Culled from Atangana Mebara, Jean-Marie. 2011. Lettres d'ailleurs: dévoilements préliminaires d'une prise de l'Epervier du Cameroun. Paris: Harmattan.
On August 1, 2008, Jean-Marie Atangana Mebara, former the Minister of Higher Education, former Secretary-General at the Presidency, and former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, was remanded into custody for his role in the "Albatross Affair", the botched attempt to purchase an aircraft for President Biya. In December 2011, the Paris-based l’Harmattan published Mebara's book « Lettres d’ailleurs, Dévoilements préliminaires d’une prise de l’épervier du Cameroun ». (Letters from elsewhere: Preliminary revelations of a catch of the Cameroonian Sparrow hawk). Prefaced by Cardinal Tumi, the book consists of a series of letters to his family, friends, and public personalities. In one of the letters to his daughter, he goes at length into the circumstances of his arrest, including his first days behind bars at the Kondengui maximum security prison. Here is an excerpt:
On March 2008, I received a phone call around 6:15 am from a former close collaborator informing me that Minister Abah Abah had just been arrested, and that according to his informants, the team in charge of the operation was on its way to pick up Minister Olanguena, after which they would come for me.
I was home alone, my wife having left for morning mass as she did every morning... I quickly showered and dressed up, then made a couple of calls particularly to my faithful friend and brother, Charles, and to my junior brother MEB's... I tried unsuccessfully to pray. However, I was comforted by the fact that I had a rosary in my coat pocket, along with my identity card.
Then the wait began.
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