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08/02/2020 GMT

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Homelands

The remote Naga hill communities now more deeply divided by the Indian-Myanmar border

The Naga communities divided by a hardening border between India and Myanmar. Plus tales of German manners, an oasis of calm in Cameroon and memories of Iran's Islamic Revolution.

On the border between India and Myanmar, there's a long-running insurgency against the Indian state. The Naga ethnic minority have been fighting for their own country since 1947 - and the NSCN-K rebel group often targets Indian Army posts and personnel for attack. Moreover, there are allegations the group is backed by China, and maintains training and supply camps across the border in Myanmar. On the ground - it's hilly, remote terrain with a history of raids, vendettas and invasions - Antonia Bolingbroke Kent saw how porous the frontier can be, and how much local people rely on being able to cross it. 

Iran is preparing to mark the anniversary of its 1979 revolution - just as it does every year, though after the killing of Gen Qassem Soleimani, the rhetoric may be particularly fiery this time. But the government in Tehran doesn't just face enemies in the USA: it's also got plenty of Iranian critics, inside and outside the country. Sadeq Saba lived through the revolution and initially supported it, hoping for a new era of democracy after the fall of the Shah. But as he explains, it didn't take long for him to realise the ayatollahs were out to crush any dissent. 

These days, the headline news from Cameroon is often about violence: the burned villages, abductions, looting, rape and killings which have marked the conflict between its English-speaking and French-speaking regions. But in one corner of the country, Zak Brophy found a patch of rural calm, where a host of different languages are spoken without fear, and the local heroes' bravery is tested by nature and sport rather than war. 

And there's a comedy of manners from Germany as Damien McGuinness explains just what makes Berlin's taxi drivers so abrasive. The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei recently caused a storm of comment and soul-searching when he announced he was leaving the city because he found many of its people "rude" and some even racist. But there is a historical back story - and sometimes a perfectly sensible reason - behind many a frosty exterior there. 

Photo: In the steep hills of Naga territory, villages may be scattered across international frontiers (c) Antonia Bolingbroke Kent

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