Cameroon: Minister Issa Tchiroma says Associated Press "practice journalism of the silly season"

Issa Tchiroma, Minister of Communication and government spokesman on Friday, 29 January 2016 revealed that Cameroon Defence Forces and Security are a target for international blackmail from some foreign media. The minister was reacting to alleged abuses by Cameroonian soldiers under the pretext of fighting Boko Haram.  

The Nigerian desk of the Associated Press had accused the Cameroonian Army in what it considered mass killings of civilians in Nigeria including looting and burning of villages. Minister Issa Tchiroma observed that these allegations were then taken up by news sites and by some foreign media, "to try to give them a global resonance and curb the momentum of defeating Boko Haram by the Cameroonian Army". Issa Tchiroma Bakary said the foreign media houses were involved in the practice of yellow journalism.

Issa Tchiroma noted that military operations in Nigerian territory within the area described by Associated Press were carried out by the 1st military sector of the Joint Multinational Task Force supported under Nigerian military command.