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- Cameroon’s economy to growth by 5.5 pct in 2012

- Oil production to seen to grow by 15 pct

Feb 6 (Reuters) – Cameroon’s economy is expected to grow by 5.5 percent in 2012 despite the Arab spring and a sovereign debt crisis that has hurt the European zone, the central African nation’s most important export partner, a World Bank official said on Monday.

Non-oil economic activities particularly growth in the primary and tertiary sectors, which helped Cameroon’s economy grow in 2011 to 4.1 percent, will be the main drivers, World Bank’s region lead economist Raju Jan Singh, told a news conference.

Singh said the economic momentum observed in Cameroon, the Central African region’s largest economy and gateway port, was expected to carry over into 2012 due to various infrastructure projects.

“Furthermore, the trend in declining oil production is expected to reverse. As a result, Cameroon economic growth could amount to 5.5 percent in 2012,” Singh said.

Singh said the economic slowdown in the Euro zone will probably translate into lower exports and remittances as Europe remains Cameroon’s largest market and hosts the largest community of Cameroonians abroad.

However, oil production contracted by 10 percent in 2011 due to depleting reserves and aging equipment but significant exploration in the last two years will see oil production grow by 15 percent in 2012, Singh said.

Cameroon’s oil output has fallen by two-thirds since the 1980s to about 66,000 barrels per day.

The country’s President Paul Biya, 78, who won reelection in October, plans to build roads, power plants, and a deep sea port while boosting investments in the mining sector, with the goal of securing emerging market status for the country by 2035.

Aside from its oil, Cameroon, the world’s fifth cocoa producer, is the region’s main port and breadbasket, supplying Chad, Central African Republic, Congo Republic and Gabon.

The International Monetary Fund has said Cameroon is performing below its potential because of lack of infrastructure and administrative hurdles that were hurting business.

Singh said though Cameroon has improved its ranking in the 2012 Doing Business, moving up seven places compared with 2011, its investment climate remains overall unfavourable to the development of the business sector.

Reporting by Tansa Musa/ Reuters

YAOUNDE, Feb 7, 2012 (IPS) – Ahmadou Lamine has been forced to close his business selling fuel imported from Nigeria, known locally as “zoa-zoa”, because of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.

Lamine, from Maroua, the capital of Cameroon’s Far North Region, ran out of stock after Nigeria temporarily closed its border with Cameroon’s northern region. The move came after the Christmas Day bombings of Nigeria’s churches by Boko Haram, which killed dozens of people.

“Motor bike riders who used to supply us with zoa-zoa from neighbouring Nigeria couldn’t do so anymore. I was forced to shut my business premises,” Lamine told IPS. “I don’t know how I am going to cope with paying the rent on my house, let alone feed my family and pay my children’s school fees,” he added.

The closure of the border has had a negative economic impact on this region. Fuel prices here have doubled, jumping from fifty cents a litre to about one dollar. And a similar trend is recorded with other imports from Nigeria like sugar, milk, flour, beverages, sweets and oranges.

“It’s difficult,” Alima Aissatou, a housewife in Maroua told IPS. She pointed to her near-empty basket that would have previously been filled with food purchased from Maroua’s main market. “How do you feed a family with this?” she asked.

The closure of the border is not only affecting businesses and households, it has also led to a reduction in customs revenue. The interim Customs Bureau Chief for Maroua, Philemon Tamfu, told IPS that the impact of the border closure was most felt “in Limani, Fotokol, Kolofata and Kouseri, all border towns in the Far North Region where all (customs) entries and exits are recorded.”

Speaking to IPS by phone, the Customs Bureau Chief for Limani, Alain Symphorien Nzie, said that the area used to receive 239,000 dollars every 10 days in customs revenue, averaging 718,000 dollars a month. But a few weeks after the border was closed, it could barely manage to generate 50,000 dollars. Limani, a border town, is home to citizens of Cameroon and Nigeria.

“I had to improvise all means possible to come up with the 50,000 dollars. This amount is likely to keep on dropping if the blockage continues,” he said of the minimum quota that customs departments need to meet.

A similar trend has been noticed in the border town of Fotokol. Instead of the 40,000 dollars that is usually collects over the first 10 days of January, only 4,000 dollars was received.

International news agency CNN quoted trade and customs officials in Maroua as saying that nearly 80 percent of its regional economy has shrunk since the closure of the borders.

Nigeria’s borders with Cameroon remain sealed as Africa’s most populous nation fears that the extremist group Boko Haram might be using the northern parts of Cameroon as a base.

This comes after the unearthing of a cache of arms, suspected to have been smuggled in from Cameroon, in Borno State, Nigeria. The arms included AK47 rifles, pistols, rocket launchers, bombs, and detonating bomb cables.

