George Esunge Fominyen is currently Coordinator of the Multi-Media Editorial Unit of the PANOS Institute West Africa (PIWA) in Dakar, Senegal.
PANOS Institute West Africa
6, Rue Calmette Dakar, Senegal
Email: esungeft@gmail.com
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Fonlon-Nichols Award Website of the Literary Award established to honor the memory of BERNARD FONLON, the great Cameroonian teacher, writer, poet, and philosopher, who passionately defended human rights in an often oppressive political atmosphere.
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Nowa Omoigui Professor of Medicine and interventional cardiologist, Nowa Omoigui is also one of the foremost experts and scholars on the history of the Nigerian Military and the Nigerian Civil War. This site contains many of his writings and comments on military subjects and history.
Postwatch Magazine A UMI (United Media Incorporated) publication. Specializing in well researched investigative reports, it focuses on the Cameroonian scene, particular issues of interest to the former British Southern Cameroons.
Simon Mol Cameroonian poet, writer, journalist and Human Rights activist living in Warsaw, Poland
Victor Mbarika ICT Weblog Victor Wacham Agwe Mbarika is one of Africa's foremost experts on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Dr. Mbarika's research interests are in the areas of information infrastructure diffusion in developing countries and multimedia learning.
Tunduzi A West African in Arusha at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on the angst, contradictions and rewards of that process.
Dr Godfrey Tangwa (Gobata) Renaissance man, philosophy professor, actor and newspaper columnist, Godfrey Tangwa aka Rotcod Gobata touches a wide array of subjects. Always entertaining and eminently readable. Visit for frequent updates.
Francis Nyamnjoh Prolific writer, social and political commentator, he was a professor at University of Buea and University of Botswana. Currently he is Head of Publications and Dissemination at CODESRIA in Dakar, Senegal. His writings are socially relevant and engaging even to the non specialist.
Ilongo Sphere: Writer and Poet Novelist and poet Ilongo Fritz Ngalle, long concealed his artist's wings behind the firm exterior of a University administrator and guidance counsellor. No longer. Enjoy his unique poems and glimpses of upcoming novels and short stories.
Scribbles from the Den The award-winning blog of Dibussi Tande, Cameroon's leading blogger.
Enanga's POV Rosemary Ekosso, a Cameroonian novelist and blogger who lives and works in Cambodia.
GEF's Outlook Blog of George Esunge Fominyen, former CRTV journalist and currently Coordinator of the Multi-Media Editorial Unit of the PANOS Institute West Africa (PIWA) in Dakar, Senegal.
The Chia Report The incisive commentary of Chicago-based former CRTV journalist Chia Innocent
Voice Of The Oppressed Stephen Neba-Fuh is a political and social critic, human rights activist and poet who lives in Norway.
Bate Besong Bate Besong, award-winning firebrand poet and playwright.
Bakwerirama Spotlight on the Bakweri Society and Culture. The Bakweri are an indigenous African nation.
Fonlon-Nichols Award Website of the Literary Award established to honor the memory of BERNARD FONLON, the great Cameroonian teacher, writer, poet, and philosopher, who passionately defended human rights in an often oppressive political atmosphere.
Bernard Fonlon Dr Bernard Fonlon was an extraordinary figure who left a large footprint in Cameroonian intellectual, social and political life.
AFRICAphonie AFRICAphonie is a Pan African Association which operates on the premise that AFRICA can only be what AFRICANS and their friends want AFRICA to be.
Canute - Chronicles from the Heartland Professional translator, freelance writer and a regular contributor to THE POST newspaper. Lives in Douala, Cameroon
Souls Forgotten (355 pages; Langaa research and Publishing CIG, 2008)
Reviewed by George Esunge Fominyen
It took Emmanuel Kwanga four years after dropping out of university to take control of his life and decide to set up an NGO to assist his community reeling in neglect, instead of griping about the fate of the rich and poor, the corrupt and the defenceless in his country Mimboland. Francis Nyamnjoh in Souls Forgotten (2008) used the subtlety of prose to tell Cameroonians in 355 pages what the U.S Ambassdor Janet Garvey said to them via a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce in Douala in June 2009 : it is time to take ownership of their destiny, their government, their community.
