［2008.03.01］Cameroon喀麦隆：Another president who won't go

［2008.03.01］Cameroon喀麦隆：Another president who won't go

Cameroon喀麦隆

Another president who won't go又是一个赖着不想走总统

Feb 28th 2008 | DOUALA
From The Economist print edition

Many Cameroonians are angry because their president refuses to retire许多喀麦隆人因为他们的总统赖着不想走而十分生气

THE MAN who has presided over Cameroon for 25 years touts a simple slogan: “Paul Biya for peace”. But it no longer rings true. On February 24th and 25th, in Douala, Cameroon's commercial capital on the Atlantic coast, protesters lit fires on the streets, shooting broke out, and looters ran amok. Taxi drivers went on strike and many other people stopped work too. Shops and petrol stations were ransacked, cars burnt. Black clouds of smoke and the noise of gunfire enveloped the residential area along the main road out of Douala towards the capital, Yaoundé, where police later tear-gassed stone-throwing youths who had set up burning barricades.
喀麦隆现总统做总统已经在25年了，他打出了一个简单的口号：保罗•比亚代表和平。但这个口号现在听着不再像是真的了。杜阿拉(喀麦隆港市)是喀麦隆位于大西洋沿岸的商业中心，2月24日和25日在那里出现了游行示威，示威者在街上放火，开枪，甚至疯狂地进行抢劫。出租车司机继续罢工，许多人也拒绝上班。商店和加油站被洗劫一空，到处是燃烧的汽车。杜阿拉至首都雅温得大路两边的居民区被隆隆的黑烟和刺耳的枪声包围着，首都的警察接下来使用催泪瓦斯来对付那些修筑了燃烧街垒并投掷石块的青年。

The reason for the mayhem was the president's heavy hint, in an end-of-the-year address, that he might stay on for a third term of another seven years; the present constitution, which came into force in 1996, allows for only two terms. Since then, many Cameroonians, usually a quiet lot, have taken to the streets. Mr Biya has yet to make a clear bid to change the constitution but the issue has been widely aired in the newspapers, on television, and on street corners.
混乱的是因为这位总统在一份年末演说中强烈暗示他将继续他的第三个七年总统任期，而当前的这部实行于1996年的宪法只允许连任两届。事情发生后，许多通常保持沉默的喀麦隆人开始走上街头。比亚先生还没有公开追求修改宪法，但修宪的事情已经在报纸、电视和街头巷尾广为流传了。

Mr Biya has reacted angrily. Several people who organised demonstrations against him have been arrested. Douala's governor has banned any more rallies. Earlier, the minister of communications closed one of the country's most popular private television stations for running too many programmes candidly discussing the prospect of a third term for Mr Biya. A musical artist, known as Joe La Conscience, was prevented from walking the 320 kilometres (200 miles) to Yaoundé from the town of Loum, north of Dowala, singing songs against the proposed constitutional change.
比亚先生的反应是相当生气。好几个示威组织者已经被逮捕了。杜阿拉州长已经禁止任何集会。早些时候，通讯部长关闭了这个国家最受欢迎的私人电视台，因为这些电视台播放的许多节目公开直接地讨论比亚先生继续第三个任期的前景。一位音乐家，叫Joe La Conscience的，受到当局的禁止，他原打算从杜阿拉北部的一个叫Loum的城镇，跋涉320公里（200英里）前往首都雅温得，通过唱歌反对修宪的主张。

Many strikers say they are merely protesting against the high cost of fuel. But the problem runs a lot deeper. Mr Biya's bid for another term has unleashed a rare outbreak of public discussion and dissent at a time when the country has fallen heavily into debt. Transparency International, a Berlin-based lobby that measures corruption, says it has become “endemic” in Cameroon. Elections in the last few years have been so patently rigged that few voters bother to turn up.
许多罢工者表示他们只是抗议燃料的价格高昂。但是问题开始向深处蔓延，比亚先生试图连任三届的想法在喀麦隆陷入深深的债务中时引发了少有的公众讨论和异意。总部设在柏林的一家衡量比较***情况的组织――透明国际表示，在喀麦隆，***已经相当流行。过去几年的选举因为明显地属于人为操纵，以致于很少有选民有兴趣参加投票。

Still, the opposition is weak, though Mr Biya excoriated “the apprentice sorcerers in the shadows”. More than 200 parties have sprung up since multi-party politics was allowed in 1990. Garga Haman Adji, a former minister in Mr Biya's government who is now in opposition, says that many opposition parties have been infiltrated and bought out by Mr Biya's party. In any event, the 75-year-old president has been badly rattled.
虽然比亚先生公开指责反对派是“阴影下的学徒巫师”，但他们的力量是微弱的。自从喀麦隆1990年开始允许多党制后，已经出现了200多个政党。反对派的一位比亚政府前部长Garga Haman Adji表示许多反对派政党已经被比亚的正常所渗透和收买。无论如何，这位75岁的总统看来是已经相当地气恼了。