Cameroon’s government is concerned that the extremist group could be infiltrating and establishing itself in the country. Wikileaks revealed that President Paul Biya raised the concerns in a conversation with United States Ambassador to Cameroon, Janet Garvey.

“Biya was concerned about the threat of Islamic extremism …He was beginning to worry about Islamic extremists infiltrating Cameroon from Nigeria through Cameroon’s mosques,” Wikileaks stated.

The former minister for Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, also expressed similar fears to the ambassador. He reportedly said: “there were a lot of desperate people among the Muslim communities in the North, and Douala in particular, and some of them had unexplained money.” Douala is the country’s economic capital.

Evidence on the ground suggests that Boko Haram has already infiltrated Cameroon. In Lagdo, a locality in the Far North Region, villagers have reported that people with long beads and red or black headscarves have been combing the area and spreading the group’s extremist doctrine.

“They came here and told me that all our problems are caused by western education and western ideas,” a resident of Lagdo told IPS, as he cast a furtive glance around. “They also said they will give me a lot of money if I joined their group. They looked dangerous, so I lied that I would consider their proposal. I am afraid that they may come again.”

The threat of the group’s infiltration of Cameroon has put security, political and traditional authorities on the alert.

On. Jan 19, the governor of the North Region, Gambo Haman, said: “the Boko Haram being chased from Nigeria’s northeast, as well as thousands of runaway Chadian soldiers in irregular situations here, must be closely monitored to avoid unwanted trouble throughout the national territory.”

He said surveillance has been reinforced and many Quran learning centres were shut down, and their teachers are being closely monitored by security intelligence.

The Nigerian newspaper, Sunday Tribune, reported on Jan. 29 that Cameroon security forces had recently blocked an attempt by 25 itinerant Arabic teachers to cross into Cameroon. “We stone-walled them,” the source reportedly said.

Meanwhile, government authorities are liaising with religious groups to guard against the group. The senior Divisional Officer for Wouri in Douala, Bernard Okalia Bilai, convened a meeting of Imams and Muslim community leaders to jointly come up with strategies to stop the group’s infiltration of Cameroon.

“Their doctrine is anti-social,” Bilai said. “It is a doctrine that persuades young graduates to rip up their degrees…It is a doctrine that condemns what today constitutes the values of our society. Top authorities of the country don’t accept that such hateful dogma is established in our communities…we must be vigilant.”

But these efforts may be too little, too late. In an exclusive interview with the UK-newspaper The Guardian on Jan. 27, a senior member of Boko Haram disclosed that recruits from Cameroon, Chad and Niger have already joined the group.

By Ngala Killian Chimtom / Inter Press Service

C’est en soutien à la campagne 3-0 de la première dame gabonaise que Samuel Eto’o, quadruple Ballon d’or africain s’est rendu à Libreville. La star camerounaise a tenu une conférence de presse lundi avec Michel Sidibé, directeur exécutif d’Onusida.

« Ce qui me gêne c’est que le Sida soit un sujet tabou. Ça ne devrait pas ! » C’est la phrase la plus répétée par Samuel Eto’o durant cet échange avec la presse, au cours duquel il a souligné le rôle important des médias dans la lutte contre le Sida.
Quand on lui demande si la pauvreté n’était pas un frein dans la lutte contre le sida, Samuel Eto’o répond par une autre question : «C’est parce qu’on est pauvres qu’on doit refuser de se protéger ? » Pour la star mondiale du football, la pauvreté est une excuse facile.

Bientôt dans la lutte internationale

Pour Michel Sidibé, la présence de Samuel Eto’o dans le football russe (et donc est-européen) est une bonne nouvelle dans la lutte contre le sida, explique Michel Sidibé. En effet, selon les nouveaux chiffres de l’Onusida, cette partie du monde est la plus vulnérable aux infections en raison des retards dans la sensibilisation
Au-delà de l’Afrique où il est érigé au rang de « dieu vivant », Samuel Eto’o avec sa réputation mondiale servira donc la cause de la lutte anti-sida.

© copyright StarAfrica.com

LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) -Samuel Eto’o helped Gabon open its half of the African Cup of Nations on Monday as thousands of red and white balloons were released over the new Stade de l’Amitie after a countdown from the Cameroon striker.

Eto’o stood next to Gabon’s first lady, Sylvia Bongo, in a brief ceremony ahead of the first matches in the country.

Gabon’s “Panthers” play Niger in the first Group C game at the Libreville stadium. Morocco and Tunisia meet in a North African derby afterward.

