The Cameroonian government has prohibited a TV station promoting the rights and interests of Anglophone Cameroonians, BBC Africa reports.
The Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Corporation (SCBC), situated in South Africa, focuces its programming on the English-talking minority group in Cameroon, a gmajority Francophone nation. The station airs programs about protests, activism, and human rights mishandle in Cameroon’s Anglophone district, in addition to programs commending the history and culture of the region.
The Ministry of Communications in Cameroon announced that television providers would face sanctions if they broadcast the channel.
Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma argued that the channel broadcasts hateful, secessionist programs and supports illegal political movements.
Because the channel is based in South Africa, SCBC can continue airing its programs, but its viewers in Cameroon will not be able to tune in.
BBC Africa reports that viewers who defy the ban could be arrested.
Since 2016, the Cameroonian government has been cracking down on the country’s English-speaking minority, who say that they have faced systemic marginalization since the elimination of federalism in the country in 1972.
The government, dominated by the Francophone majority, shut down the internet in the English-speaking North-West and South-West regions and arrested lawyers and activists protesting against the government’s human rights abuses.
