Journalist held incommunicado for photo of Ambazonia unrest ⁰

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Cameroonian authorities to release George Atabong Lekeaka, who has been held incommunicado since Monday for publishing a photo of security officers on patrol during clashes with separatist fighters.

“George Atabong Lekeaka should not have been arrested for attempting to provide the public with security information, let alone secretly detained without access to a lawyer or his family, in violation of his rights,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative. “Cameroonian authorities should immediately disclose Lekeaka’s whereabouts, release him, and refrain from targeting journalists for covering the Anglophone crisis.”

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.

On August 10, 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 the separatists.

Hours later, Lekeaka was detained after identifying 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 Friday, Nkea told CPJ he was unable to determine Lekeaka’s whereabouts visiting local gendarmerie and military headquarters.

Monday’s 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.

Reporting from Cameroon’s Anglophone regions is extremely dangerous, with journalists intimidated or 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.

Three of the four journalists imprisoned in Cameroon as of CPJ’s December 1 prison census have been held for more than nine years for reporting on the Anglophone crisis. They have spent longer behind bars than any other journalists in sub-Saharan Africa, except those in Eritrea.

CPJ’s 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.