Earlier, Eto’o was seen smiling and waving to the crowd from a VIP section in the 40,000-seat stadium alongside Gabon’s football-mad president Ali Bongo.

African football confederation President Issa Hayatou shook hands with the Gabon and Niger players before kickoff.

Eto’o's Cameroon did not qualify for the tournament.

SI.com

Although the medical, legal and judicial mechanisms are in place to receive rape victims in Cameroon, the heavy burden placed on victims to prove that the rape occurred and that they didn’t contribute to it makes justice rare. Underreporting also hampers the justice and healing processes, as some vocal victims encourage fellow victims to speak up.

DOUALA, CAMEROON – Sophie Mixte, who is in her 30s, says she was raped three times while growing up in Douala, Cameroon’s largest city.

She was first raped at age 8 by a neighbor. Her uncle then raped her when she was 11 while she was living in his home. When she was 13, the brother of one of her classmates raped her.

She says she doesn’t remember much about the neighbor who raped her.

As for her uncle, she says she ran to her parents’ house after the incident. Her uncle told them she had run away because she didn’t want to do her household chores. Her parents believed him and sent her back to his house. Her parents didn’t seek their daughter’s side of the story, and Mixte says she was scared to tell the truth because her uncle threatened to kill her if she did.

In the third incident, she says she had gone to her classmate’s house to retrieve a book. The classmate’s brother answered the door and lied that her friend was inside the home. When Mixte walked into her friend’s room, the brother followed her and quickly shut the door behind them. Then, he raped her and ran off.

She says she screamed to the point that it caught the neighbors’ attention. Her entire neighborhood now knows about the incident, and she says people point at and whisper when she walks by.

“‘That is the girl who was raped,’” she says they whisper.

Mixte says she regrets that it wasn’t until this third rape that her parents found out and reported it to the authorities. But she says that justice was never served.

“The police started to play around the case with my mother, persuading her to drop the case,” she says.

She says that the police told her mother that the boy’s family offered to pay for damages, including Mixte’s hospital bill. They also told her mother that if the case went to court, her daughter would have to testify in front of everybody about how she was raped, which would be shameful. She says her mom was afraid of such a scenario for her daughter, so she agreed to negotiate with the boy’s family.

The case was settled when the family paid her mother 105,000 francs ($200), the equivalent of Mixte’s hospital bill after the rape.

In Cameroon, rape victims receive medical treatment in hospitals as well as a physical examination that can provide evidence in court. Victims then must file a report with police to commence the justice process, which is plagued by underreporting by victims and a heavy burden lying on them to prove that the rape occurred and was nonconsensual. The length and outcome of the justice and healing processes vary by case and by victim, with judges taking into account whether victims contributed to the rape. Nongovernmental organizations aim to help victims in both processes, although resources are limited, underreporting is rife and court cases are lengthy.

The Cameroon Penal Code defines rape as any female compelled to have sexual intercourse with a man “by force or moral ascendancy.”

The National Network of Associations of Aunties, which comprises several groups working to combat rape in Cameroon, estimates that approximately 500,000 rapes occur every year in Cameroon. But many of these cases go undocumented because of underreporting.

Dr. Jean Pierre Koubitim of the St. Padre Pio Hospital in Douala says that rape incidents happen every day. He says that victims range from children to adults and married to unmarried women, incidents occur inside and outside the home, and perpetrators can be strangers or relatives. Yet because of underreporting, the hospital receives just 15 to 20 reports of sexual violence per year, mostly of attempted rape, he says.

“The youngest victim is about 4 years old and was raped by a cousin in their home,” he says.

Koubitim says that when rape victims come to the hospital, medical personnel first try to establish what happened.

“Sometimes, they are so traumatized that they cannot talk,” he says. “It’s a relative of theirs who does the talking.”

Next, he does a vaginal examination to check for any signs of self-defense or resistance by the woman, such as bruises or wounds, to show that she did not give her consent. The doctor also does a vaginal smear, which can detect the presence of semen. This examination can serve as evidence if the victim decides to press charges.

The doctor also performs lab tests for sexually transmitted diseases, such as hepatitis, HIV, chlamydia and syphilis. Then, he puts the woman on prophylactic treatment of HIV. This treatment must be done within a maximum of three days after the rape for it to be functional, Koubitim says.

“If the treatment is not done and the person who raped the woman is HIV-positive, there is a risk that she would be infected,” he says.

If the HIV test is negative, the doctor places the victim on treatment for a month in order to prevent the virus. If the HIV test comes back positive, the doctor sends the victim to an HIV and AIDS center for follow-up and treatment.

He says that doctors also make emergency contraceptives available to victims in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies. He clarifies that this is different from abortion because it prevents – but does not terminate – pregnancies.

