Cameroon / Africa

Although the number of journalists in prison in Africa at the end of 2003 was lower than the previous year, African journalists still faced a multitude of difficulties, including government harassment and physical assaults. Many countries in Africa retain harsh press laws. In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, some…

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disturbed that Rémy Ngono, a former journalist for the private, Yaoundé-based Radio Télévision Siantou (RTS), has been imprisoned on charges of criminal defamation.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the deteriorating press freedom climate in Cameroon following the detention of three journalists from Cameroon’s only independent daily, Mutations, and the closure of the private radio station Magic FM. On April 13, the Société de presse et d’édition du Cameroun (Sopécam), a state-owned printing…

Although the Kenya-based East African Standard, one of Africa’s oldest continuously published newspapers, marked its 100th anniversary in November, journalism remains a difficult profession on the continent, with adverse government policies and multifaceted economic woes still undermining the full development of African media.

On October 10, the International Court of Justice recognized Cameroon’s rights to Bakassi, a Gulf of Guinea peninsula whose sizable offshore oil deposits Nigeria has long claimed. Nevertheless, Nigeria continued to assert its prerogative, reviving fears of an armed conflict along the 1,000 mile (1,600 kilometer) border between the two countries.

Hopes were high in July that Ivory Coast’s political crisis would end after a judge in the capital, Abidjan, confirmed that former prime minister Alassane Dramane Ouattara, the leader of the opposition Rally for Republicans (RDR), is an Ivory Coast citizen.

Compared to previous years, the government of President Paul Biya seemed less keen to abuse the local press in 2001. In February, officials scrapped the value-added tax on imported media equipment and multimedia goods and services. Two months later, in June, the state television and radio network RTC allowed the BBC World Service to broadcast…

NOVEMBER 4 MARKED PRESIDENT PAUL BIYA’S 18TH YEAR as leader of a regime that has persistently been accused of human rights violations. Cameroonian law enforcement officials make “widespread and systematic” use of torture, according to a March report by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The pompous anniversary celebrations failed to impress Cameroonian journalists,…

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged at the prison sentences recently imposed on three journalists from the private biweekly publication Dikalo in retaliation for their coverage of alleged corruption and mismanagement at a local trade union.

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in CAMEROON. New York, April 5, 2000 — On April 3, a criminal court in the western Cameroonian town of Bafoussam convicted Michel Eclador Pekoua on one count of defamation and sentenced him to six months in prison without parole, sources in Cameroon told CPJ. Pekona…