Prime News Ghana

Cameroon ends internet shutdown on orders of President Paul Biya

By Justice Kofi Bimpeh
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Internet services in Cameroon's English-speaking regions have been turned back on three months after they were cut off following protests.


People were delighted when online access was restored in both regions on Thursday at 19:00 GMT, a BBC correspondent in Bamenda reports.


Before the ban, authorities had warned mobile phone users they faced jail for spreading false information.
Communications and the economy were badly affected by the shutdown.


Anglophone Cameroonians make up about 20% of the country's 23 million people.

Workers in Cameroon's tech hub, known as Silicon Mountain, had to relocate to areas where the internet was still available.


Anglophone Cameroonians in the North-West and South-West regions had been protesting over the imposition of French in their schools and courts.

Blocking the internet for such a long period will have added to the Anglophones' sense of economic, social and political marginalisation, BBC World Service Africa editor Mary Harper reports.


BBC