“The preventive treatment, therefore, does not terminate a pregnancy process but rather prevents implantation from taking place,” he says. “Abortion means that she’s already pregnant, but in this case, there’s no pregnancy at all.”

If a victim becomes pregnant as a result of the rape, Koubitim says the situation is complicated.

“I am confused because she doesn’t want the pregnancy,” he says. “As a Catholic, it would be difficult to tell her to go for an abortion, and one also understands that it is difficult for her to keep the baby from someone she may not even know.”

In such cases, he says it would depend on the victim whether she decides to terminate the pregnancy. Jacob Angoh Angoh, a lawyer of Legal Power Law Firm, made up of barristers and solicitors of the Supreme Court of Cameroon and Nigeria, says that although abortion is illegal in Cameroon, women who become pregnant as a result of rape may obtain a government waiver to receive an abortion.

Esther Ngale, president of the Cameroon Association of Female Jurists, which aims to improve laws to ensure women’s and children’s rights, says the doctor can also provide victims with a medical certificate if he or she finds evidence that the victim did not consent to the act. Angoh Angoh says this evidence can be used in court.

“The medical certificate is just like further proof, which buttresses the case to go to court,” Angoh Angoh says.

But Angoh Angoh says a rape victim must file a formal complaint at a police unit in order to start a case.

“It is the act of making a statement at the police that would set into motion the course of action, which is to go to court,” he says.

He says that the victim should be able to prove that the sexual relationship was not consensual.

“Hence, she must prove that she shouted or she complained to the first person she met at the given opportunity,” he says.

After the complaint is made, the police usually arrest the suspect immediately, he says. After the police establish a case from the evidence provided and their own investigations, they decide whether to dismiss or to pursue the case based on whether the evidence is sufficient.

If there’s sufficient evidence, they forward it to the state counsel for prosecution. The state counsel formally summons the person charged with rape to court.

During the trial, Angoh Angoh says the victim must establish evidence that she resisted or was subdued by the person who allegedly raped her.

“This can be proven by circumstantial evidence, such as wounds on her body,” he says. “If she shouted and people heard her, those people would support her evidence.”

But in the absence of evidence and witnesses, Angoh Angoh says it can be hard for victims to prove the rape occurred.

“It may be assumed that some girls just make up such stories to make money,” he says.

He says that another challenge is getting victims to report cases of rape in the first place.

“Not even to file a complaint, as they fear their own integrity,” he says.

One victim, who declined to be named, is a medical doctor at a local medical institution. She says she was working the night shift one evening when a stranger raped her inside the institution, in spite of the high-level security there. But she declines to report the incident or speak much about it.

Angoh Angoh encourages rape victims not to be afraid to report incidents because rape cases are not tried in an open court in Cameroon. He says the state maintains victims’ dignity by hearing cases in the chamber of the magistrate in the presence of the two parties, the lawyers, the magistrate and any witnesses. He says that this aims to preserve the victim’s reputation.

“Because if the public knows that a girl is a victim of rape, how many men would dare approach her?” he asks.

He says this approach to hearings of rape cases also accelerates the judicial process. In addition, most defendants charged with rape leave from prison to court for trial, unlike in other cases where the defendant is not in prison and may fail to appear in court.

Authorities say the outcomes of the cases and length of the judicial and healing processes vary by victim and by case.

Ngale says that the speed with which the case is handled does not depend on the victim, but on the court. Angoh Angoh says cases can take approximately six months to a year, depending largely on the volume of work the court has and the availability of the witnesses, the lawyers and the other parties involved.

Ngale says that first the prosecutor needs to schedule the hearing, and then the victim can choose to use the state prosecutor or hire a private lawyer. As for who defends the case in court, the state counsel is cheaper than hiring a private lawyer, Angoh Angoh says.

According to the Cameroon Penal Code, the penalty for rape is five to 10 years in prison when victims are 16 and older and 15 to 25 years in prison when victims are under 16. Prison time may be doubled or for life when offenders have authority over or custody of the victims, are public servants or religious ministers, or are assisted by one or more people. But Ngale says that in general, imprisonment for those proven guilty of rape may range from six months to five years, depending on the circumstances.

On the other hand, Angoh Angoh says that the law has a defense for provocation. For example, it takes into consideration whether a woman provoked the man by dressing a certain way, by inviting him into her room or by working as a prostitute, in which case it presumes that she contributed to the act.

He says the law also takes into account whether they’d been in a relationship before or if the woman had been giving the impression that they were in a relationship by accepting gifts from him. The man in this case would receive a lesser punishment than a man who meets a woman by the roadside for the first time, kidnaps and rapes her.

