The French daily newspaper Mutations has mutated into two versions, being sold side-by-side at newsstands Monday. One version is being published by the South Media Corporation, the previous publisher of the paper, and the other by Haman Mana, its editor-in-chief until yesterday.

Sunday, the newspaper was in a single newsroom, but Monday saw journalists working in two separate newsrooms. One is at the newspaper's old headquarters under the South Media Corporation now managed by Alain Batongue, and the other is in its new quarters of Haman Mana at the Kabba Ngondo.

The version published by Batongue carried a press release stating the 'Mutations' and 'Situations' titles belong to the South Media Corporation in which Mana was only an employee. The other newspaper, published by Mana, carries a statement in which he claims the title is registered in his name and protected by the African Intellectual Property Organisation.

The conflict between the two parties is said to have began in the last board meeting, during which “it made autonomous its publications in script manner of some of its powers. But Mana complained that the values of journalism were being overshadowed by capitalist ideas,” the BBC has reported, adding that both parties are bracing for a legal battle ahead, despite the conflict's origin.

Newspaper buyers told the BBC they were surprised to see two versions of the same newspaper at newsstands.

“This is a total embarrassment because Mutations has been one of the most credible newspapers in the country,” one newspaper buyer told the BBC. “A newspaper cannot function if there is no capital for it to run. At the same time, if you have no faith in journalists, no newspaper will exist.”