Yaound©: The leader of the main opposition party, Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM), Maurice Kamto, condemned the treatment meted out to Barrister Alice Nkom, the Board Chairperson of the Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REHDAC), by the Cameroon government.
According to Cameroon News Agency, Kamto stated that Barrister Alice Nkom is an eminent figure in the public life of Cameroon and should not face the Ministry of Territorial Administration alone. “It is therefore unacceptable that she should be the object of the judicial and political harassment that the authorities are currently inflicting on her,” he remarked on December 4, 2025.
Kamto expressed dissatisfaction that this clash is occurring in the lead-up to the 2025 presidential elections, where the lives of Cameroonians who dare to speak out against the regime’s excesses are under threat. He extended his support to the 79-year-old barrister and her association, likening her situation to that of the hundreds of peaceful activists from the CRM who have been arrested since 2018 and are victims of persecution in the country.
“I have asked the Collectif Me Sylvain Souop to contact Me Alice Nkom to participate pro bono in her defense,” Kamto said, noting that the regime must understand that a judicial front of its victims has now formed and will fight to make Cameroon a state governed by the rule of law, respecting both the laws of the Republic and its international commitments.
In response to Maurice Kamto’s statement, Barrister Alice Nkom said his support stands against injustice. “In this ordeal, which cannot leave any Cameroonian woman or man indifferent, your commitment embodies the defense of the values of liberty and dignity,” she expressed in a Facebook post.
Accused of illegal funding, REHDAC was suspended for three months by the Minister of Territorial Administration in early December 2024. Subsequently, the headquarters of the association was sealed by the Senior Divisional Officer (SDO) of Douala 1 to reinforce the measure, an act deemed illegal by Barrister Nkom, who then broke the seals. This was followed by a series of summons and postponements, leading to an ongoing epistolary battle between the Ministry and REHDAC.