Since the law only punishes the aggressor but doesn’t take away the victim’s pain from the incident, Ngale says seeing a psychologist is crucial for the victim to heal psychologically.

“This would permit the victim live with the experience, while awaiting justice from the court,” she says.

Koubitim says that the physical healing process of a rape victim may take several weeks. He says he refers victims to see a psychiatrist or a psychologist for mental and emotional healing.

Nongovernmental organizations also work to help victims of gender violence in Cameroon. One is the Association for the Fight Against Violence Toward Women, a nongovernmental organization that advocates for women’s rights and operates a center for victims of gender violence.

Depending on the nature of the problem, workers assist in fostering conflict resolution in the home, pressing charges in the justice system or helping women start small businesses to sustain themselves and their children. They also provide counseling, sensitize the public to gender violence and advocate for laws to protect women’s rights.

Epossi Adéline, the director of the center, says it has received 70 cases of violence against women since it began operations in 2010. Fifty of these were reports of domestic violence, but just one was a rape report. She attributes this to underreporting, not to low prevalence.

She says the woman in this lone rape case was a young student who was raped by her neighbor three months ago. The neighbor, a married man, had been making advances at her, which she repeatedly turned down.

One night, he knocked on her door at 2 a.m. She opened the door because she thought something was wrong. He then raped her in her bedroom, threatening her with a knife not to scream as he covered her mouth.

Her appearance at the police station with torn clothes and wounds served as proof of the rape. Police arrested her neighbor but released him while awaiting the trial. He has filed a case against the victim for defamation of character. Adéline says the case is still in court.

Adéline says the center has provided the victim with counseling and has helped her obtain a private lawyer. But its resources are limited.

Mixte says that she wishes she had pursued her case in court and that her mother hadn’t agreed to the settlement with the rapist’s family.

“At the time, I didn’t realize whether this move was bad or not,” she says. “I just felt worthless, as whenever I saw the young man, I felt so much shame.”

She says the settlement didn’t take away this shame.

“I was frustrated, and my mom understood that I could even commit suicide, so she sent me to continue school in another town,” she says.

But even while in another town, she says she was still in low spirits for a long time. Her grades in school dropped, and everything about her life seemed unstable.

She says her trauma only ceased after attending a campaign organized by the National Network of Associations of Aunties and the German Technical Cooperation, now part of the German Society for International Cooperation, which supports the German government in international cooperation for sustainable development. Mixte says that the seminar enabled her to hear other rape victims tell their stories, which encouraged her to do same.

“I realized that I was not the only one to have gone through such ordeal,” she says.

She now helps other rape victims. She first advises them that talking about what happened is a major step toward healing, as well as toward helping future potential victims.

“When girls don’t report rape incidents, they encourage rapists to carry on with their acts,” she says. “Hence, you’d find a man raping several women in a family and going free.”

Secondly, she advises women to avoid secluded areas or walking alone, especially at night.

Lastly, she emphasizes the importance of parents listening to their children when they want to speak to them. She says that most often, children choose to stay silent for fear their parents won’t listen to them.

“In my case, for example, if my mother had paid more attention to my complaint about being beaten up by my uncle and inquiring deeper into the issue, maybe it would have encouraged me to talk about the rape,” she says.

by Irene Zih Fon / Global Press Institute

This is the story of Sidonie, an 18-year-old Cameroonian teenager who is a victim of rape and incest. Incest is a recurrent practice on the African continent. In Cameroon, more than 18% of victims suffer in silence, while the perpetrators often go unpunished.

By Eric Kouamo, Douala

Sidonie will talk about anything other than her sexuality and relations with men. After a deep sigh she begins to open up: “I am still sexually unresponsive. I really can’t feel any pleasure from being intimate with a man… Every time I’ve tried to have sexual relations with men, they’ve complained about my attitude of indifference. I still think about him”.

The ‘him’ refers to Sidonie’s uncle, who raped her several times and threatened to kill her if she said anything to anyone. She was only 14 years old when she fell pregnant. Sidonie explains that she had to lie about the identity of the father, accusing a young neighbour instead: “I didn’t know how to tell my family that I was pregnant with the child of my mother’s little brother”.

Silence
Sidonie eventually decided to remain silent about her abuse, in order to preserve the honour of the family and protect her uncle. He was the only person in a position to pay for her studies, as her parents are poor farmers from a rural village. Like her, many other victims of incestuous rape prefer not to talk about it.

According to anthropologist Jeanette Fotso, incest is regarded as a curse in some African cultures. As a result, the families usually have to perform traditional cleansing rituals. Sidonie has not yet performed such rituals.

