A reminder to take any news story about Africa with a grain of salt

According to several news sources and to the U.S. Embasy here in Yaoundé, dear readers, you should be worried about me. According to me, however, you should not.

This week has been both interesting and intensely boring. I'll explain.

Taxi drivers went on strike Monday, ostensibly over rising fuel and food prices, but it quickly became obvious that it's a more general protest against President Paul Biya's recent announcement that he intends to amend the constitution to remain in office when his current term ends in 2011. (He's already been president since before I was born.)

"Riots" erupted in Douala (Cameroon's economic capital, west of Yaoundé, close to the coast) and in smaller towns in the West. News reports about Africa often take a tone of "Here we go again--lawless Africans are out of control." What the reports don't necessarily mention is that the "demonstrations" only become violent "riots" when government forces (police, gendarmes) intervene with tear gas and guns.

There have been some demonstrations in Yaoundé, too, some of which may have been fairly serious--fires, rocks thrown--but since it's the capital, it's harder to get away with anything here. (Remember, they don't have a constitutional right to freedom of assembly as we do. Or, they do have that right on paper, as long as they don't disturb the peace of the ruling party. You do the math.)

Meanwhile, the strike has made for one helluva boring week. For fear of violence, the city has shut down. My classes have been cancelled since Tuesday, but since Wednesday, everything has been closed. So, even if I could have taken a taxi, there was no place to go.

I've been sitting in the house, twiddling my thumbs and watching the South African channels on TV incessantly, since they're the only ones in English. Sadly, they only play really trashy American shows and movies, so in the last few days, I have sunk to the depths of Failure to Launch, The Devil Wears Prada, Gladiator, The Black Dahlia (which made me lose a lot of respect for Hilary Swank, whom I previously thought snotted gold), "Desperate Housewives," and--the real low point--Tyra Banks and Rachel Ray.

I washed all of my clothes by hand--which is, by the way, the worst chore in the world. I resent Little House on the Prairie for having romanticized it. I wrote a few letters, read a little, and made french fries when I wasn't even hungry, just to pass the time.

When I finally got to check my e-mail, I had about a dozen messages from the Embassy warning me to stay at home and to consider leaving Cameroon as soon as possible. Thanks a lot, Embassy--I have to leave the house to read the e-mail that says to stay put. Also, it would have been really stupid to up and leave Wednesday, considering that the situation's already blown over for the most part.

Also meanwhile, it's been an interesting exercise in critically questioning my news sources.

On BBC World, the headline scroll at the bottom of the screen proclaimed that gendarmes had used children as human shields to disperse riots, leaving one boy shot dead. They didn't follow up with a story on the issue, which is annoying, because it's misleading. The story is on their website here, and it could be accurate, but if that's the case, why doesnt anyone else have that story? I think they might be spreading rumors.

Reuters said here yesterday that three had died, but today BBC and Jeune Afrique are naming 17 as the toll. Jeune Afrique also names here, though, the Cité Universitaire neighborhood as a center of the "indicents." I live right by there, and I'm confident that that area was calm. Also, none of the other reports I read named that area.

I don't trust the Cameroonian news sources because they don't have freedom of the press, and the government just closed one of the opposition papers, so I'm pretty sure anything written and published here in Cameroon is too censored to be trustworthy.

Granted, I could be wrong about all of this. But it's a good reminder nonetheless to read multiple news sources, and to note where they conflict.

Stepping off the soap box now. No classes again today, but I'm determined to get out of the house, so my friends and I may gather to at least watch TV together, for the sake of having company.