20100713
africanews

A veteran Cameroonian journalist Pius Njawe has died in a horrible motor accident in Virginia, USA. The founder and publisher of Le Messager newspaper passed on when a tractor ramped into a Lexus Jeep in which he was being driven and he died on the spot, according to media reports.

According to David Akana, a Cameroonian journalist in the USA, the driver of Njawe is in a critical situation at a Virginia hospital.

Njawe had travelled to the USA to attend a meeting with eminent Cameroonian politicians on how to move the country forward. After the meeting that took place in Washington DC, Njawe was travelling to Virginia Beach to visit his daughter, who is based there.

Journalists and collaborators of Njawe at Le Messager head office in Douala, confirmed the story and expressed disbelief with the unpalatable news coming from the US.

Njawe created the French tabloid, Le Messager, in 1979 and in 1990 he published an "Open Letter" to President Paul Biya, which led to his arrest. In 1997 he was sentenced to two years in prison because Le Massager published an article about President Biya's health, which indicated he had a cardiac problem during a Cameroon National Football Cup Final at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadiun in Yaounde.

The sentence for publishing this article was later reduced and, due to pressures from Human Rights groups across the world, he was subsequently released after almost a year behind bars.