She explains that she only broke her silence less than three months ago. She talked about her abuse for the first time at a meeting with other Cameroonian victims of rape and incest. They constitute 18% of the population in Cameroon, according to a survey conducted on the phenomenon in 2009 by an organisation of Cameroonian young mothers.

Georgette Taku, 25, and a young mother herself, is the Executive Secretary of the organisation. She explains that incest is still a prevalent practice in Cameroon and young teenagers are the most exposed group. “They are raped at a tender age by family members, who not only ignore the impact of such an act but also its consequences”, Georgette adds.

Psychological repercussions
Incest has a devastating impact on the emotional and psychological development of victims, explains Tete Jesinta, a young social scientist. It can even affect their education, as was the case with Sidonie who dropped out of school at an early age.

“How could I stay focused at school, knowing what I had to face once I get home? Throughout the day, every time I thought about what my uncle would force me to do in the evening, I lost my joie de vivre”, she explains.

Today, at the age of 18, Sidonie is learning hairdressing and dreams of an Africa without incest: “I wish that all victims of this horrible practice would report the perpetrators so that they are severely punished”.

However, she regrets that even after reporting him, her uncle has still not faced the consequences of his actions. Sidonie has resigned herself to accepting that reality. Her son is now 4 years old and she is thinking about how to tell him that his father is also his great-uncle. A question that often troubles incestuous rape victims.

Radio Netherlands

This is the story of Sidonie, an 18-year-old Cameroonian teenager who is a victim of rape and incest. Incest is a recurrent practice on the African continent. In Cameroon, more than 18% of victims suffer in silence, while the perpetrators often go unpunished.

By Eric Kouamo, Douala

Sidonie will talk about anything other than her sexuality and relations with men. After a deep sigh she begins to open up: “I am still sexually unresponsive. I really can’t feel any pleasure from being intimate with a man… Every time I’ve tried to have sexual relations with men, they’ve complained about my attitude of indifference. I still think about him”.

The ‘him’ refers to Sidonie’s uncle, who raped her several times and threatened to kill her if she said anything to anyone. She was only 14 years old when she fell pregnant. Sidonie explains that she had to lie about the identity of the father, accusing a young neighbour instead: “I didn’t know how to tell my family that I was pregnant with the child of my mother’s little brother”.

Silence
Sidonie eventually decided to remain silent about her abuse, in order to preserve the honour of the family and protect her uncle. He was the only person in a position to pay for her studies, as her parents are poor farmers from a rural village. Like her, many other victims of incestuous rape prefer not to talk about it.

According to anthropologist Jeanette Fotso, incest is regarded as a curse in some African cultures. As a result, the families usually have to perform traditional cleansing rituals. Sidonie has not yet performed such rituals.

She explains that she only broke her silence less than three months ago. She talked about her abuse for the first time at a meeting with other Cameroonian victims of rape and incest. They constitute 18% of the population in Cameroon, according to a survey conducted on the phenomenon in 2009 by an organisation of Cameroonian young mothers.

Georgette Taku, 25, and a young mother herself, is the Executive Secretary of the organisation. She explains that incest is still a prevalent practice in Cameroon and young teenagers are the most exposed group. “They are raped at a tender age by family members, who not only ignore the impact of such an act but also its consequences”, Georgette adds.

Psychological repercussions
Incest has a devastating impact on the emotional and psychological development of victims, explains Tete Jesinta, a young social scientist. It can even affect their education, as was the case with Sidonie who dropped out of school at an early age.

“How could I stay focused at school, knowing what I had to face once I get home? Throughout the day, every time I thought about what my uncle would force me to do in the evening, I lost my joie de vivre”, she explains.

Today, at the age of 18, Sidonie is learning hairdressing and dreams of an Africa without incest: “I wish that all victims of this horrible practice would report the perpetrators so that they are severely punished”.

However, she regrets that even after reporting him, her uncle has still not faced the consequences of his actions. Sidonie has resigned herself to accepting that reality. Her son is now 4 years old and she is thinking about how to tell him that his father is also his great-uncle. A question that often troubles incestuous rape victims.

Radio Netherlands

Par RFI

Enoh Meyomesse est président de l’Association nationale des écrivains camerounais et il voulait être candidat à la présidentielle d’octobre 2011 sous la bannière du Front national uni. Peu de temps après le scrutin, le 22 novembre 2011, il a été arrêté pour la seconde fois à l’aéroport de Yaoundé, à son retour de Singapour. Ecrivain et homme politique, il est sous le coup de plusieurs accusations.

