Cameroon

Manu Dibango: Afropolitan Musical Genius With a Giant Heart

Emmanuel N’Djoké Dibango – Manu Dibango – will live forever thanks to his Afropolitan sounds, and to the fact that many artists in Africa and beyond are deeply indebted to him.

He was a man of legendary generosity of spirit and talent, with an accommodating heart that sought to bridge the local and the global with creativity and innovation in song and music. His album Soul Makossa was of such artistic genius that even a global superstar like Michael Jackson couldn’t resist sampling from it to enrich his own album, Thriller.

In his 1994 biography, Dibango describes himself as “Négropolitain”. It’s a term that would later be adopted and popularised as “Afropolitanism” by others enthralled by his idea of grounded cosmopolitanism. He coined the term to capture his identity as Afro-European or African and European at one and the same time.

He saw himself – and insisted on being seen – as “a man between two cultures, two environments”. His music could not be confined to either, without losing its complexity and richness. It was the fruit of his diverse influences. His nimble fingers, voice and intellect were averse to any artificial barriers or attempts to contain the flow of the river of musical humanity.

Three kilos of coffee

Born on December 12 in 1933 in Douala, Cameroon, Dibango was sent by his parents to study in France when he was only 15 years old. He arrived in France bearing a gift of three kilograms of coffee from his parents, for his host.

In France he met Francis Bebey, another musician from his native Douala, with whom he formed a band and began to experiment with different modern instruments, such as the piano and the saxophone. He later relocated to Brussels where he met his wife to be, Marie-Josée (whom he would fondly call Coco). It was also in Brussels that his music career began to blossom through fruitful contacts. Two in particular stand out: Joseph Kabasélé and African Jazz, who introduced him to “the cha-cha and the rumba, the two breasts nourishing Zairean music”, and who, in 1961, also invited him to Zaïre (today’s Democratic Republic of Congo). The result was his first record, African Soul, “a mixture of jazz, popular music, and rumba”.

Photo: Facebook- ManuDibangoOfficiel

Dibango’s life was exemplary in its resilience, combativeness and ingenuity in mobilising his creativity to contain or at least confront political and cultural repression. His music brought him worldwide fame. But he did not feel particularly fulfilled in the land of his birth.

He spent the best part of his life in a determined struggle to win recognition for music as art and musicians as artists in his motherland and elsewhere in Africa. These were contexts of strongman politics, personality cults and repeated frustrations by politicians, sometimes in cassock. Notwithstanding censorship, jealousy, penury, and repeated frustration and disappointment as an artist, Dibango refused to be deterred.

Leaving Cameroon

He returned to Cameroon from Zaïre in 1963, issuing the album Nasengina. This was his only piece constructed purely from the indigenous Cameroonian makossa.

Dibango was appreciated by ordinary Cameroonians. But he hated the fact that politicians kept his artistic creativity under close surveillance. He was disenchanted with authorities that did not allow people “to fantasise” and “to dream”, and who forced everyone to talk “in cautious whispers” and to be “wary of everyone else”.

In 1964, disappointed in “this harmful atmosphere”, Dibango closed down his club and abandoned all dreams of opening a musical conservatory or arts institute. He left Cameroon for France after barely 16 months back home.

Still, he could not bring himself to give up on Cameroon entirely. He would pay brief return visits from the early 1980s onwards. His desire “to forge a unified image of Cameroon, representing all the musical currents in the country” received rare facilitation from the Minister of Culture who happened to be his friend, and resulted in a three-record set, Fleurs Musicales du Cameroun.

But his desire to project himself as “this famous Cameroonian musician heard everywhere but in Cameroon” would be met with the same contradictions, making the air “unbreathable” in what he described as his “last African adventure”.

He felt cursed that he “couldn’t create something here in Cameroon”. He found it ironic that Côte d’Ivoire, with the blessing of then President Houphouët-Boigny, could entrust him with the task of heading the Orchestre de la Radio-Télévision Ivoirienne, while Cameroon could not even take seriously his expertise as a professional musician of world renown.

Together with other expatriate African musical talents in France, Dibango released Tam-Tam pour l’Ethiopie, to raise funds for famine-stricken Ethiopia between 1983 and 1985. The initiative served as “proof that Africans too could take concrete action” vis-à-vis their own predicaments. And he personally took the proceeds from the album to refugee camps in Ethiopia to ensure that

‘For once, the money wouldn’t be misused by the government in power’.

Although the situation has improved significantly since publication of his biography in 1994, Dibango’s music is still much more appreciated abroad – as “world music” – than in Cameroon.

