Cameroon: BBC journalists released
Farouk Chothia and Ange Ngu Thomas, two BBC journalists who were detained last week by Cameroonian soldiers in the disputed Bakassi peninsula and accused of spying, were released without charge on Friday, July 16, according to the BBC and international news reports. Chothia, a producer and South African national based in London, and Thomas, a reporter based in the southwestern Cameroonian city of Douala, were arrested by Cameroonian soldiers on Sunday, July 11.
IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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PRESS RELEASE/UPDATE - CAMEROON
20 July 2004
BBC journalists released
SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York
**Updates IFEX alert of 14 July 2004**
(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 19 July 2004 CPJ press release:
CAMEROON: BBC journalists released
New York, July 19, 2004-Farouk Chothia and Ange Ngu Thomas, two BBC
journalists who were detained last week by Cameroonian soldiers in the
disputed Bakassi peninsula and accused of spying, were released without
charge on Friday, July 16, according to the BBC and international news
reports. They are expected to arrive in the capital, Yaoundé, today.
Chothia, a producer and South African national based in London, and Thomas,
a reporter based in the southwestern Cameroonian city of Douala, were
arrested by Cameroonian soldiers on Sunday, July 11. They had traveled to
Bakassi, an oil-rich territory claimed by both Cameroon and Nigeria, to
report on the handover of the area to Cameroon.
The journalists were brought to Limbe, a coastal town in southwest Cameroon,
where they were detained in a local hotel and questioned about their
activities. CPJ sources say that the journalists were threatened during
their interrogation and deprived of food for brief periods as leverage.
During their detention, the journalists signed statements saying they were
not spies.
Chothia and Thomas had obtained signed authorization from Cameroonian
authorities to travel to Bakassi. Soldiers confiscated their authorization,
equipment, and identity papers during the arrest. The equipment and identity
papers were returned to the journalists after their release, according to a
CPJ source.
A 2002 ruling by the International Court of Justice in the Hague awarded
Bakassi to Cameroon, and Nigerian troops are due to pull out by September
15. However, Nigerian communities on the peninsula are unhappy with the
ruling, and the handover remains a sensitive topic in both countries.
For more information about Farouk Chothia and Ange Ngu Thomas' arrest, see
CPJ's July 14 alert:
http://www.cpj.org/news/2004/Cameroon14july04na.html
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information about press
conditions in Cameroon, visit http://www.cpj.org.
For further information, contact Africa Program Coordinator Julia Crawford
or Research Associate Adam Posluns at CPJ, 330 Seventh Ave., New York, NY
10001, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 465 1004, fax: +1 212 465 9568, e-mail:
[email protected], Internet: http://www.cpj.org/
The information contained in this press release/update is the sole
responsibility of CPJ. In citing this material for broadcast or publication,
please credit CPJ.
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