Douglas - Cameroon President Paul Biya ordered the
restoration of internet services in English-speaking regions three months after
shutting them down because of protests and social-media campaigns against the
dominance of the French language in their courts and schools.
The decision, announced Friday on state radio, came a
week after the United Nations special envoy to Central Africa, Francois Louceny
Fall, called the internet shutdown “a deplorable situation” at a press
conference in the capital, Yaounde. He urged the government to restore it and
release those detained during the crisis in the Southwest and Northwest
regions.
Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakari said the
shutdown was no longer necessary. He urged Cameroonians to ignore “extremists,
secessionists and enemies of the state” inciting protests on Facebook, WhatsApp
and Twitter.
“The internet will be disconnected again if the
extremists calling for secession use it again to call for violent
demonstrations,” he said in a statement Friday.
At least six people died in the protests, according to
the government. The London-based rights group Amnesty International accused the
authorities of using excessive force against demonstrators. It was the worst
unrest in Cameroon in almost a decade as Biya, 84, appears intent on trying to
extend his 35-year rule, the fourth-longest on the continent, in elections next
year.
Read also: LISTEN: Why has Cameroon gone dark?
The internet shutdown had severe impact on businesses in
areas such Buea, the capital of Cameroon’s English-speaking Southwest region,
where dozens of technology startups have earned the city the nickname of
Silicon Valley.
It cost companies including banks and telecommunications
providers as much as 4 million euros ($4.3 million), Julie Owono, a lawyer for
France-based Internet Without Borders, said in an email on Friday. Wireless
operators in the country include Johannesburg-based MTN Group, with almost 10
million subscribers, and Orange of France.
-With assistance
from Loni Prinsloo.