Elisabeth is a Cameroonian journalist living in the capital Yaounde.
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Cameroon receives $144M to contain crisis
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a92.85 US$144.1 million disbursement under the rapid access component of the Exogenous Shocks Facility (ESF) to help Cameroon recover from the effects of the global shocks on its balance of payments. - The disbursement is meant to be done immediately. The IMF financial assistance will help contain the decline in Cameroon's foreign reserves. The ESF is designed to provide policy support and financial assistance to low-income countries facing exogenous but temporary shocks. It is available to countries eligible for the Poverty reduction and growth facility (PRGF) the IMF's main instrument for financial assistance to low…Marginalized indigenes place hope in UN
The indigenous peoples in central Africa are confident that the United Nations will put pressure on governments to end their age-long marginalisation and improve their living conditions. - The representatives of these people from Burundi, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville and Kinshasa, Rwanda and Chad, recently met in Yaoundé, Cameroon, under the patronage of the United Nations Centre for human Right and Democracy and with the support of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). They include the Aka, Muti, Baka, Bedzang, Bagyeli, Bakola, Babongo, Twa and Bororos.
In this report, a representative of the Bororo in Cameroon explains the challenges facing …Benedict XVI on first African tour
In his ongoing three-day stay in Cameroon, Pope Benedict XVI is meeting the country's political authorities, representatives of national bishops' conferences in other African countries, the Catholic clergy in Cameroon, and the representatives of other religions established in Cameroon. - He will also visit the Disabilities National Centre in Yaoundé celebrate a popular mass at Amadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaoundé and at Basilica of Mvolyé in yaoundé.
This report shows how the pope was received by Yaoundé residents for his first Africa tour.Cameroon: The making of cocoa butter
Gathered under the association Essoto of Mbangassina, women of this body come together every Saturday to make cocoa butter. Cocoa purchased in large quantities in surrounding villages is first grilled and then separated from its skin. - Then it is transported to the market where it is crushed to obtain a powder that is used to make butter. On the fire they boil water to which they add cocoa powder, stirring gradually. Long after boiling cocoa butter begins to emerge and is collected with a ladle of cooking. The butter obtained is filtered through a white cloth or pure cotton.
It is put in plastic bottles and sold for 25 000 CFA francs per litre. At the cake from the preparation, they add…Cameroon: Opposition says poll body illegal
The main opposition party of Cameroon, the Social Democratic Front(SDF) opposes the appointment of members of Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) by the head of state Paul Biya. - According to that party, all those members are members of Biya’s Cameroon People Democratic Movement (CPDM), although they all resigned from it at the request of president Paul Biya.
For the SDF, these personalities would not be neutral in the organization of the elections in Cameroon because they have links with the ruling party. They will rather help the president Biya and his CPDM to win elections. The SDF leads campaigns in the country and even outside the country to put pressure on Paul Biya so that he chang…It has been an exciting experience
I started reporting for Voices of Africa in June 2008. It has been an exciting experience especially to shoot people living in poor conditions and who make efforts to do something original to earn their life, protect and improve their environment. - The most challenging thing has been to explain our aim to people who don't know you or who don't know anything about the Voices of Africa project. They don’t always understand why someone should make video reports about their lives.
Many of my fellow countrymen liked my items, while others started calling or e-mailing me to invite me to visit and cover their own initiatives and projects. I was flattered by messages of congratulations fro…Cameroon: MP comments on 2009 budget
- Related video: Cameroon: Crisis causes budget drop Cameroon: Crisis causes budget drop
Cameroon's budget for 2009 will drop of 180 billions Francs CFA as a consequence of the current financial crisis. The government's bill currently discussed by the parliament mentions that 2301 billion FCFA will be needed for the functioning of the state next year. - However, the bill foresees a growth in the increase of the Gross domestic product (GDP) which will be 4 %, thanks to the lowering prices of oil and to the weak dollar.
The bill provides that 60 % of the budget will be assigned to the functioning of the state, 25 % for the investments and about 15 % for the debt servicing against 53,91 %, 23,64 % and 22,45 % respectively in 2008.
Related video: MP comments on 2009 budgetYaounde: Garbage enters city decor
Garbage has become part of the landscape in several neighbourhoods of the capital Yaoundé. They started with streams and have now reached roads. - Populations and authorities give the impression of being indifferent, leaving the task to the Hygiene and sanitation Company of Cameroon (HYSACAM). The latter’s trucks go around neighbourhoods every day to collect the garbage, but the task is so huge that more efforts need to be made.
