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Alert

Journalist threatened, fears for his life

(JED/IFEX) - Jean Bosco Talla, publication director for the newspaper "Germinal", a privately-owned weekly based in the capital city, Yaoundé, has received a series of death threats.

According to information obtained by JED, these threats began two days after the publication of a report by a French NGO, CCFD-Terre Solidaire, on corruption in developing countries. In the report, the journalist was cited as the author of an investigation into the fortune of Paul Biya, Cameroon's president.

Contacted by JED, Talla said that since the report's publication, he has lived in fear. On 27 June 2009, two individuals in civilian clothes were lurking near his home, asking about his address. The following day, at about 2:00 a.m. (local time), the journalist received a threatening phone call. "You're gonna find what you're looking for," an unknown voice told him before hanging up.

On 1 July, the threats intensified. Talla received a text message saying that his case would be "dealt with" in the coming days. The following day, he received a still more troubling threat from the same number, evoking the cases of murdered journalist Norbert Zongo and missing journalist Guy-André Kieffer.