With a $1 million alleged fraud case in Liberia, World Vision has become the latest aid agency to be embroiled in a corruption scandal. The Christian organisation has rushed to implement new systems to prevent such abuse in the future, but analysts say fear of negative publicity, lack of external monitoring and a degree of complacency are hampering efforts to stamp out corruption in the aid world.
The Liberian case involves three former World Vision officials who are accused of stealing food and construction materials meant to help people recover from the country's 14-year-long civil war. They allegedly masterminded a scam in which food aid was sold for profit in local markets.
Cameroon may have to play their crucial World Cup qualifier against Gabon without their captain, Rigobert Song, after he sustained a serious shoulder injury in a friendly against Ivory Coast which, Cameroon lost 2-1.
The charity game, in memory of the Ivorians who died in a stadium stampede last March, confirmed the Lion's inability to set-up offensive play, but the coaches will take comfort in Marcus Mokake's goal that broke a two match goal drought.
It was 8 June 1990 and the opening game of the FIFA World Cup in Italy. Cameroon was up against reigning world champions Argentina. At the 65th minute of play, Francois Omam Biyick rose high (his boots reaching and Argentine defenders shoulder) and met the ball from a deflected Emmanuel Kunde free-kick. The header was stunning. The Argentine goalkeeper, Pompidou, fumbled and the ball wriggled into the net. It was Cameroon 1 – Argentina 0. (Listen to commentary below)
That was the final score line. The Indomitable Lions became the first sub-Saharan African team to win a match at the FIFA World Cup. Being the tournament opener and against an Argentina side that included Diego Maradona, the world’s best footballer at the time, this caught the international media spotlight. FFootball had put Cameroon on the world map.
When a social science researcher takes to fictional literature, it is hard to draw the line between reality and imagination. It is the case with Cameroon’s Francis Nyamnjoh; a sound academic who knows how to tell a story simply and vividly. Apart from deliberate exaggerations by the author, any Cameroonian who has lived in the country for the past quarter of a century reading The Travail of Dieudonné, could easily find their space or that of a person they know in the colourful characters in the novel’s setting of Mimboland.
What’s in a name? Mimbo in Cameroonian pidgin means a drink (from palm wine to champagne). So doped of this potent nectar, are the characters of The Travail of Dieudonné that, they readily accept their unfortunate fate. Theirs is a world of misery in which insultingly rich and corrupt officials reap of an undemocratic government in which poor governance thrives, while the masses abandon themselves to sexual perversity and self-pity with the help of alcohol. In many ways, it is Cameroon seen through a glass of beer and Cameroonians locked inside a bottle of lager.
In December 2008, the American newspaper Star Tribune reported that a woman of Cameroon origin had filed a lawsuit in a US Federal Court accusing another woman for using voodoo to steal her man and ruin her life. By February the woman had withdrawn the case citing the power of prayer as the final sword in her battle to regain "her man". This affair drew a mix of contempt, ridicule and sympathy for her, as it seemed absurd that one would dare to file such a case in a court of law.
If this woman had been well advised she would have simply taken the case to the land of her forefathers. Article 251 of the Cameroon penal code provides that anyone found guilty of practising sorcery could be punished with imprisonment for up to 10 years and fined 100,000 FCFA ($200). All she needed to do would have been to prove her allegations. Well, that's where things become awkward. How do you prove the existence of what is essentially supernatural?
The Al Jazeera television programme People and Power recently broadcast an investigative report by Sorious Samura on the penal implications of witchcraft in the Central African Republic. I shared the version published on Youtube (below) with some friends. It sparked a debate over the presence of the occult in the minds and lives of Africans. Is this whole thing about witchcraft a figment of people's imagination? Are some African governments right to maintain witchcraft as a crime punishable by law? Where does one draw the line between a true para-normal occurence and idle and defamatory accusations?
Does the date 27 March 1988 mean anything to you? If you are a fan of the Indomitable Lions it should. This day 21 years ago at the Mohammed V stadium in Casablanca-Morocco the Cameroon national football team won the Africa Cup of Nations for the second time. They beat Nigeria 1-0 in the final (listen to highlights below). As fate would have it, it was against the same Nigeria that they won their first trophy in 1984 and their third in 2000.