More importantly, populations need education, especially regarding the stream water that they use for all sorts of activities, including cooking, washing and so on. Education campaigns are regularly organised but their fruits are still to be seen.Cameroon gets private translation Master’s
Private investors in the capital Cameroon have just opened an educational institute that will train professional translators. - Many Cameroonians think that translation is one of the most creative and lucrative businesses. The country is both French and English speaking and, for that reason, translation is everywhere.
Yaounde is host to international organisations, banks, insurance companies, para statals, embassies, law firms, oil companies, NGOs and many other agencies, which all need translation and services.Cameroon gets cheaper internet connectivity
Internet operator is introducing an innovative internet connectivity solution that will allow the poorest to access internet by paying from 10 francs CFA per minute. - “This is clearly affordable”, says Mr. Lustre, Ringo general manager. He has been supplying systems to local internet operators, but, for ten years, has been seeking that solution that can be is suitable not only for homes but also for offices.
For approximately four years, initiatives multiply in Cameroon to improve access to Internet. Initiatives come from private individuals, private investors and telecom companies.
So far, these initiatives that have been offering modems allowing wired or wireless connect…Cameroon: Football and witchcraft
In Cameroon, football is one of the sports which makes most people run, it is the most practised countrywide. Only, certain persons think that the success of Cameroon in football is not only due to determination, commitment, skills and vigour, but also depends on magic. - Mikhado Eboa Elame a sports journalist in Cameroon radio television ( CRTV) for more than thirty years asserts that he saw magicians calling upon the spirits during matches opposing Cameroon to other giants.
He thinks that these matches were not won thanks to magic because, according to him, magic does not exist but the belief in it galvanizes.Army officer becomes successful farmer
Augustin Minlo'o is a gendarmerie commander on duty in Dibombari, a locality not far from the Cameroonian capital Cameroon. - His military career took him to different places with different cultures. Palm tree farming drew his attention, and with the help of a friend, he started exploiting a 22-hectare farm.
To succeed, Minlo’o and his friend formed a cooperative that can now produce up to 15 tons a month, with rudimentary means.
“So far, we have received no financial support”, he says.
The most recent development has been the acquisition of a nut boiling machine, which can boil 5 tons in three hours.
“It spares energy, firewood and water…and itR…Cameroon: Cheaper clean water and nearer
Thousands of inhabitants of Nsimeyong Bloc 7 Mekoa in Yaounde will no longer walk distances to have access to clean water and will now use the freshly inaugurated facilities in their neighbourhoods. - For the household work, laundry, washing and other activities, populations used to fetch water from wells and springs, most of which are poluted most are polluted.
Thanks to the NGO Association Enfants, Jeunes Avenir (ASSEJA), the populations through the Development committee of Nsimeyong Bloc 7 Mekoa (CODENSIM) was able to obtain the extension of the network of water of la camerounaise des eaux (CDE) a company in charge of water distribution in the country.
According to the treasurer o…How Cameroon preserves her nature
Created in 2005 the ministry of environment and nature protection is in charge of elaboration, implementation and the evaluation of the government environment policy. - To enforce this policy , the provincial delegation for the Central Province through his delegate Thimothée Kagonbe, geographer and conservationist, has dedicated a day every month to nature protection.
During this day, the agents of the ministry and the populations conduct nature preservation activities such as the cleaning of trenches and streams, weed road and houses, collection and removal of waste.
In this video Mr Kagonbe tells more about the nature protection policy.Cameroon banks healthy despite crisis
Cameroonian banks and other local financial institutions are still in good health and do not feel the impact of the current global crisis. - ‘So far we have felt no impact as far as the volume of our operations are concerned’, says Jean Pierre Belogo, a senior official at National Financial Credit, in the capital, Yaounde.He says however that top officials have started consultations and appointed a team to anticipate future problems.
According to Christian Penda Ekoka a Cameroonian economist, his countrymen are not afraid of the financial crisis because, in any case, it cannot affect the state economy. He argues that the Cameroonian economy is not very open to the outside wor…Yaounde enjoys solar water purification
A solar water purification project is underway in the slums of the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé. - Initiated by lecturers and researchers at the University of Yaoundé grouped in a non-profit organisation known as Acquare, the projects targets the most vulnerable neighbourhoods.
According to Acquare general manager, Dr Serges Hubert Zebaze Tegouet, a hydro biologist and environmentalist, the association aims to treat water for drinking and other household-related purposes. They also deal with environmental impact of domestic and industrial water hydro systems and educate the population on the sanitary risk they pose.
