Nations Charter. Cameroon has also signed onto various international human rights instruments,
including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
4. Violations of Freedom of Expression
On January 17, 2017, the government ordered the suspension of internet services in the
Northwest and Southwest Anglophone regions of Cameroon. The shutdown lasted 94 days and
adversely impacted the region‘s 5 million residents. For three months, the shutdown went nearly
unacknowledged by the Cameroonian government or mobile phone companies. Yet the evidence
shows that the government ordered telecommunications companies to shut down internet access
in Anglophone regions. A letter from Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL), Cameroon‘s
national telecommunications company, to the minister for post and telecommunications confirms
that the company ―coercively enforced‖ the government‘s instructions to suspend internet
services ―in certain sensitive regions‖. 22
The internet outage came amidst a new wave of government repression, after months of protests
against the dominance of French-language use in courts and schools. In Cameroon‘s
Constitution, French and English are meant to be co-equal languages. However, the country‘s
Anglophone minority maintains that public services, including the educational and judicial
systems, favor French and discriminate against Anglophones, a frequent complaint raised in
demonstrations by teachers and lawyers. In December 2016, these protests escalated into clashes
with the police in which at least four were killed and many others were injured. In response, the
Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) and Southern Cameroons National
Council (SCNC) led ―Ghost Town‖ strikes, in which they ask members of the public to stay at
home and shops and businesses to close. On the same day these organizations were banned, the
internet was shut off.
The internet blackout created ―internet refugees‖, as Anglophone Cameroonians were forced to
travel into Francophone regions or Nigeria to get internet access. The ―Silicon Mountain‖, which
is located in the affected region, was especially crippled by the loss of internet. After weeks of
commuting to the almost 74 km from Buea to the commercial capital of Douala to access the
internet, tech developers built an internet ―refugee camp‖ in Bonako, a village near the toll gate
separating the Southwest from the Francophone region of Littoral.23
The lengths to which Anglophone Cameroonian internet users went to restore their connections
underscores the critical role of the internet in providing access to economic, social, cultural, and
22
Bergelene Domou (Dbergeline). „Quand la souveraineté du Cameroun tient à la suspension d'Internet par
l'État..en y forçant les opérateurs privés #FreeFreedom #FreeCameroon.‟ 21 Jan 2017, 5:28 AM. Tweet.
23
Abdhi Latif Dahir, „Reeling from an internet shutdown, startups in Cameroon have created an “internet refugee
camp‟ (Quartz Africa, 28 March 2017), <https://qz.com/942879/an-internet-shutdown-in-cameroon-has-forcedstartups-to-create-an-internet-refugee-camp-in-bonako-village/> accessed August 1, 2017