The Pope has left and Cameroon is not so hot in the news anymore. That is the way news organisations work. Still, it was fun to read distant papers like the Seattle Times mentioning Cameroon. And I'm still to get over some of the interesting, absurd (would you say bizzare?) stories that popped-up in relation to this Papal visit. From the controversy on condoms and the spread of HIV, through echoes of Cameroon's First Lady's head gear at the welcome ceremony to maize named after the Pontiff. Here's how the media covered Pope Benedict XVI in Cameroon...
Timothy Kasolo is a Zambian journalist cum entrepreneur cum blogger. He was recently in Dakar to collect an award (coupled with a $2000 cheque) on behalf of lusakatimes.com. This online/citizen media project had won the prize for the Best African Civil Society Organization’s Blog in the Waxal Blogging Africa Awards.
The ceremony included a debate on the marriage between blogging and journalism. So how do the likes of Timothy deal with this union? I stole into Timothy's time at the reception (with clicking plates and spoons in the background) for a conversation on the matter. One thing he said was that journalists need to be trained to be good bloggers but started by introducing lusakatimes.com...
Rosebell Kagumire, winner of the Waxal Award for Best English-Speaking African journalist's blog, says ordinary Africans can use blogging to change people's perception of Africa. She spoke to me after receiving her award in Dakar, Senegal on Monday, 9 March 2009.
This investigative journalist for "The Independent" news magazine in Kampala - Uganda thinks if blogging is made close to everyone in Africa it could serve as a counterweight to the depiction of Africa by international media like the CNN and the BBC as a place of suffering, despair and poverty. She supposes it might even make these media view Africa differently.
My conversation with Rosebell also delved into the difference between blogging and journalism and how she copes with both caps...
I gather Paul Ngamo Hamani, the last provisional administrator of the now dead Cameroon Airlines company, has been arrested on allegations of corruption.
Hmmmmm!!!!
Slowly and steadily, there is a full football team (complete with reserves) of former ministers and top managers of state corporations in Cameroon that is rising in the Yaounde and Douala Central prisons. It makes me wonder if there is a need to splash and celebrate when a friend, "brother from the village or region" is appointed to a top position. Who knows, it may be time for Donny Elwood to revisit his song "en haut". And Cameroon is not the only place where some mighty people are falling after supposedly milking dry the national cow!
To the east of Abidjan (the commercial capital of Côte d'Ivoire) there is a seaside resort barely 45 minutes fron the international airport. It is Grand-Bassam. It was the first capital of Côte d'Ivoire under French colonial administration between 1893 and 1900. The sandy beaches of grand Bassam are always filled with tourist - local and international - particularly during the weekends.
However, while Bassam, my preferred touristic site was an interesting museum constructed in 1893. It is a costumes museum and and art centre. It is easier to learn about the mix of cultures that make the current Cote d'Ivoire and even understand the roots of the intestine conflicts rocking this beautiful country through the lens of this museum. Learn about the Akan of Cote d'Ivoire through their traditional costumes in this episode.
Towards the end of January 2009, I recieved a mail from the editorial team of Global Voices online about a meme to "teach someone you love to blog or mini-blog" on the occasion of Valentine's day. That was a dream action to take but I couldn't. As they say better late than never. On the occasion of a workshop organised for community radio broadcasters in Grand Bassam - Côte d'Ivoire, I decided to spread the blogging gospel. That's how my colleague, Judith Lenti Sidibé and I set up Bassamony!
President Hu Jintao on 14th February 2009 visited the site on which the Chinese would be constructing a Grand National theatre for the Senegalese capital. What one cannot tell is if he was warned by local officials that the residents of that neighbourhood were not too pleased to have their stadium demolished in exchange for a theatre (listen to the voices in the video clip below).
The romance between China and Africa tastes really sweet for Senegal on this Valentine’s Day 2009. China is reported to have offered Senegal aid and loans worth 45.8 billion FCFA (approximately 90 million USD). Happening on (or the eve of) a day when most persons in the Western hemisphere are celebrating love, the additional Chinese promise to purchase 10 thousand tons of groundnut oil from Senegal could be likened to a declaration of love from China. President Hu Jintao was in the West African country on the second-leg of his African tour. What would the Chinese get in return?