The main project of Acquare is implementing now is the solar water di…Students battle to rescue nature
Students living in Nsimeyong neighbourhood in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde have redoubled efforts to preserve their environment by cleaning every Saturday the nearby river and engaging in reforestation. - According to Mukemfor Hycinth Suh coordinator of Better World Students Nature Club (BNSC), the NGO which is open to all students and youths in general is an expression and the desire of youths to use environment care as a base for promoting the culture of peace and development.
The initiative has created opportunities for youths to access information on biodiversity and climate change.
“We set up environment clubs in schools to spread the notion of reconnecting youths to the…Cameroon devising plan for vulnerable groups
Cameroon's ministry of the Urban development and the housing has commissioned experts to draft a social development plan in favour of the most vulnerable groups in the cities of Yaounde and Douala. - The development plan will have to plan the actions, programs and projects to be implemented, to improve the access of the populations to water, electrical power, health care and sanitation and education among others.
A report of the National Institute of Statistics indicates that about 2 million people are reported to be in the vulnerable categories in the two cities. Half of the households in Yaounde and Douala have no electricity while three quarters have no access to drinking water.
T…Cameroon develops nature protection skills
Tens of young men and women in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde have joined the Ndanifor community garden project to contribute to nature conservation efforts while generation an income for themselves. - The Ndanifor community is a non profit common initiative initiated in 1996. The community’s youths apply modern organic methods combined with Cameroonian traditional values of respect of land.
Their activities include horticulture, market gardening, micro-financing and tool-making as well as the basics of small business. The five acres of wasteland indicated by BetterWorld Cameroon have been transformed into a garden, a sort of place of hope for the young unemployed who are also so…Yaounde lake becoming public danger
The artificially-made 6.2 ha Yaounde municipal lake has since long ceased to be a place for recreation to become a huge pond of highly polluted and dangerous water. Dating back to the colonial period, the lake was meant for water sports and other relaxing activities. - According to Jean Tchoutezo, a director in the urban development ministry, purification work started in 2002, but this has not changed the water quality. The nearby official buildings, hospitals and residences keeping pouring their toxic wastes into the lake.
Municipal authorities have not only forbidden all fishing activities but have also started putting forward other ideas. One of them is to dry the lake out and turn it…Demolition makes homeless in Yaoundé
The urban municipality of Yaounde in Cameroon has started demolishing the oldest and most populous district of Briqueterie, where it intends to have modern buildings in the future. - The district is located near the almost-ready All-Sport Stadium that being built by the Chinese.
The Briqueterie neighbourhood is mostly inhabited by Muslims and is famous for its restaurants serving traditional meals, and western Africa and Arab specialities.
Also, the neighbourhood harboured Senegalese and Malian communities with their jewellery workshops and businesses. The district is also among the most dangerous of the city because of the multiple nightly attacks.
The Yaounde municipality says t…Cameroon: Human right reporters rewarded
The EU delegation to Cameroon has rewarded two prominent Cameroon reporters for their report on human right issues in the country. In this video, Deutsche Welle reporter Mohamadou Awal explains about his winning report. - The EU contest was aimed at raising awareness on human rights especially in prisons. Most of them were inherited from the colonial administration and are overcrowded. The two reporters focussed on that aspect.
Beside the EU, the consulate of Belgium and the United Nations Centre of for human rights and democracy in Central Africa contributed to the contest. The other winner is Edwige Anastasie Laure Mengue is journalist at Cameroon radio television.Cameroon seeks alternatives to bushmeat
To fight poaching, the Cameroonian ministry of animal husbandry and fishing launched in 2002 a hedgehog- breeding initiative in favour of the national Association of the breeders of the hedgehog (ANEAC). - The ministry says the goal is to stop wild bushmeat consumption that is strongly rooted in local habits and culture not only in rural areas but also and above all in cities.
A local anti-poaching organisation known as DABAC (Development of alternatives in the poaching in central Africa) is assisting the government by promoting hedgehog breeding. With funding from the European Development Fund, the DABAC conducted a study that concluded that 30 percent of meat consumption nationwide ca…Cameroon: Cycling against HIV/AIDS
A local Cameroonian non-governmental organisation known as Droits de l'enfant: un livre pour chaque enfant (DELICE)has began an intensive campaign against HIV/AIDS in Obala, a small town located some 35 km from the capital city Yaounde. - According to Pierre D, the district doctor, 12 percent of the 121,000 Obala inhabitants are HIV-positive. The town is, which is also a crossroad linking eastern and central provinces, which is a strategic position for such campaigns.
Pierre says that 12 percent is much higher than the national one which is 5,5 percent. He adds that the schooling generation is the most affected. At the end of the 2007-8 school year, his hospital recorded more than 300 pr…
