Not quite on the brink of revolution
on Mischa in Cameroon (Cameroon), 27/Feb/2011 17:16, 34 days ago
Some people have been asking me if we’ve seen any knock on effects from the protests happening in the Arab world in Cameroon. I was in the capital city Yaounde all last week for a work conference, and on Tuesday we were told that protests had been announced for the following day in Yaounde and Douala, the economic capital, where there were big violent demonstrations in 2008.There was already trouble in Bafoussam, where I’d spent the previous weekendvisiting friends. The shopkeepers had gone on strike against high taxes, parts of the market had been burnt down, and when I was there the whole market was closed down and all the entrances were under guard by armed police and soldiers.We were all curious to see what would happen: Cameroon shares many of the characteristics of the Arab countries that are now in revolt. The President has been in power for 26 years, commodities prices are rising, and youth unemployment is very high and opportunities are few. A recentInternational Crisis Groupreport said that in Douala 80% of the young men who drive the motorbike taxis have their high school diploma, and 50% have a university degree.In the end it seems that not much happened at all and the most evidence we saw of unrest was that our internet connection was down. It’s not easy to get accurate information though: you only have to compare the state owned media’s version of what happened (‘Business as usual in defiance of calls to protest’) and that of (a journalistically weak) independent news outlet (‘Forces torture, arrest political leaders’) to see why. Anyway, for now all is quiet in Cameroon, although we're all building up to the International Women's Day celebrations next week. I've bought my official fabric, and am giving my tailor free reign to do what she's been asking to do for ages and make me something really 'Cameroonian'...