It is 14th February. Saint Valentine's Day. Some people claim it's lovers' day. In most western countries the day is full of people expressing their passion for their loved ones. Lots of red roses are bought and handed over to sweethearts. Africans too are very much involved these days.The way it's done in Yaounde or Bamenda is often along the western lines. Ha!
Here's a gift to all who are celebrating on this day. Ngbwak Afup: It is a love song exhibiting courtship a l'Africaine; sung in bulu to the rythm of the mindzang (balafon) or traditional xylophone by the Rocher Jazz Band de Mezesse. Subtitles available in English. Happy V-Day...Mayange wo ngkak Afup...!
I thought I could move you Until I discovered something new You do not give a damn Between You and I now is a dam Whose construction order I still can't construe.
By George Esunge Fominyen (originally published in Flame of Africa)
African civil society representatives have warned that the signing of Interim Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) between the European Union and some African countries will undermine the fledgling processes of regional integration on the continent. They held this position at a seminar organised under the banner of the African Trade network (ATN) during the 2009 Social Forum in Belem
The British based poverty alleviation organisation War on Want is campaigning for legislation to enable local communities in Africa and other Third World countries hold trans-national mining companies to account in their home countries for human rights abuses perpetrated in countries where they operate.
A national movement for the defence of women’s Interests in Brazil has called for the end of the expansion of single-crop industrial farming (monocropping) in the Amazon. Sylvia Camusa and her 4000 member strong association made the call during a display on sovereignty and food security on the Pan-Amazonian Day at the World Social Forum in Belem.
On 28 January 2009 the focus of the World Social Forum in Belem was on the Pan-Amazonian People and their habitat. On one of the several events, Women from across Brazil rallied to raise an alarm to the bio-diversity hazards caused by mono-crop farming for the production of bio-fuels. Watch excerptsof that presentation. Women Sound Warning Bell on Biodiversity and bio-fuels - George Esunge Fominyen
We were warned on arrival in Belem, that it rained here each day between 2 and 4pm local time. We were advised to buy umbrellas which we didn’t do. We learnt a bitter lesson on the opening march of the 2009 World Social Forum. However, that torrential downpour was unable to prevent the groupspresent from marching. Samba after the rain at Belem - George Esunge Fominyen
The World Social Forum (WSF) 2009 opens 'officially' on 27 January with a March. The Amazonian city of Belem in the Brazilian State of Para is teeming with thousands of guests who have converged here to make a statement about the other world that they would like to see.
Organisers say they are expecting about 80 to 100 thousand people in this town situated in the very north of Brazil. The queues at the registration centre for associations and individuals are so long and winding. The regular tropical rain, coupled with the humid atmosphere and temperatures revolving around 29°C to 32°C do not give room for comfort. At the tent where youths are gathered to register for their forum some have chosen to wait for their turn by learning a few dance steps. Watch this...
After a gruelling journey that took us exactly 24 hours – we made it to Belem Para in Brazil. We late into the night of the 25th or early in the morning of the 26th January 2009. At the Belem airport it was getting really social. A band was on site spewing some very South American tunes and a two dancing couples paced to their music. That should put a smile on the faces of the hundreds who were waiting for their luggage – having crossed oceans, forests and icecaps to attend this World Social Forum in the middle of the Amazon.
Forget Obama now. Look at the picture below. Take a really hard look at the picture below and tell me what you see…
Let me help out. What you see is not an abandoned latrine. That is a school: Government School Pomla near Figuil in the North Region of Cameroon. That building is the same classroom for all the different grades of the school. I saw the different blackboards (or what passes for that) per grade (class) at different wall angles. Now that’s the face of poverty on our side of the world.
After a brief lull, the Barack Obamania is back into full gear in Africa and among many of African descent. Today (20 January 2009) is his 'Inauguration Day' as President of the United States of America. Given the way some are excited in Africa, one might misconstrue him for the President of another USA: United States of Africa?!
I tuned in to Cameroon Television (CRTV) this morning and the breakfast show was wholly dedicated to Obama's coming into office. The set was decorated with American flags and Obama campaign gadgets. But what struck me was this musical piece on Barack Obama, steeped in Bakweri folklore. A rythm hatched by the up and coming Tata Kinge...
