s pending elections • Women in politics: Cameroon – in pictures On a sunny day in early May, in Ndu, northwest Cameroon, a group of women, many of whom have taken the day off from work on their farms, are evaluating the performance of an aspiring politician. One suggests smiling more, another that the candidate project her voice more and not look at her feet while talking. The women are here in the...
Bim Adewunmi: With elections due on 30 September, campaigners in Cameroon are helping to train women into decision-making roles at all political levels Bim Adewunmi ...
s] long-decried climate of homophobia has intensified and now has reached a critical point," the letter states. "The pursuit of our various missions requires a minimum level of security, institutional support and financial support." The letter comes one week after prominent activist and journalist Eric Lembembe was found dead, believed to have been killed for his work campaigning for gay rights in...
t investigate the killing after previously ignoring similar attacks A prominent gay rights activist in Cameroon has been found tortured and killed in his home, amid claims the authorities have systematically ignored similar attacks in the country. The body of Eric Ohena Lembembe, an activist and journalist in the capital Yaoundé, was discovered by friends on Monday night. They had been unable to reach...
s experiences. I ran home from a busy ward round to log on and participate only to find that my internet wouldn't start! I raced to a nearby café and managed to log on. I was only a few minutes late and already a great debate was taking place, challenging questions were being raised, research was being explained, it was going to be an exciting two hours. I put in my comment about pharmacy prescribing....
s Northwest Region, the rights of widows are often very heavily curtailed. International development charity VSO is working with the Muslim Students...
s poorest widows. Bim Adewunmi visits a pioneering project in Cameroon trying to turn around 500-year-old traditions Hajaratou Chanteh's eyes are wet and her voice is trembling as she talks about her battle with the family of her late husband. Following his death 16 years ago, they took all his possessions and denied her access to the house they had shared with their children. Since then, she has been...
s president, the Rwandan economist Donald Kaberuka , presented a global action plan addressing the problem along with the World Wildlife Fund . "This is not just an environmental problem," according to the bank's Marrakech Declaration. "The violence and damage now threaten peace and the rule of law, as well as the revenue many African countries earn from tourism and other wildlife uses; some of the...
heavy-handed tactics contribute to escalation of violence The highly organised, coordinated attack on a remote town in north-eastern Nigeria by suspected members of the terror group Boko Haram highlights the failures of the army's efforts to curtail the Islamists. Despite a costly military response Boko Haram's insurgency shows no sign of letting up, and some observers are now recommending that the...
s biggest frog - but for many years the 5,000 villagers spread around the forest relied hunting the animals for their livelihoods. The two million inhabitants of the city of Douala paid well for gorilla and chimp bushmeat, but Abwe's enthusiasm has prevailed. "You can see these chimpanzees cracking nuts with stone hammers and fishing for termites with sticks - that is a unique combination of tool use,"...
s forest laws in at least 10 different ways. In Liberia, companies have abused licences known as "private use permits" to buy a quarter of the country...
s harder line Since then, the EU executive has taken a harder line. In 2011, it proposed suspending the agreement if the countries did not ratify the EPA by January 2014. The parliament voted in a strong majority to extend the deadline to October 2014, in a second reading . Botswana, Namibia, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Swaziland have not completed the agreement. They, along with the Pacific...
release. "France has not changed its position, which is not to pay ransoms," he said. In February, the former US ambassador to Mali, Vicki Huddleston, claimed that France in recent years had paid millions of dollars in ransoms in the Sahel region that had ultimately funded the al-Qaida-linked militants its troops were fighting in Mali. French officials denied ransom payments had been made. Hollande...