Cameroonian journalist 'severely beaten' by soldiers

A Cameroonian journalist working for the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle is receiving treatment after being beaten by soldiers in country's Anglophone area where separatists are fighting for independence.

Jean-Marie Ngong Song "is in serious pain with hearing difficulties" after the incident on Sunday evening in the north-western town of Bambili, the Cameroon Journalists' Trade Union said.

Song is quoted by Mimi Mefo Info website as saying that his identification documents were seized.

“I was beaten, my identity card collected. They asked me to go and enter their car, I asked them to tell me what crime I committed. They didn’t."

He said he was sent back his ID later.

Since the trouble began in Cameroon's English-speaking heartlands of the North-West and South-West regions in 2016, the authorities have clamped down on the media's coverage of the unrest.

Both English and French are official languages in Cameroon following a complicated colonial history but in practice, the Francophone majority dominates, leading the Anglophone minority to complain of discrimination.

About 3,000 people have died since protests over the increasing use of French in courts and schools in the English-speaking areas morphed into violence three years ago.