Enoh Meyomesse est président de l’Association nationale des écrivains camerounais et il voulait être candidat à la présidentielle d’octobre 2011 sous la bannière du Front national uni. Peu de temps après le scrutin, le 22 novembre 2011, il a été arrêté pour la seconde fois à l’aéroport de Yaoundé, à son retour de Singapour. Ecrivain et homme politique, il est sous le coup de plusieurs accusations.

Maître Jacques Mbumy, l’avocat de Enoh Meyomesse, met en avant les convictions politiques de Enoh Meyomesse pour expliquer cette nouvelle arrestation : « Pendant un mois, sa garde à vue est restée secrète parce que, nous a-t-il dit, de l’aéroport, il a été conduit au secrétariat d’Etat à la Défense.

De là, il a été transféré à Bertoua [gendarmerie] où il arrivé vers trois heures du matin. On lui a dit que pendant qu’il n’était pas là, il y a eu un braquage. La première question qu’on lui pose donc, c’est :  où sont les armes ? Quels sont ses complices ? Forcément, on l’accuse d’avoir tenté de renverser le pouvoir en place.

Nous, nous n’avons pas un seul instant pensé que ce pour quoi on l’avait arrêté pouvait être fondé parce que c’était assez surprenant. Nous pensons tous qu’on lui cherche la petite bête et forcément, il y a quelqu’un qui ne lui voulait pas du bien.
C’était quand même, il faut l’avouer, un candidat assez virulent dans ces propos. Cela pouvait gêner certaines personnes. Et nous, nous disons aujourd’hui que ces personnes ont décidé d’en finir. Nous allons bien savoir sur quoi reposent ces accusations ».

Nicolas Martin-Granel, écrivain et critique français se préoccupe du sort de Enoh Meyomesse : « D’après ses dernières notes écrites en prison où il a pu s’exprimer, on l’accuse successivement de plusieurs choses : une tentative de coup d’Etat et puis ensuite, d’un vol à main armée. On l’accuse d’avoir  volé de l’or, c’est assez obscur et cela ne tient pas debout. Vous pouvez craindre pour sa vie et pas seulement pour sa vie, mais pour son honneur. Tout cela paraît une fabrication, une accusation, complètement aberrante. Le Cameroun n’est pas à ce niveau de république bananière.

Cette nouvelle affaire prouve que le Cameroun est sur une voie qui nous indigne. Je trouve que cette façon de se comporter d’abord avec les droits de l’homme les plus élémentaires et en plus avec un écrivain est complètement scandaleuse. Moi je suis chercheur en littérature africaine donc je suis fortement intéressé par ce cas ».

The Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram, which has been wrecking havoc in West African country, is reported to have infiltrated northern Cameroon.

The militants are said to have taken refuge in northern Cameroon as the Nigerian government has intensified its clampdown on them especially following their bombing of churches on Christmas Day that led to the death of over 50 persons.

Reports say members of the extremist group are more and more present in Lagdo, a cosmopolitan town in the North Region. Sources say they are easily identifiable by their bizarre dressing, long beads and red or black headscarves.

According to reports, for several months, Lagdo residents have testified that the strangers are combing surrounding villages and actively preaching anti-Western sermons, establishing units and proposing huge amounts of money to those willing to follow them.

In a bid to prevent cross-border activities by militants of the Islamic sect, the Nigerian government recently temporarily shut down its land borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, in a televised national address recently, said the closure of the border was to control supposed cross-border activities by members of the sect. He also decreed a state of emergency in 15 local government areas in the Borno, Plateau, Niger and Yobe states.

“The temporary closure of our borders in the affected areas is only an interim measure designed to address the current security challenges and will be reviewed as soon as normalcy is restored”, he said.

It would be recalled that recently during a security coordination meeting, the Governor of the North region of Cameroon, Gambo Haman, enjoined security forces to be on alert, highlighting the incursion of Boko Haram militants into parts of the region.

“The Boko Haram being chased from Nigeria’s northeast, as well as thousands of runaway Chadian soldiers in irregular situation here must be closely monitored to avoid unwanted trouble throughout the national territory,” he cautioned.

Nonetheless, administrative official in the region are quoted as saying there is no need yet for panic

“We cannot begin to arrest suspects because the law does not allow for that. At the moment, they are not breaking the law,” one of them is quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, authorities in the region have reinforced surveillance and many Quran learning centres have been reportedly shut down, while Islam teachers are being closely watched by intelligence operatives.

It would be noted that last year some authorities within the Islamic community in Cameroon had warned that the increasing crack down on the Boko Haram in Nigeria may cause them to run to Cameroon. Cameroon, some of them alleged, was no longer just a hideout for the militants but a field for enlisting converts.

