%) over the Social Democratic Front (37%). This struggle is also better covered in English than many movements in Francophone states.

Gros, Jean-Germain, The Hard Lessons of Cameroon, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 6, issue 3 (July), 1995, pp. 112-127

Includes comments on the role of the French government in supporting Biya.

Ngwane, Mwalimu George, The Power in the Writer: Collected essays on Culture, Democracy and Development in Africa, Bamenda and Oxford, Langaa and African Books Collective, 2008, pp. 196

Chapter 14, pp. 81-95, specifically discusses the electoral performance of the opposition and criticises its lack of internal democracy.

Takougang, Joseph, Africa State and Society in the 1990s: Cameroon’s Political Crossroads, Boulder CO, Westview Press, 1998, pp. 312

See also: , The Leadership Challenge in Africa: Cameroon Under Paul Biya Trenton NJ, Africa World Press, , 2004, pp. 563 .