18 goals in 18 matches in La Liga this season. That makes Samuel Eto'o the leading goal scorer in the Spanish football top flight. The Cameroonian has hit his most deadly form after being besieged by injuries in the last two years and branded an outcast last summer by his current coach - Pep Guardiola.The Lion in him has made a statement in the realm of soccer strikers - the Pichichi is back!
A young Cameroonian child who was locked in a battle against a maglinant tumor has lost his fight despite efforts by a huge Cameroonian military living in the Diaspora.
As the days passed, the pictures on the CRTV website of four year old Fuh Bright became more and more disturbing. Thecondition of the boy's severe retinoblastoma or orbital tumor was worsening. The ailment finally overcame the kid's resistance.
He passed away on the morning of 8 January 2008.
What had become a national (if not international) effort to save his life is left behind him.
Friends of Bright Fuh Committee say thank you to reporter George Esunge from Global Voices for the report on Bright Fuh. We thank you for helping to draw attention to the needs of Bright and calling for donors to support Bright.
The President of the Republic yesterday signed two decrees, on Elections Cameroon, ELECAM. The first appoints the 12-member team of the body. The members are:
Mbomba Nkolo Cecile Njeuma nee Effange Dorothy Limunga Sadou Daoudou nee Lady Bawa Abdoulaye Babale Adamou Ali Ebanga Ewodo Justin Efandene Bekono Pierre Roger Ejake Mbonda Thomas Fonkam Samuel Azu’u Mana Nschwangele Jules Massi Gams Dieudonne Mbonda Eli
It's customary for some people to make presents to loved ones at the end of the year. President Paul Biya certainly had this in mind for his people (certainly his pals) when he finally appointed the members of the election management (supervisory) board - that is Elections Cameroon. Or did he? African home-training requires that if a father provides a gift one should not look too deeply at the matter. But can that hold in this case?
The year 2008 started with young people dying in the February riots. Many just wanted things to improve in Cameroon. The year is ending with a young person dying to register for an entrance exam into the national police. Elvis Wirba just wanted to beat the registration deadline and have an opportunity to obtain employment.
The traditional wrestling season has re-started in Senegal. As the crowds roared at the Demba Diop Stadium as one wrestler fell and another stood the ground, I must admit there was a fleeting bit of envy that crossed my mind.
Why can't we have such a huge event in Cameroon?
I am pleased to say at least one traditional wrestling festival will hold in Buea, Cameroon.
Rather unusual occurrences have been replete in Cameroon in 2008. The most recent is this reported bomb scare on an Air France flight on the night of Monday 22 to Tuesday 23 at the Douala International Airport.
It is the end of the year and many persons are trying to make some fast money to celebrate properly. Like it or not, one means of getting rich quickly is setting up a scam through the Internet. Of course, 4-1-9 and fey-men do not only wait for this moment but you surely receive more intriguing emails at this time of the year... A Cameroonian blogger - Kamer Stories - weaved an interesting post entitled "see me trouble" based on a letter sent to the author's email box by one of these scammers. She told off the scammer: "My man think again, I'm not that gullible. Better luck next time ya". Evidently she thought the author was definitely Nigerian.
True. Our Nigerian neighbours have made themselves infamous through racketeering via the Internet and other tools... BUT, it could have just been another Cameroonian. We are not so clean either! Our fey-mania has grown (or crossed?) from fake money-doubling deals to selling dogs and monkeys on the net and now we are offering abandoned babies for adoption. There is even a view that this is new capitalist model...
Good nutrition is critical for people living with HIV and AIDS. It is described as an essential co-therapy that can help maximize medical management of HIV. This message was constantly driven home by many speakers at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa...
One of the more captivating instances of the five days I spent covering the 15th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa is the moment I stumbled on this outfit wholly made of condoms. As I struggled to take out my camera to capture this work of art, I noticed there were people surrounding a lady who was involved in a kind of demonstration with gels and oils on a table that also had some condoms which people were smelling...
Just that day, one of the journalists on my team had spoken of the growing misconception in Mali that condoms were at the cause of the rising rate of HIV prevalence in the country. Could these persons clarify me on the issue? First, I took out my recorder, fitted my microphone and here is what I learnt talking to Joy Lynn Alegarbes, director of Global Operations, The Condom Project....
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