Douala - Cameroon President Paul Biya said on Wednesday that widespread rioting which has claimed 17 lives was being orchestrated by "apprentice sorcerers" who wanted to topple him.

"For some, the objective is to obtain by violence what they have not achieved through the ballot box," Biya said on state television after a transport strike fuelled rioting and demands for Biya to quit.

"What we're looking at here is the exploitation of the transport strike for political ends," he added, denouncing, without naming "the apprentice sorcerers in the shadows".

"To those responsible for manipulating (our) young for their own goals, I say that their efforts are doomed to failure," he stated.