In Cameroon, 82 couples have taken part in a mass wedding ceremony as part of efforts to better protect the legal rights of women. Only 10 percent of marriages in Cameroon are legalized, leaving wives with few rights. The mass wedding ceremony is part of activities to mark Friday’s International Women’s Day.

For the event, traditional Cameroonian dancers performed in the courtyard of the Maroua Town Council. There, they celebrated the official marriage of 82 couples, most of them Muslims.

Among the couples were 16-year-old Asta Ismaila and her 47-year-old husband.

Ismaila said she was forced to be the man’s third wife when she was barely 14 years old. After giving birth, she said, her husband did not take care of her or her baby.

Although the couple split last year, they agreed to legalize their marriage so Ismaila and their child would not be shunned by the community.

It also provides mother and child with important and rare legal protection.

Cameroon’s Institute of Statistics says only 10 percent of couples have legalized their marriages – relying instead on simple, traditional ceremonies.

If the husband dies, his family members often take the couple’s property and send the woman away with nothing.

The Cameroon Association of Lawyers’ Hamadou Hamajarou says with a legal marriage, the state protects the wife’s property rights.

He said Cameroon’s penal code punishes anyone who forces a widow out of her marital home with a prison term of three months to one year and a fine of $100 to $1,000. If the woman is pregnant or violence is used, the sentence can be from two to five years in prison.

In northern Cameroon’s polygamous Muslim communities, men often bring home an additional wife without consulting their current ones. Without a registered marriage, the wives have few legal options to challenge the man’s decisions.

Aissa Dumara, coordinator of the Association for the Fight Against Violence on Women and Girls, said women who defy their husband – legally or not — are often abused or kicked out of the house.

She said only 35 of the 351 abused women who sought the group’s help in 2018 were legally married. Dumara said they were forced at very young ages into the homes of men who promised to marry them but instead they were battered, forced to do difficult domestic work, or simply dismissed.

The group arranged the mass wedding to educate women of the importance of legalizing their marriages.

It’s no small challenge in Cameroon’s remote villages.

Ismaila tried to convince her husband’s two other wives to legalize their marriages as well. But they said their families were against it because the husband and his family had yet to pay them money or property for the marriage – known as a bride price.

The cost for the wives having no legal protection could prove to be much higher.

VOA

When many Southern Cameroonians were fleeing the military’s violent operations in the two English-speaking regions of the country, not many thought they could be useful on the other side of the Mungo.

Many had left their villages and cities for places they did not even know. Douala, Bafoussam, Dschang, Yaounde and Edea are some of the cities in which some of these young energetic, but idle internally displaced boys have settled.

Many were helpless when they got to these places. They knew nobody. They have been living rough and accepting whatever nature throws at them. The frustration of abandoning home has been huge and the fear of never returning to their native Ambazonia has be stalking them like a stubborn shadow.

Hunger and the stigma of being considered by their own government as terrorists have been robbing them of their smiles.

But this is gradually changing. The smiles are slowly returning, and hunger, considered to be their companion, is gradually migrating to other places.

The Ambazonian has finally found work in La Republique. Like Manyu people will say, if you don’t want to lose your kingdom, don’t have a daughter. The idle boys, whose biceps and triceps are hanging loosely as if meant for destructive purposes are now fully employed as women in East Cameroon who were undersexed and sex-starved have now found a huge pool of studs who are impregnating them at an unbelievable rate.

In Douala where a huge segment of the male population is suffering from erectile dysfunction and low libido, the women are now looking in the direction of young Ambazonians who are prepared to do whatever comes their way.

Sources in Douala say, the old men do not know what to do with the young Anvazonians whose muscles spell danger to them. The old expiring men whose sex lives are in chaos are scared of these young Ambazonians, especially as the news from the warfront speaks of the bravery and determination of Ambazonians.

While the men are scared of the boys, the women, for their part, are licking their lips and smiling . The women, who have been suffering in silence, are having a never-ending party and this can be seen from the number of women who are carrying distended stomachs.

Our sources say pregnancy rates in cities like Bafoussam, Yaounde and Douala have gone up by 10% and this number is expected to rise as women open up and Ambazonians grow in confidence.

Speaking to a lady in Douala who is happily spotting a pregnancy, she said hers was the kingdom of happiness. She could not hide her glee as her cry for many years has been to be pregnant. An Ambazonian has made her dream to come true and she is now on cloud nine. She now only swears to Ambazonians.

Also, a married woman in Douala told the Cameroon Intelligence Report reporter that her husband had been neglecting his duties and this has been a bone of contention in their home. Before Ambazonians showed up in Douala, there was a lot of fighting in their home.

She added that ever since she met a young helpless Ambazonian, the fighting in their home had reduced.

