Press freedom index: Cameroon languishes in 126th place

Cameroon has been ranked 126th out of 180 countries in the 2016 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Despite this improvement over last year, Cameroon is no less underpinned by relations with its private radios which according to RSF are under constant threat of closure.

Despite radio stations multiplying across the country, the government has been slow to give them a final clearance, a technique which, according to the media watchdog, is used by the authorities to continue to raise the specter of interrupted transmission.

Two radios stopped broadcasting in Bafoussam (West) because they had displeased Paul Biya’s government.

Meanwhile disenchanted journalists are easily placed under arrest and accused of terrorism, a vague ground for arbitrary arrests, more or less prolonged as a new anti-terror law provides that defendants should be brought before a military court, RSF added

The government of Cameroon is regularly singled out by international media watchdogs for its repeated violations of press freedom, an accusation vehemently rejected by the cabinet.