We received a letter this week from Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Don Yamamoto in support of our plea to Cameroonian President Paul Biya for an investigation into the death of Germain Ngota Ngota, editor of the Cameroon Express. Ngota did not receive adequate medical assistance while in government custody and died of illness on April 22, according to a prison death certificate that his family shared with journalists. Ngota and editors from two other publications were arrested February 25 in connection with their reports on corruption allegations involving a presidential aide. Here is Yamamoto's letter.
African Union must act on Cameroon’s human rights violations
October 29, 2019 12:21 PM ET
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 64 other civil society organizations in calling on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to address serious and systematic human rights violations in Cameroon, including the jailing of journalists....
CPJ joins call for UN Security Council to act on Cameroon crisis
June 3, 2019 6:30 PM ET
The Committee to Protect Journalists and eight other civil society organizations sent a letter to members of the United Nations Security Council about the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in Cameroon. The letter was sent ahead of the U.N. Regional Office for Central Africa briefing to the Security...
In Cameroon, press struggles with financial and official constraints
May 4, 2015 11:50 AM ET
On March 16, Cameroon's Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakari, denounced French online news outlet Le Monde as unprofessional at a press conference after it reported on allegations that President Paul Biya was in hospital in Geneva. The incident is symbolic of the growing problem in Cameroon, which has...
First US-Africa summit short on press freedom, other human rights
July 31, 2014 5:30 PM ET
Top African and U.S. leaders are meeting next week in Washington in a first-of-its-kind summit focused on African development. But critics argue the summit is flawed in design, overlooking human rights such as freedom of expression and barring civil society actors from bilateral discussions....
In exile: From a Cameroonian jail to immigration limbo
June 20, 2011 12:01 AM ET
I was arbitrary and unlawfully arrested and detained in a heavily secured military police detention facility in Cameroon for 40 days. I had to bribe my way out of the country to seek sanctuary and protection. Cameroon is a dictatorship dressed up as a fake democracy, with a leader in power...