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Remember Mongo Bed (1932-2001) Mongo Beti died during the night of 7-8 October 2001 at General Hospital in Douala, Cameroon. After his admission to Yaounde General Hospital for emergency care on 2 October 2001 following a sudden and serious hepatic attack, he was transferred on 6 October to Douala General Hospital due to renal complications to which he eventually succumbed.
Mongo Beti leaves behind a widow, Odile Biyidi, and three children, as well as numerous friends and companions with whom he crusaded for the liberation of Cameroon and Africa from oppression and from numerous forms of exploitation. Shortly before his death, Mongo Beti worked tirelessly with a group of educators to establish a radio station, Radio Alternance, to promote creativity and freedom of expression. Furthermore, he had promised to donate to this project the honoraria he was to receive from Boston University, Harvard, Tufts, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology during his engagements there from 20 October through 4 November 2001.
Since his retirement from public service in France in 1994, Mongo Beti had settled back in Cameroon and put all his energies into several activities there. He had joined the ranks of John Fru Ndi's Social Democratic Front (SDF) and had campaigned for him. He had created and headed up the Committee for the Liberation of Citizen Edzoa (Colicite), a former official of Biya's regime who had been the victim of a parody of justice. He had worked for the protection of the environment and against the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline. We remember that on the occasion of the visit of French President Jacques Chirac to...