YAOUNDE, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - A Cameroonian journalist has been jailed for six months for defamation after writing that a government minister was homosexual, various sources told AFP on Monday.

Homosexuality is illegal in the Western African nation.

Biloa Ayissi, the manager of Nouvelle Afrique, claimed that Minister Gregoire Owona was homosexual. Owona sued Ayissi as part of a case dating back to 2006 known as the 'listing affair', in which several newspapers published names of public personalities they claimed were homosexuals.

Ayissi was also forced to pay a fine of one million CFA francs (1,500 euros, 2,335 dollars), as well as give a symbolic franc in damages to the minister.