“I hate the war in the two regions of our country because so many people are being killed. But the fighting out there has brought more peace than war to my family. My husband has been wondering about the sudden change in my life. He does not know he is being helped by an internally displaced person. We are all happy. I get the sex I need and the Ambazonian gets his food and a little money. My husband now sleeps in peace,” she said.

For more on this interesting story, check the Cameroon Intelligence Report as the Group Chairman, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, has promised to bring a smile to your faces through a detailed report on this.

A French court on Monday will decide whether to block the release of a film by acclaimed director François Ozon based on real-life victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, just two days after it picked up a prize at the Berlin Film Festival.

Ozon, 51, worked for years in secret on “By the Grace of God”, which won plaudits and the runner-up Silver Bear Grand Jury prize at the Berlinale on Saturday. It is the most-high profile dramatisation of the systematic cover-up of widespread sexual molestation by clergy since the Oscar-winning “Spotlight”, set in Boston and released in 2015.

But even before the Berlin premiere, a priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys, Bernard Preynat, had gone to court to demand that the film not be shown in France until after his trial, which is due to start later this year.

A lay voluntary worker for the Lyon diocese, Regine Maire, has also issued a legal challenge to have her name removed from the picture, which is set for release in French cinemas on February 20. The court’s ruling comes as Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, and five others including Maire await a verdict on charges of covering up the abuse.

Ozon — best known for “Swimming Pool” and “8 femmes” — told AFP he had hoped the tortuous series of cases would have finished by now, but the film should be shown for “the public good”.

‘Breaking the silence’

“When you try to break the silence, there is always resistance,” he said. “I don’t think this is happening by accident, because it is a film which is trying to break an omerta, and which deals with the silence.” The scandal first broke in 2015 when a former scout, François Devaux, went public with allegations that Preynat had abused him as a child 25 years earlier.

Preynat was suspended by the church later that year and it eventually emerged that the cardinal had confronted him about “the rumours” in 2010 but the priest claimed he had changed.

Four years later Barbarin went to the Vatican about him without contacting the police. The film traces those events but sticks close to their emotional impact on three victims-turned-activists, who begin to confront their trauma publicly with the generally strong support of their families.

Ozon said he had consulted several members of the survivors’ group, La Parole Libérée (Freed Speech), Devaux set up, which has gathered the testimony of 85 people who claim to have been abused by Preynat in Lyon.

But the director said he tried to be “as even-handed and objective as possible. It is not a film of goodies and baddies, it is much more complex than that for the affected families and the institution itself, and I tried to show that”.

“By the Grace of God” centres on Devaux and Alexandre Dussot-Hezez, “a fervent Catholic who discovers at the age of 40 that a priest who abused him is still alive and has access to children” through the church.

Devaux told AFP that Ozon’s approach to the victims’ painful experiences had been “very humane and very passionate” given the fact that for them and their families, they had been like “time bombs” waiting to go off.

Church stance on paedophilia ‘changing’

Ozon said he wanted to show the “negative repercussions (victims can suffer) and the distressing boomerang effects on their partners, children, families and friends”.

Asked about Preynat’s bid for an injunction, Ozon insisted there were no major factual revelations in the film for anyone who has been following the case.

“We are facing some pressure regarding the release of the film but everything in it is already well-known in France,” he told reporters in Berlin.

“Most of the people attacking us haven’t seen the film yet,” Ozon added. The filmmaker hopes his intimate portrait of the victims’ fight for justice will spark greater understanding of a difficult subject that mainstream cinema has rarely confronted.

Ozon said the reaction from several French bishops and senior clergy who have seen the film had been positive, adding that he hoped it would provoke debate beyond France. “The church seems to be changing its stance on the scourge of paedophilia and the silence hanging over it,” he said.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Wheel chaired Augustine Kontchou Koumegni is slowly but surely moving towards his end. We understand his ancestors are calling!! We gathered that the former Minister of State for Communications in the CPDM crime syndicate attempted to release some memoirs but cancelled the event.

Kontchou who lied on numerous occasions to the Cameroonian people over the killings at the University of Yaounde was nicknamed “Zero Mort”. As a former Cameroon government spokesman, Kontchou is expected to reveal the ins and outs of his time with Biya. But is anyone really interested?

The former Biya acolyte has reportedly struggled to make a comeback into politics but suffered a massive stroke. Putting pen to paper is now a thing of the past. One former acquaintance said Kontchou feels so abandoned by the regime.

He added: “I think this is a really difficult time for him. He’s rethinking how he wasted his time serving Biya and the CPDM, all the decisions he made. Look at the Momos and the Kamtos from the West region, they’re all doing really well, and he’s the odd one out. He’s not been able to carve out a new life ever since he was sacked from government.”

So what else has Kontchou been up to and how will he be remembered? What has Kontchou been doing?  Simply enjoying his wheel chair!!

