Cameroon Orders Anglophone Region Total Lockdown

FILE PHOTO: A security forces member stands in guard during the release of Anglophone activists at the prison of Yaounde,Cameroon, September 1, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer
FILE PHOTO: A security forces member stands in guard during the release of Anglophone activists at the prison of Yaounde,Cameroon, September 1, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer
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Cameroon Orders Anglophone Region Total Lockdown

FILE PHOTO: A security forces member stands in guard during the release of Anglophone activists at the prison of Yaounde,Cameroon, September 1, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer
FILE PHOTO: A security forces member stands in guard during the release of Anglophone activists at the prison of Yaounde,Cameroon, September 1, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer

Cameroon authorities on Friday banned all gatherings of more than four people, ordered bus stations, eateries and shops to shut and forbade movement between divisions of its English-speaking region for three days to prevent planned protests.

Anglophone Cameroonians plan to demonstrate on Oct. 1st, the day of their independence from Britain, over what they say is ill treatment and neglect by the predominantly Francophone government of President Paul Biya.

The protests have become a lightening rod for opposition to Biya’s 35-year rule, Reuters reported.

During the last big protests in the western region, the government responded by unplugging the internet, killing six protesters and detaining hundreds of others.

Some of of those arrested were charged with crimes that carry the death penalty.

“Public gatherings and assembly of more than four persons shall be strictly forbidden. All off licenses, snack bars and night clubs shall not operate. Motor parks shall remain closed,” said the order signed by Adolphe Lele Lafrique, governor of the northwest region.

“Any persons who attempt to violate this order shall be prosecuted,” the order added.

Thousands of Anglophone demonstrators took to the streets last Friday, some of them hoisting separatist flags.

Cameroon’s divide has its roots in the end of World War One, when the League of Nations divided the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors, according to Reuters.

The government ordered its border with Nigeria to be completely shut this weekend, as the good ties between the anglophone regions and eastern Nigeria worries authorities that keeping the border open during protests would grant the demonstrators a rear base and makes it harder to maintain order.



Iran Says it Would Resume Nuclear Talks with US if Guaranteed No Further Attacks

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Iran Says it Would Resume Nuclear Talks with US if Guaranteed No Further Attacks

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Iran’s foreign minister said Saturday that his country would accept a resumption of nuclear talks with the US if there were assurances of no more attacks against it, state media reported.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a speech to Tehran-based foreign diplomats that Iran has always been ready and will be ready in the future for talks about its nuclear program, but, “assurance should be provided that in case of a resumption of talks, the trend will not lead to war.”

Referring to the 12-day Israeli bombardment of Iran's nuclear and military sites, and the US strike on June 22, Araghchi said that if the US and others wish to resume talks with Iran, "first of all, there should be a firm guarantee that such actions will not be repeated. The attack on Iran's nuclear facilities has made it more difficult and complicated to achieve a solution based on negotiations.”

Following the strikes, Iran suspended cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, which led to the departure of inspectors.

Araghchi said that under Iranian law, the country will answer the agency’s request for cooperation "case by case,” based on Iran’s interests. He also said any inspection by the agency should be done based on Iran's “security” concerns as well as the safety of the inspectors. “The risk of proliferation of radioactive ingredients and an explosion of ammunition that remains from the war in the attacked nuclear sites is serious,” he said.

"The risk of spreading radioactive materials and the risk of exploding leftover munitions ... are serious," he added.

"For us, IAEA inspectors approaching nuclear sites has both a security aspect ... and the safety of the inspectors themselves is a matter that must be examined."

He also reiterated Iran's position on the need to continue enriching uranium on its soil. US President Donald Trump has insisted that cannot happen.

Israel claims it acted because Tehran was within reach of a nuclear weapon. US intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency had assessed Iran last had an organized nuclear weapons program in 2003, though Tehran had been enriching uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview published Monday said the US airstrikes so badly damaged his country’s nuclear facilities that Iranian authorities still have not been able to access them to survey the destruction.