Journalists in Cameroon say attacks on reporters have surged as the country prepares for next year’s presidential elections. Ninety-one-year-old President Paul Biya, who has ruled the country for over four decades, may run again. Rights groups say six journalists have been assaulted by gunmen in the past weeks, while several reporters and a radio station have been ordered to stop broadcasting.
The Network of Cameroon Media Owners, or REPAC, says four of its members have been brutally attacked by men armed with rifles and machetes in Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, in the last three weeks.
Emmanuel Ekouli, publisher of the weekly newspaper La Voix du Centre and Cameroon correspondent for Reporters Without Borders, which promotes and defends press freedom, was attacked by armed men in front of his home last week, according to REPAC.
Ekouli told VOA he was stabbed several times and that his telephone, recording equipment and laptop were taken.
REPAC said that last week armed men also tried to abduct its president, Francois Mboke, the publisher of the newspaper Diapason, but that his neighbors raised an alarm and the armed men escaped.
Xavier Messe, publisher of the Le Calame newspaper and Arsene Nkonda, publisher of the Identities newspaper, were also attacked by men with machetes this month.
Besides the physical attacks on journalists, Cameroon media professionals say they are increasingly being silenced as Cameroon prepares for next year’s vote.
President Biya, who has ruled Cameroon for over four decades, has not said whether he will run in the October polls, but his supporters have called on him to seek reelection.
REPAC says Biya’s supporters, especially government ministers, are trying to intimidate the media organizations that criticize the president’s long tenure in power.
At RIS FM radio in the capital Yaounde, a guard told VOA that staff members, including journalists, have not been coming to work since armed policemen closed the station this month.
Innocent Tatchou, the station’s information director and editor-in-chief, says he is certain that government officials, uncomfortable with RIS FM’s strong denunciation of endemic corruption, ordered Cameroonian police to close the media outlet without prior notice. He says RIS FM has filed a court complaint for the seal to be lifted so that the station can resume broadcasting.
Cameroon's National Communications Council says RIS Radio and its station manager, Sismondi Barlev Bidjoka, were suspended for six months for broadcasting what the council claimed were unfounded and offensive statements against Biya’s top aide, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.
Bidjoka has accused Ngoh of corrupt practices, a claim Ngoh denies.
Council President Joseph Chebongkeng Kalabubse denies allegations the government is using the council to silence journalists. However, he says some journalists need a refresher course on ethics.
"In the days ahead, we will deploy council members to organize workshops and seminars to be able to sensitize and educate our peers on what is at stake and the expectations from them,” he said, speaking on Cameroon state Radio CRTV. “All these are measures which the council is taking to ensure that as we gear up towards the 2025 presidential elections, we will be able to live up to expectations."
Cameroon’s Union of Journalists reports that two presenters of political TV programs were also attacked by unknown men this month.
Eyong Tarh, secretary general of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, says African journalists and media organizations are often attacked before, during and shortly after elections because governments do not want reporters to expose the continent’s rampant corruption and theft.
"Whenever elections take place in Africa, international media, like the BBC, like the Voice of America and private media houses expose malpractices,” he said. “As a result, journalists, the media houses that are involved in such reporting usually go through so much intimidation from the governments."
Human Rights Watch said in July that it is becoming increasingly difficult to speak freely in Cameroon, adding that as elections approach, authorities should fully respect Cameroonians’ freedom of expression.
