19, January 2018
Biya regime putting the internet back on in its Anglophone regions for diplomatic visitors 0
Cameroon put the internet back on in its English-speaking regions on Wednesday (Jan. 17) after nearly four months.
But it only lasted for 48 hours. It was the latest example of a political strategy by the government to try and have it both ways. This week it switched on the internet ahead of a visit from a Confederation of African Football (CAF) delegation to towns in its troubled South West region. The delegation was there to examine the readiness of stadia and other facilities needed to host next year’s African Cup of Nations, the continent’s most high profile sporting event.
After the CAF delegation moved out of the city of Limbe on Thursday (Jan.18), the internet left with them. The delegation visited the towns of Buea and Limbe over two days. During their stay in the region, local internet users could access internet normally. But soon after the delegation moved out of the city of Limbe on Thursday (Jan.18), the internet left with it. People in the region said that later in the evening the region still had internet but it was slow to the extent that nothing could be downloaded or uploaded.
Since Jan. 17, 2017, the internet in Cameroon’s South West and North West regions has been completely off or severely slowed down for a total of 206 days as of Jan. 19 this year, according to Internet Sans Frontieres.
The shutdown is part of a wider effort by the Cameroon government to clamp down on local activists in the English-speaking regions who have been protesting against what they say are injustices and economic depravity being imposed by the dominant Francophone government.

Otto Akam of the Buea Silicon Mountain hub of young digital startup owners said they had been expecting the internet to be switched off when the delegation left. He said the same thing happened when the Commonwealth secretary-general, Patricia Scotland, visited the region in December to meet religious, political and traditional leaders to find a way out of the ongoing crisis which has degenerated into an armed conflict. “We had 24 hours of smooth internet connectivity. It was completely switched off when she left. We returned to using other means of bypassing the blockage” he said.
Local journalists in the region, who asked not to be named, confirmed both events. The belief is that the temporary reinstatements are attempts to reassure important international guests like CAF and the Commonwealth that there are no issues with internet connectivity in the troubled region.
The internet was switched off in English-speaking Cameroon, on Oct. 1 when the region self-declared its independence with the formation of an interim government. Since then, citizens in the region have been using virtual private networks (VPN) to access the and bypass the blockage. A message circulated on WhatsApp groups while the internet was on advised internet users in the crisis region not to uninstall VPNs from their mobile devices because the internet reinstatement might last only two days; it did.
Source: Quartz Media
19, January 2018
Ambazonia Crisis: Concern grows for women and children fleeing Cameroon 0
With the number of people fleeing English-speaking areas of Cameroon for Nigeria growing, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is increasingly concerned at the plight of women and children among them.
Women and children represent about 80 per cent of the approximately 10,000 refugees registered so far in eastern Nigeria’s Cross River state. Thousands more are among the population of unregistered Cameroonians in neighbouring states.
Some of these are boys and girls who fled to Nigeria alone. Unaccompanied and separated children are particularly affected by difficult access to food and the lack of subsistence opportunities.
UNHCR staff have received numerous reports that children have to work or beg to survive or to help their families. Many children are unable to attend school, as they lack both the time and funds for education. Although schooling in Nigeria is free, there are still some basic costs, such as those for school materials.
UNHCR is working with the Nigerian authorities to assist with the reunification of separated children with their families, to provide unaccompanied children with protection services and to restore the basic right of all children to education. Some children arriving to Nigeria reported to UNHCR that they had been out of school in Cameroon for the whole of the past academic year.
For women, the lack of work combined with the over-stretched reception facilities, creates a higher risk of sexual and gender-based violence, particularly from survival sex. So far, only a limited number of such cases have been recorded, mainly in the Amana community of Cross River state. However, UNHCR is concerned that many more incidents go unreported or are referred only to community elders. Incidents of domestic violence, as well as cases of teenage pregnancies involving girls as young as 14, have also been reported.
In Nigeria’s Benue state, where two school buildings have been reserved by authorities to serve as temporary refugee hosting accommodation, women and their families are forced to sleep inside communal school halls, deprived of private space and the right to family dignity. For them – and for the rest of the population living in temporary tents hastily built next to local residences – sufficient and appropriate shelter is key to ensure adequate registration, systematic aid distribution and reduced protection risks.
UNHCR is currently working with the Nigerian authorities to identify sites away from the border, where the refugees can be hosted according to international standards. We are also establishing offices in the towns of Calabar and Adikpo to better provide assistance and protection to the women and children. Our support includes food, basic relief items, health, and water and sanitation facilities.
UNHCR recognizes the enormous generosity of the Nigerian border communities, opening their doors to Cameroonian refugees. Almost all of those registered reported that they had left their homes because of insecurity and that they would go back only when it’s safe to do so.
Source: The UN Refugee Agency