Four months after a reporter was murdered in western Cameroon’s troubled Anglophone region, journalists there are still threatened by both its armed separatists and the central government’s security forces. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on all the parties to respect the right to report the news without risk of reprisals and to establish effective measures to protect journalists.
Anye Nde Nsoh was gunned down on 7 May. His murder was condemned by fellow journalists, press freedom defenders and by the central government, which announced an investigation aimed at arresting those responsible.
But four months later, the investigation has clearly stalled. The authorities seem to have contented themselves with an acknowledgement by the “Ambazonian forces” – the region’s armed Anglophone separatists – that they were responsible.
The separatists themselves blame the shooting on “a case of mistaken identity.” The death of this journalist, who was only 26 years old, has drawn renewed attention to the scale of the challenges that reporters face in the western region, who’s mostly English-speaking residents consider themselves marginalized and the victims of discrimination in comparison with Cameroon’s French speaking majority.
Since 2016, the west has seen many protests that have been violently suppressed by the security forces. Journalism has become difficult because actions taken the Cameroonian authorities and armed separatists compromise press freedom. Murder, kidnapping, arbitrary arrest and detention have become permanent dangers for journalists there.
The northwest and southwest region of Cameroon has really taking lives of so many talented brothers with bright future . It’s so sad but we pray it ends one day .
We’ve cried enough