The story of why they hate to be photographed

Here's a follow up to why Cameroonians hate to be photographed.

While touring downtown Yaounde, my lame tourist self insisted on
taking more pictures. I took a snapshot of some workers on the street. When they say me they started running toward me in anger. They wanted to snatch the camera from me. My guides had to protect me! They were shouting at me in French. They
only thing I could respond was "desole" ("sorry in French). My guides explained that they were saying they wanted to be asked to be photographed. They didn't necessarily mind photos. They just didn't want some stranger taking their picture without permission,which is SO totally fair and understandable. This is when my guide explained the reasons why I and other tourist have problems taking photos. Cameroonians are angered by foreign photographers because:
>>Foreigners have taken their pictures without permission and often made a profit from them. They feel they've been taken advantage of financially. Although I hear a lot of criticism about capitalism, they respect the dollar or shall I say the franc.
>>When foreigners have taken photos, they only show negative or unflattering images, such as shanty houses, poor people on the streets, filth and debris and so on. They also want the world to see the good parts and things of Cameroon.
>>Foreigners, in the guise of tourists, have taken pictures of government buildings, military installations, and so on. However,these tourists turned out to be informants for foreign governments. As a result, the pictures were used for covert military
operations adversely affecting the country.

When I learned of this, I stopped being so bent out of shape because I couldn't take my tourist photos. I understood why it is so hard to find pictures of things in Cameroon. I'm still able to take photos, but I respect their space and privacy. So
the few photos I have managed to get of sensitive areas, I will not publish. (I think no one will mind me sharing "harmless" photos.) And I probably won't get to produce the extensive documentary I wanted since my subject matter is so limited. But it would hurt me to know that my desire to post some photos and produce a documentary made them feel that I compromised their security and showed them a lack of respect.