At last, Morocco have arrived at the tournament they are hosting. For four games they had played scratchy, crabbed football. Finally, in a spiky, ill-tempered quarter-final, there was something more like the Morocco that reached the semi-final of the World Cup just over three years ago. If the game wasn't fluent, that was largely Cameroon's doing as they spoiled and sought treatment.
At slightly larger than California, the African nation of Cameroon is home to roughly 30 million people and more than 300 indigenous languages. But a long-lasting civil war and other humanitarian crises have made the future of those languages uncertain. Today, most Cameroonians in their 40s and 50s are as proficient in their indigenous languages (including Lamnso', Oroko, and Batanga) as they are in a colonial language such as English or French. Their parents, in contrast, spoke indigenous languages more dominantly.
Veteran opposition figure Anicet Ekane has died in military custody in Cameroon, his family and legal representatives have said. Ekane, 74, passed away on Monday morning in Yaounde, the country's capital, 38 days after security forces detained him in the port city of Douala, France's public radio RFI reported. His death has sparked widespread outrage and threatens to deepen the political turmoil gripping Cameroon following October's disputed presidential election, which saw 92-year-old Paul Biya claim another term after more than four decades in power.
Police on Sunday fired teargas to disperse hundreds of opposition supporters in Cameroon, a day before the announcement of presidential election results. Demonstrators in Cameroon's largest city, Douala, defied protest bans to support opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who they claim beat the country's longtime leader Paul Biya. "We want Tchiroma, we want Tchiroma!" chanted protesters who barricaded roads.
This century, several aging African leaders have also had to reject premature reports of their deaths, like Cameroon's Paul Biya last year when rumours of his demise spread on social media after he wasn't seen in public for a month. It turned out the 92-year-old, who has the distinction of being the world's oldest, non-royal, leader, was simply in residence at his second home in Switzerland.