Sources within the Moslem community say there are many indicators that militants of the sect are in Cameroon and are preaching their doctrines in some mosques. It would be recalled that not long ago the Divisional Officer for Limbe I sub-division, Tsanga Foe, closed a mosque in Limbe when there were allegations that members of Boko Haram had infiltrated it. Other pointers that the militants are in Cameroon, sources say, are the distribution of CDs and fliers with the Boko Haram doctrine.

However, government seems to have heeding to the warning of Moslems in Cameroon as recently the Senior Divisional Officer for Wouri division, Bernard Okalia Bilai, convened Imams and Muslim community leaders in Douala and instructed them to come out with ways of repelling any establishment of the sect in Douala and other parts of Cameroon.

“We have been informed of attempts of Boko Haram infiltration. Their doctrine is anti-social as it condemns western education. It’s a doctrine that persuades young graduates to rip their degrees because it’s satanic. It’s a doctrine that condemns what today constitutes the values of our society and top authorities of the country don’t accept that such hateful dogma is established in our communities, and thus the necessity of this meeting. We must be vigilant,” he counselled.

It is also worth noting that when Chadian President, Idriss Deby, came visiting recently, terrorist fears was part of his discussion with President Paul Biya.

“We must remain very vigilant to the consequences of the upheavals that have occurred in the north of our continent. It is of no interest to anyone that a zone of instability emerges close to our northern borders. In that light, our solidarity is of utmost importance,” Biya told Deby.

On his part, Deby called for a cross-border Security Mixed Commission session to chart ways of dealing with increasing Boko Haram and AQMI (the Maghreb branch of al-Qaeda) threats.

AfricaNews

In order to make banking more accessible to the average Cameroonian citizen, the Ministry of Finance has introduced the ‘guaranteed minimum banking service’. The measure is a golden opportunity for many young Cameroonians, who see it as a way to improve their living conditions. But opening a bank account is often a long and tedious process, with many obstacles.

By Anne-Mireille Nzouankeu, Yaoundé

In one of the banks in the Cameroonian capital, Yaoundé, about 20 people are queuing to open a bank account. Tinwouang Josué, 27, is one of them. When he reaches the customer services desk, Josué will have to provide a copy of his identification document. Moreover, he will have to fill in several forms with details of his economic activities as well as his sources of income. “I find it tedious,” the young man complains.

Difficulties
The forms are not the only obstacle for prospective bank account holders. Because of the heavy bank charges, less than 15 percent of Cameroonians have bank accounts in the country’s main banking institutions.

In order to popularise banking among Cameroonians, the Ministry of Finance has introduced the ‘guaranteed minimum banking service’; 15 banking services are now free of charge. The services include account opening an account, issuing of bank statements and passbooks, withdrawals at branches and ATMs, inter-account transfers, cheque transactions and change of address.

Banks are now only allowed to charge a maximum 5,000 CFA-francs (7.6 euros) fee for closing an account. But although the measure officially came into effect in July this year, people are still being charged. “I just noticed that I was charged for the account notifications I regularly receive on my phone. Every time I withdraw money from an ATM, the bank charges me approximately 3,000 CFA-francs (4.5 Euros),” says Christophe Mbappè.

Hope
Tinwouang Josué wants to start a small business. According to him, cancelling the bank charges, although not yet fully implemented, brings hope. “By keeping money at home, you risk it being stolen,” he says. “Furthermore, without a bank account, you would appear less credible in the eyes of your business partners.” For him, the abolition of some of the bank charges will be beneficial, as it enables him to save more.

Radio Netherlands

YAOUNDE Dec 9 (Reuters) – Robusta coffee exports from Cameroon fell nearly 33 percent last season, the National Cocoa and Coffee Board said, blaming the effects of turmoil in North Africa.

Some 30,194 tonnes were shipped from the central African state during the December-to-November 2010-11 season, compared with 44,966 tonnes the previous year, it said in a release issued late on Thursday.

“Volumes headed to other African countries, primarily the countries of the Maghreb, have fallen considerably. The political situations and social crises were at the root of this decline,” it said.

Uprisings toppled the governments Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, and protests raged in other North African countries this year. Detailed information on the main buyers of Cameroon’s coffee exports were not available.

The NCCB said the country also exported 2,390 tonnes of arabica coffee in 2010/11, down from 3,198 tonnes in 2009/10, with Germany and Belgium among the top buyers.

Total robusta production in the country was 31,840 tonnes, down from 53,299 tonnes last season, the NCCB said.

Output in 2011-12 will “shoot up”, NCCB general manager Michael Ndoping told Reuters on Friday, but he did not give a detailed forecast. (Reporting by Tansa Musa; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Alison Birrane)

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