After UN Praises Cameroon's Biya, He Cuts Social Networks, Still In Geneva Hotel, Protest

Matthew Russell Lee, innercitypress.com

image from

Excerpt:

When Cameroon's President for the past 30-plus years Paul Biya came to meet Antonio Guterres on September 22, before he went back to the Hotel Inter-Continental in Geneva, he was accompanied by his state media and... Inner City Press. According to the UN read-out, the conversation was entirely positive and did not mention Biya's abuse of Anglophones, or human rights in any way. Since then Biya has again undermined the Internet and rights to communicate in Southern Cameroons, to which Inner City Press after asking the UN four days in a row until exclusion now turns. Biya's renewed attacks on the Internet have ranged from Bamenda to Kumbo and Kumba, but are being circumvented by VPNs. Meanwhile Inner City Press is receiving video of protests in front of the Inter-Continental Hotel in Geneva where Biya is staying. Guterres praised Biya, then belatedly called on him to dialogue: while Biya is not even in the country. ... The Secretary-General believes that genuine and inclusive dialogue between the Government and the communities in the South-West and North-West regions is the best way to preserve the unity and stability of the country. The Secretary-General stands ready to support these efforts, including through the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA). " We'll see. On September 26, Dujarric replied that Guterres would say there is a time for public diplomacy, and a time for private diplomacy. Video here. Some wonder, how many people have to die, or what kind of people, for it to be time for UN "public" diplomacy?