A video making the rounds on Whatsapp depicts the moment angry Cameroonians stormed the venue of an event said to be the celebration of President Paul Biya’s 40th year in office.
We transcribed the video, which is originally in French to English and the people in the video were saying, “Come out, get out, what is happening? Please be careful, what are you doing?
You can not enter, what are you doing?
The RDPC can not celebrate the diaspora. What celebration? 40 years of massacre, 40 years of murder, and you are celebrating
The RDPC can not hold any anniversary here. The dictatorship you are showing there will be shown to you here. No anniversary for the pole bearer here. Mission accomplished. Come out, kill him and others shouted No, No. They echoed, “The RDPC are running away; what are you celebrating, criminals? Are you not ashamed of celebrating an old man?”
Verification:
The video was first uploaded to the internet on November 18, 2022, by a Facebook page, “Lighthouse News Zimbabwe.” On the same day, the exact version of the video with a similar caption was shared on Twitter. Less than a year later, a version of the video with the caption is being shared across social media pages.
The CDD War Room found that the RDPC mentioned in the video alleged to be holding celebrations is the “Rassemblement démocratique du Peuple Camerounais,” which also connotes the Cameroun People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM). Paul Biya, the president of Cameroon, doubles as the National president of the party, which has dominated Cameroun’s political space since the 1960s.
We found that the Cameroun president, aged 89, has spent 40 years in power, having taken over as the president in 1982. Biya took over from Ahmadou Ahijo, having served as prime minister since 1975.
He has won all multiparty elections since 1992, and the opposition has always complained of heavy election rigging. In 2008, Biya abolished the constitution’s two-term limit, giving him the leeway to rule for as long as he wants.
Verdict: TRUE
The claim of the disruption of the event portrayed in the video is true; the events could be traced to the venue of Paul Biya’s 40 years in power celebration in France. However, the event occurred in November 2022, not recently as being portrayed by those circulating it.
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