On August 10, 2026, George Atabong Lekeaka published a photo of a soldier and a police officer on patrol in the southwestern city of Buea on the Facebook page All-About-Cameroon, to which he is a contributor, the page’s administrator told CPJ, on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.
“Serious gunfire exchange between the military and the ‘boyses’ at mile 18 Buea, please stay home and stay safe,” the post said, using a nickname for Cameroon’s separatist fighters.
The Anglophone crisis began in 2016 with protests by lawyers and teachers over the appointment of French-speaking officials in the minority English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions, triggering a crackdown by the majority French-speaking government and a secessionist rebellion.
Hours after sharing the post, Lekeaka was detained when he identified himself to soldiers who were searching the area near where the photo was taken, according to an August 12 habeas corpus, reviewed by CPJ, which was filed by his lawyer Emmanuel Aleambong Nkea in a bid to have the journalist produced in court.
The court document includes testimony of a witness who was taken to a military assembly point with Lekeaka after the journalist was detained.
“The arresting officers refused to inform me where they were taking the victim to and asked me to leave the scene immediately or risk being taken with the victim, and I obliged,” said the witness, who CPJ is not naming for security reasons.
On August 14, Nkea told CPJ he was unable to determine Lekeaka’s whereabouts despite visiting local gendarmerie and military headquarters.
The August 10 deadly violence in Buea erupted as separatists sought to enforce their weekly “ghost town” protest, when all activities in the Anglophone regions are meant to shut down, Xinhua news agency reported.
On August 14, Lekeaka was “unconditionally released from custody by elements of The 21st Motorized Infantry Battalion, Buea where he was being held,” his lawyer Nkea wrote in an August 20 notice of discontinuance of the habeas corpus, reviewed by CPJ. The notice added that Lekeaka presented with no sign of physical torture but that he suffered psychological distress from the five-day incommunicado detention.
Reporting from Cameroon’s Anglophone regions is extremely dangerous, with journalists intimidated by both sides, kidnapped by separatists for ransom, and serving lengthy prison sentences on charges including secession, insurrection, and false news. In 2019, Buea-based Samuel Wazizi died in government custody two weeks after his arrest in connection with his critical reporting on the conflict.
CPJ’s mid-August calls and text messages seeking comment from Cyrille Serge Atonfack Guemo, head of the Defense Ministry’s communications division; Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of Southwest region; Engelbert Viang Mekala, Senior Divisional Officer for Fako, where Buea is located; and Martin Mbarga Nguélé, delegate general for national security, went unanswered. Loa Hebga Agai, the regional delegate for national security, asked CPJ which unit had made the arrest but did not respond to subsequent messages.