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The Fifth Floor

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Global stories from the BBC’s 40 Language Services, with Faranak Amidi

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services.

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services

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The Fifth Floor: Cameroon's Ghost Town Protests

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Demonstrators in Bamenda, the main town in northwest Cameroon

06/10/2017 GMT

Cameroon's Ghost Town Protests

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Cameroon's Ghost Town Protests

Shops closed, and schoolchildren migrating to Francophone regions: dissent in Cameroon

Cameroon's Anglophone protests; Egypt's legendary singer Umm Kulthum; Hong Kong rubbish; Uzbek mystery journalist; report from Mali; with David Amanor.

Ghost town is the name Cameroonians have given to a civil disobedience action where daily life is brought to a standstill.  It began last year as an expression of dissent in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon, but tensions between them and the Francophone dominated government go back to the 1960s.  Last week a number of protestors demanding independence were shot dead by gendarmes.  BBC Africa's Randy Jo Sa'ah was in Bamenda following the story.

Egypt's legendary singer Umm Kulthum 
This week Saudi Arabian state TV broadcast a music concert for the first time in decades.  They chose one by the late Egyptian singer, Umm Kulthum.  BBC Arabic presenter Rasha Qandeel is a fan.  

Hong Kong Rubbish 
This week Juliana Liu in Hong Kong did a story about scrap paper. The city used to send a lot to mainland China for recycling, but recently authorities in Beijing have said this may stop.  Hong Kong is already feeling the impact.

Mystery Uzbek Writer
BBC Uzbek have been among those gripped by articles written by a mystery writer with seemingly unique access to the corridors of power.  Who is this person, or people, and how have they got away with it for so long?  But now the suspected writer has been revealed, and is in deep water. Ibrat Safo explains.

Mali
Northern Mali is a dangerous place to visit.  It experienced a Tuareg nationalist uprising in 2012, followed by a mutiny in the national army, and an insurgency by militant Islamists.  But still it's a place that BBC Africa's Tomi Oladipo has always wanted to visit, and recently he got the chance as part of a UN convoy.

Image: Demonstrators in Bamenda, the main town in northwest Cameroon
Credit: Getty Images/stringer/AFP

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