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/ 23 December 2006
As the countdown to the 2007 World Social Forum gains momentum, anti-globalisation activists from around the world are no doubt rolling up their sleeves for spirited debates on the flaws in the current economic order. In Cameroon, however, such debates are already under way.
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/ 22 November 2006
For some time now, the sporadic eruption of inter-ethnic conflict in most of Cameroon, sometimes with tragic consequences, has prompted concern about the future of this Central African country. The first notable tensions between ethnic groups date back to the beginning of the 1990s.
Business at the numerous money transfer agencies in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, is typically a brisk affair. Of the many people who frequent the agencies, one group is of particular interest, however: the husbands of women who have gone abroad to earn money from prostitution.
Just more than a decade ago, Cameroon drafted a law that was intended to regulate commercial use of the country’s forests. In spite of this, corruption and uncontrolled exploitation are putting forest areas at risk, say NGOs. The 1994 Law on the Regulation of Forests, Fauna and Fishing contains clauses that limit logging, with a view to protecting the environment.
In the run-up to examinations, students frequently complain that teachers pile too much work on them. In Cameroon, however, the opposite is true. Since the academic year got under way in 2004, strikes by teachers have disrupted the education of millions of secondary-school pupils, and the sight of small groups of students roaming the streets when they should be in class has become common.
With no telephone connection to the outside world, and a single access road that is little more than a forest trail, the village of Lomie might as well be situated at the other side of the Earth as far as many Cameroonians are concerned. For the Baka pygmies, however, the position of the settlement is more ambiguous: too accessible for loggers, but too remote for the benefits of modern life to make themselves felt.
With less than two months to go before the October 11 presidential election in Cameroon, intrigues and accusations have become the order of the day for the country’s political parties. It has also dampened hopes that the opposition will be able to unite behind a single candidate who is capable of defeating the incumbent head of state.
The term "blood money" has come to have new meaning in Cameroon, where certain patients and their families complain that a brisk trade in trafficked blood has led to shortages in hospitals. "Getting hold of a pouch of blood for a patient who has urgent need of it can be an experience akin to Calvary," said Martin Djomo, the husband of someone who is dependent on blood transfusions.
Mention the word "electricity" to Cameroonians and the chances are that they will laugh ruefully. For several years now, power cuts have been a fact of life in this West African country — crippling businesses and eating into economic growth. The predicted 4% growth in the country this year is significantly lower than the previous two years, and has been blamed on the erratic electricity supplies.
As candidates in Cameroon square up to each other for presidential elections in October, the Catholic Church is doing its best to ensure that the poll will not be an occasion for "politics as usual" in the West African country. "We’re going to shine a spotlight on the need for free and transparent elections," said an archbishop.