Power cuts blamed by Cameroon's electricity utility on a shortage of water in its hydropower dams have affected households, businesses and key social services in the Central African country over the past four months. The effect on hospitals, in particular, has been telling, according to health professionals.

In a letter to Justice Minister Amadou Ali, RSF expressed its concern following the arrest of the publication director of "Le Front Indépendant" and the police's efforts to locate and arrest the publication director of "La Nouvelle Presse".

According to reports, Mr Baongla, publication director of the weekly Le Démenti, was arrested on 9 January. Two days later, he appeared before a judge and was jailed at the Nkondengui central prison in Yaoundé. Police officers also seized the newspaper's computers.

In a letter to Justice Minister Amadou Ali, RSF asked for clarification following the sentencing of Georges Baongla, publication director of the weekly "Le Démenti", to five years' imprisonment. "Due process was seemingly not respected in this case.

The arrest of a respected human rights lawyer underlines a consistent pattern of intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders in Cameroon, Amnesty International have said.

The GASHAKA GUMTI TCHABAL MBABO PROJECT, funded by GEF-UNDP aims, through a partnership of local communities, government agencies and NGOs to address the root causes of biodiversity loss in the ecosystems of Gashaka Gumti (Nigeria) and Tchabal Mbabo (Cameroon).

In a letter to Minister of the Interior Ferdinand Koungou Edima, RSF expressed its concern about the police's summoning of Jean-Marc Soboth, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper "La Nouvelle Expression", which is published three times weekly. "Journalists from independent media outlets are increasingly being summoned by the police, who want them to reveal their sources. Must we recall that journalists inform the public and not the police?" stated RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.

Albert Mukong, the Cameroonian journalist and human rights activist who took his case to the UN Human Rights Committee, has been given $137,000 by the Cameroon Government in compensation for the abuses he suffered at the hands of the authorities.

A container filled with 380 computers and monitors for schools in Cameroon has just sailed from Boston. It is expected to arrive in the port of Douala, Cameroon on June 12th. The computers were donated by 15 businesses and other organizations to the World Computer Exchange of Hull, Massachusetts. The computers will be arranged in networks of computers in 34 schools with over 17,000 students in the region around Yaounde, Cameroon.

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by ACAT Cameroun and Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l'Homme, both members of the OMCT network, of the arbitrary arrest and detention of around ten demonstrators in Cameroon.

Cameroon became the fifth African country on Wednesday to strike a deal with
major pharmaceutical companies to ensure cheap access to AIDS drugs.
GlaxoSmithKline, the world's largest supplier of HIV/AIDS medicines, said
the West African country had reached agreement with five leading drug firms
under a UN initiative.