ANKARA

The EU on Monday welcomed Cameroon's President Paul Biya's order to release main opposition party leader amid national dialogue.

"President Biya's decision to stop military court proceedings against several leaders and activists of political parties and movements, including the 'Mouvement pour la renaissance du Cameroun' and its president, Maurice Kamto, represents an important gesture of appeasement,” the EU said in a statement.

Kamto was arrested in January with hundreds of his supporters following two-day long anti-government protests against presidential election results.

"I have ordered the discontinuance of proceedings pending before Military Tribunals against some officials and militants of political parties in particular the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM)," the president said on Twitter last week.

Responding to the Cameroonian president’s decision, the EU said: “It is likely to facilitate the search for solutions to the challenges faced by the country.”

Kamto, who ran for president in October’s election, came in second with 14.23 percent of the votes.

Last week, President Biya also ordered the release of 333 prisoners arrested for their alleged roles in the crisis in the country’s Anglophone regions. A national dialogue over the crisis ended on Friday.