Rita Akana

All hell broke loose on social media after a photoshoot featuring a white model posing with the endangered Baka pygmies of Cameroon was reshared months after it was published.

Shot in December 2017 by Luxembourg-based fashion and beauty photographer Awamu Moja, the project dubbed “Human Beings. One Humanity.” is facing heavy backlash for portraying a seemingly white saviour complex.

The photos, published in September 2018 and shared by the photographer and crew, show the white model wearing bridal and dinner dresses and posing with the Pygmies in their village located in the Dja Faunal Reserve – a UNESCO World Heritage Site in southeastern Cameroon.

Face2FaceAfrica

Mimi Mefo has been shortlisted for an award for her fearless mode of reportage in Cameroon’s media landscape considered as repressive and self censoring.

The Index on Censorship released a list of 16 individuals and organizations fighting for free expression in the 2019 edition of its Freedom of Expression awards program.

Mefo was the sole African listed under the journalism category of the awards – whose main description was: “for courageous, high-impact and determined journalism that exposes censorship and threats to free expression.”

Others in the same category included Bihus.info – a group of independent Ukrainian journalists, the Center for Investigative Reporting of Serbia, CINS; and Mehman Huseynox, an Azerbaijani journalist and human rights defender.

What Index on Censorship wrote about Mimi Mefo

Mimi Mefo is one of less than a handful journalists working without fear or favour in Cameroon’s climate of repression and self-censorship.

An award-winning broadcast journalist and the first-ever woman editor-in-chief of private media house Equinoxe TV and Radio, Mefo was arrested in November 2018 after she published reports that the military was behind the death of an American missionary in the country.

Mefo reports on the escalating violence in the country’s western regions, a conflict that has become known as the “Anglophone Crisis” and is a leading voice in exposing the harassment of other Cameroonian journalists, calling publicly for the release of those jailed.

Other shortlisted African nominees

Other award categories that had Africans included Media Rights Activists and Institute for Media and Society (Campaigning category – for activists and campaigners who have had a marked impact in fighting censorship and promoting freedom of expression.)

The Arts category – for artists and arts producers whose work challenges repression and injustice and celebrates artistic free expression – also had Egyptian performing and digital arts company, ElMadina.

About the Index on Censorship group

Index on Censorship is a nonprofit that campaigns for and defends free expression worldwide. We publish work by censored writers and artists, promote debate, and monitor threats to free speech.

We believe that everyone should be free to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution – no matter what their views.

Index’s aim is to raise awareness about threats to free expression and the value of free speech as the first step to tackling censorship. Index relies entirely on the support of donors and readers to do our work.

Africa News

Former South African president Jacob Zuma has signed a record deal with the eThekwini Municipality’s Parks, which will see him record a number of liberation songs. The Durban initiative is aimed at memorializing the role liberation songs played in the anti-apartheid movement.

But the only concern, the choice of lead singer Jacob Zuma.

Derick and Ben are two Johannesburg residents “It might actually be a better career choice for him so I might actually buy an album from him.” “With the money he makes he can not give it to his wives but pay back the taxpayers money.”

Zuma’s nine years in power were marked by corruption scandals and economic stagnation, but some citizens still believe in his personality. One of such is Thembinkosi Ngcobo, the head of the Ethekwini parks, recreation and culture.

“There’s quite a very wide popular support for the initiative out there and our creative team is currently sitting down and is looking into a number of possible groups or individuals that will be part of this project, but yes the main person who will be at the center of the project will be the former President Mr Zuma and then, will then get quit a substantial number of people either individuals or in form of choirs who are also going to be part of the project.”

In a previous interview, Ngcobo said nothing will be paid to Zuma adding that the former president has not asked for anything in return.

Reuters

The Divisional Officer for Mundemba in Ndian was recently accompanied by a female Mummy of the Lord Jesus, supported by the Commander of the 22^nd Regiment of the Cameroon army stationed in Bafumar on a mission to Bessingui and Meka Ngolo aimed at getting Ambazonian restoration forces to drop down their weapons.

Cameroon Concord News understands that with an outdated public address system, the French Cameroun delegation successfully achieved their goal as some Southern Cameroons fighters including the Ambazonian commander of Ndian 1, General DADY DIBALLA came out of the forest neatly dressed with a mobile phone, bowed, trembled and surrendered.

General Dady Diballa reportedly made a soul searching appeal to all Ambazonian forces in Ndian to come out of the bushes and pay allegiance to the so-called Father of the Nation, President Biya. Many in Ndian County now believe that the Holy Spirit guided the mission.

In this edition of the AGBAW-EBAI DEBATE we are asking our readers to make known their opinions on this religious happening in Ndian County.

By Chi Prudence Asong