{"id":5185,"date":"2024-10-16T10:19:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T10:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=5185"},"modified":"2024-10-16T10:20:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T10:20:00","slug":"repressive-govt-bans-any-talks-over-countrys-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=5185","title":{"rendered":"Repressive Govt bans Any Talks Over Country&#8217;s President"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><br>International Correspondent<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cameroon&#8217;s government has banned media reports on President Paul Biya&#8217;s health, citing national security concerns and the need to maintain tranquility among citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 91-year-old president, who has been in office for over four decades, hasn&#8217;t been seen publicly since attending a China-Africa forum in Beijing on September 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite officials claiming Biya is in good health and on a private stay in Geneva, Switzerland, rumors about his well-being have sparked concerns. Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji has warned that offenders will face severe consequences for discussing the president&#8217;s health, instructing regional governors to establish units to enforce this ban on private media outlets and social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many journalists view this ban as an infringement on press freedom, fearing it will impact their reporting and put them at risk. Cameroon has a history of targeting journalists, with Anglophone separatists kidnapping them and the government arresting and detaining media professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged the Cameroonian government to lift these restrictions, emphasizing that the president&#8217;s health is a matter of public interest. They suggest that arranging a public appearance by Biya would help put the rumors to rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Key Concerns:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Press Freedom: Journalists face restrictions and potential consequences for reporting on Biya&#8217;s health.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>National Security: The government cites national security concerns to justify the ban.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Public Interest: The president&#8217;s health is considered a public interest issue.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Journalist Safety: Cameroon&#8217;s history of targeting journalists raises concerns about their safety.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As the speculation surrounding Biya&#8217;s well-being continues, Cameroonians eagerly await his promised return to the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zim GBC News\u00a92024<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>International Correspondent Cameroon&#8217;s government has banned media reports on President Paul Biya&#8217;s health, citing national security concerns and the need to maintain tranquility among citizens. The 91-year-old president, who has&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5187,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5185\/revisions\/5187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}