Opposition leaders have been arrested and the internet has been cut in English-speaking regions for more than a week.

Cameroon's main language is French, but about a fifth of the country's 22 million people are English speakers.

They are concentrated in the country's northwest and southwest regions, which were colonised by Britain.

English speakers have long complained of discrimination.

They say that official documents are always in French and that the language barrier disqualifies them from most government jobs.

Some support breaking away to form their own state.

In recent weeks opposition leaders from the English-speaking regions have been arrested.

Thousands of English-speaking teachers, lawyers and students have gone on strike to protest against alleged marginalisation.

In response, internet service in English-speaking areas was cut off more than a week ago.

That, in turn, has led to a new campaign using the hashtag "Bring Back Our Internet".

The government says that the internet blackout and arrests of political leaders are necessary to maintain peace.

So, what does this mean for Cameroon?



Presenter: Richelle Carey

Guests:

Elvis Ngolle Ngolle - Former Minister of Special Duties in the Office of the President of Cameroon.

Julie Owono - Head of the Internet Desk at Internet Without Borders.

Albert Nchinda - Political Analyst.

Source: Al Jazeera News</s>English-speaking regions of Cameroon have now been without the internet for more than a week following recent protests in the country. This shutdown comes after the government outlawed at least two Anglophone groups - Southern Cameroons National Council and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium took to the streets to protest over the marginalization by the French-speaking led government. Wednesday, January 25, 2017, marks the eighth day since the authorities ordered the country’s telecommunications providers to shut off internet connections to the regions of Northwest and Southwest.However, Cameroonians have also been receiving texts from authorities warning them not to post 'information they can’t prove' on social media.See the text message sent to a Cameroonian below:</s>Authorities in Cameroon have started sending text messages to mobile phone users across the country warning people to stop spreading “fake” news, reports the BBC Hausa service’s Muhamman Babalala from the capital, Yaounde.

This is coming as the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) denounced the head of the state-linked National Council of Communication for threatening to close down media which talked about the troubles in English-speaking parts of Cameroon.

The areas have been hit by a wave of protests over what people say is an attempt to impose French on them in schools and in the courts.

Cameroon was colonised by Germany in the 19th Century and then split into British and French areas after World War One.

Later, areas controlled by Britain and France joined to form Cameroon after the colonial powers withdrew in the 1960s.

Most people in the central African state speak French.</s>PREMIUM TIMES’ partner, the African Investigative Publishing Collective, has called for international solidarity to protest the internet blackout that is suffocating the southern Cameroon regions since January 22.

In a statement Thursday, the AIPC said the blackout has cut off one of its members, veteran investigative editor, Bisong Etahoben, in Cameroon, from its interactions and transnational investigative projects.

The group said the Internet blackout was intended to suffocate protests in Anglophone regions against the mainly Francophone elite.

The AIPC said it was adding its voice to “protest against this repressive act by Biya’s autocratic regime which stifles communication, press freedom, contacts between Cameroonians and their relatives in the diaspora, and working relations between journalists like Chief Bisong and international colleagues, not to mention online money transfers for international work projects such as ours and from Cameroonians in the diaspora.

“In view of the poverty that reigns in many parts of Cameroon, which the Biya government has notably failed to address during its decennia-long reign, this is adding injury to injury.”

The Cameroon government has justified the blackout with the argument that social media were being used by ‘people with evil intentions to propagate false information to threaten the public and create panic.’

The AIPC said the government’s claim “is as nonsensical as, sadly, familiar in a world increasingly pervaded by a disdain for facts.”

The AIPC also published a clip sent out by Chief Bisong Etahoben just before the blackout.</s>Bakary said vandals who mingled with the demonstrators smashed shops in the northwestern town of Bamenda during the protests during which one person was killed.

A second security source said the demonstrators also wanted independence for Cameroon's two English speaking regions and the departure of President Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982 and is one of Africa's longest serving rulers.

French is spoken in eight of Cameroon's 10 regions and English in the northwestern and southwestern regions.

Bakary said reinforcements in Bamenda were helping security forces return the situation to normal. He said the protests posed no threat to Biya.

"Unions were complaining of being a bit marginalised and said they were discriminated against because of the (English) language," Bakary told Reuters.

"There are some politicians who are using the situation as a tool for leverage to pursue their own interests," he said, noting that the government was open to dialogue and ministers had met for talks to work out how to resolve the problem.

Reuters television footage of Bamenda on Tuesday showed security forces scouring the streets for protesters, and several barricades and one avenue blocked by flames in the market area.

A woman walking with two young children stopped in her tracks at the sound of a gunshot. It also showed residents fleeing as riot police and soldiers marched through almost deserted streets.

It was not immediately possible to contact residents or union members - who had organised the protests - in the town.
Protests take place in Cameroon following the arrest of several opposition leaders and internet services being cut off in the nation's English-speaking areas.