GEF's Outlook

Celebrating Africa in Song as Africa Cup Starts in Gabon & Eq.Guinea

The official song of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea with Patience Dabany (Gabon) feat Magic System (Ivory Coast), X-Maleya (Cameroon) and much more... It celebrates the Africa and invites Africans to the two host nations to enjoy football. All the best to the teams that will be competing and their fans who should be dancing to this rythmic tune! Follow match analysis and other interesting bits on Gef's Football Club

Ethnic Twist to Clashes between Youths and Motorbike taximen in Cameroon City?

*Article updated from the original to include quotes from the chief of Deido and Kah Walla.

There have been clashes between motor-bike taxi riders and residents of Deido neighbourhood for five days leaving at least two people dead in Douala, Cameroon's largest city, media reports said.

 This spate of violence erupted on New Year's Eve when Deido residents accused motor-bike taxi riders (known as Benskinneur) of stabbing a Deido native to death. The residents retaliated by attacking benskinneurs and setting their motorcycles on fire.

The violence escalated on Tuesday 3 January, as shown in the report below by Douala-based Equinoxe Television channel, after a woman's home was burnt down in Deido on Monday night. Some Deido residents blamed the benskinneurs for the action leading to further clashes on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.

ETHNIC ISSUES

While local media have suggested that the situation is increasingly developing into a tribal conflict between mainly ethnic Bamileke benskinneurs and largely ethnic Duala (Sawa) Deido youth groups, Sawa community leaders refuted such allegations on Equinoxe TV on Wednesday.

"Why do you want to suggest that there is a problem between Deidos (Dualas) and Bamileke or benskinneurs?" Essaka Ekwalla the paramount chief of the Deido asked on Equinoxe TV news on Wednesday night. "Are all benskinneur in Douala Bamileke?" he asked. "Do you know that there are natives of Deido who lost property because they are also benskinneurs?"

   

Government officials and politicians have not directly said the violence is turning to an ethnic issue but they have called for calm and insisted on unity.

"The head of state has repeatedly said that we have only one ethnicity which is the Cameroon nation," Issa Tchiroma, the Minister of Communication said on TV. "Douala has to remain that melting pot that it has always been where all ethnic groups be they Bakoko, Bassa, Bamileke, Duala, Hausa, live in harmony," he said.

A statement by the Provincial Bureau of the country's leading opposition party, the Social Democratic Front (SDF), touched on the issue.

"It should be noted that Douala is a cosmopolitan city. No one has the right to create a state of lawlessness in any of its neighbourhoods or areas. Douala is the common property of all who live there," said the statement signed by Gervais Nintcheu, SDF district chairman for the Littoral Region.

Riots in Douala as Deido Locals Clash with Motorbike Taxi Riders

When Taxi and Bus Drivers go on Strike in Dakar

Two days without the public transport in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.

Senegalese transport workers decided to go on strike on Monday (2 Jan) and Tuesday (3 Jan) to protest against high fuel prices, the high cost of car insurance and harassment by the police.

Not a single yellow cab could be seen on the streets as I set out for work. No commuter buses. But, I could see many people trekking. 

Those taxi and bus drivers hoot endlessly, stop without warning, take bends without indicating, drop off passengers without stopping, overtake on the wrong strike, refuse to give way, etc but Dakar doesn't look quite the same without the rickety "Ndiaga Ndiaye" and "Car Rapide" commuter buses.

They not only ferry most of its inhabitants, especially those who flood into the city from the impoverished suburbs of Pikine and Rufisque, they give the city its local colour.

In their absence though, Dakar's roads are now under the control of personal cars. Their owners have been going about their normal business probably relieved to drive without stress for a few days. 

Now, that's the difference with what I have observed in Cameroon in similar circumstances. 

Here in Senegal, the unions (as far as I've seen) are solely concerned about their members respecting the industrial action. That's why any taxi or bus seen transporting people is stopped and the passengers asked to disembark. They have nothing to do with the personal vehicles. 

In Cameroon, when taxi drivers or any other group of transporters decides to go on strike to protest a fuel price hike or other related issue, the unions or their members feel they must attack personal cars, whose owners are not involved in their action.

American Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph Proud of Her Cameroon Ancestry

An American actress, Sheryl Lee Ralph, has praised an initiative to help African-Americans reconnect with their ancestry by visiting the countries, such as Cameroon, where their forefathers originally came from.

Sheryl Lee Ralph and her husband Senator Vincent Hughes are among a group of 90 people visiting Cameroon as part of an ancestry reconnection programme where African-Americans whose origins have been traced to that country via DNA tests. They are invited back to Cameroon in a tour hosted by ARK Jammers, Inc., according to AtlasFamily.org.  

"...that I can sit here in this New Year and say I am a Cameroonian-American is a wonderful thing," Sheryl Lee Ralph, said on Cameroon national television (CRTV).

She said that DNA tests showed her ancestors were from the Tikar ethnic group in Cameroon (read more about the Tikar of Cameroon in this article by anthropologist, Francis Nyamnjoh).  

Sheryl Lee Ralph was nominated for Broadway's 1982 Tony Award as Best Actress (Musical) for "Dreamgirls and also starred in the movie Sister Act 2. 

Watch an excerpt of her statement in the video below and click here to read more about the reconnection programme, which is in its 2nd edition.