Despite the government’s attempts to impose creative inertia upon him in the early 1960s, Dibango was given the honour of composing the theme song of the 1972 Africa Cup of Nations football finals hosted by Cameroon. In 1988, he received a decoration as a Knight of Order and of Valour. However, as Dibango observed, “the authorities could decorate me with all the medals they liked” without doing much to stop “the descent into hell” for artistic creativity in a country where it is not uncommon to mobilise the military to raid clubs. Or to impose entertainment taxes with the intention of crippling artists who are perceived to be critical or unpalatable.

Manu Dibango died after contracting COVID-19 at the age of 86 in Paris, where he felt “condemned to be an expatriate”.

Quibble as they may in Cameroon, Dibango leaves behind a towering record of Afropolitan musical genius of truly global magnitude, to feed and inspire many a generation to come. Manu Dibango does not have to be in Cameroon, in Africa or physically in the world to continue to do things of relevance.

Francis Nyamnjoh, professor, social anthropology, University of Cape Town

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Why Cassava Has So Much Potential in Sub-Saharan Africa

Its resistance to high temperature, drought and the ability to delay its harvest has made cassava extremely favourable for farmers.

Cassava has been largely neglected for several reasons by policymakers, philanthropic institutions and international development agencies. Several food policy analysts consider cassava to be an inferior food based on the fact that it’s per capita consumption will decline with increasing per capita incomes. Despite such debates, there are several instances across Africa where the development of the cassava value chain has not only ensured food security but also helped rural populace to effectively mitigate climate change.

According to the Global Cassava Development Strategy, “Cassava will spur rural industrial development and raise incomes for producers, processors and traders. It will contribute to the food security status of its producing and consuming households”. Cassava is an essential part of the diet of people in Africa and provides a sustainable source of livelihood for millions of farmers. Therefore, in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, cassava is referred to as a ‘complete crop’, and the second most important source of carbohydrates after maize. It is eaten by about 500 million people every day in the continent. .

Cassava was introduced into Africa by the Portuguese traders from Brazil in the 16th century. It was initially adopted as a ‘famine-reserve crop’. Currently, about half of the world production of cassava is in Africa. It is cultivated in about 40 African countries. About 70% of Africa’s cassava output is harvested in Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.

Because of its resistance to high temperature, drought and increased concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, cassava has very much adapted to climate change. It thrives in growing conditions in agroecological areas and seasons which would not otherwise be suitable for other crops. Because it has no definite maturation point, harvest may be delayed until market, processing or other conditions are more favourable for the farmers.

Also read: Why We Need Genetic Engineering to Stave off Climate Change-Induced Global Hunger

“The cassava root will come to brush off the expected temperature rises of up to 2 degrees Celsius in Africa by 2030 and could even prove to be more productive in the warming climate”, says a study. “Cassava is a survivor, it is like the Rambo of the food crops”, said Andy Jarvis, a climate scientist and the lead author of the report.

Demand for the value added product of cassava is growing in domestic and regional markets, especially in Gabon, Central Africa and Equatorial Guinea. However, in a country like Cameroon, farmers have reported several challenges when it comes to processing and value addition of cassava products.

Cassava. Photo: silkebaron/Flickr, CC BY 2.0

“Most of the activities within the cassava value chain such as planting, processing, and selling are generally carried out by women”, said Herve Killian, a local journalist based in Dschang. According to Killian, there is an urgent need to provide skill-building training programmes for the women farmer, especially on value addition and processing of cassava products.

Thanks to some pioneering local civil society organisations today, many small scale farmers, especially the women farmers in Cameroon, have been reaping the diverse benefits from cultivating and processing cassava. Take, for instance, 42-year-old Emilia Ngtto, a woman farmer in Bakingili village, South-West, Cameroon.

“Earlier, we used to cultivate cassava only for our household consumption. But since we have received training programmes from ERuDeF on value addition, now we have increased cassava cultivation on our farmland”. said Emilia Ngtto. Apart from selling cassava roots, she is also preserving a part of her cassava harvest to make ‘water fu fu’. She is fetching good market price by selling value-added products of cassava in her locality.

Similarly, there are several other women farmers in Bakingili village who are now making optimum utilisation of cassava and transforming their lives socially and economically. Emilo Mork (38), happily said, “With the money, I earn from cassava now, I am sending my children to school and paying their school fees”.

Also read: Nigeria Okays New GM Cowpea Variety – Why it Matters

Farmers are now cultivating cassava along with maize, plantain and banana and the yield is encouraging. “I was cultivating cassava as a single crop. But now I am harvesting diverse crops along with cassava by multi-cropping and inter-cropping on our farmlands”, said a local woman. And this can be seen on the diverse farmlands and rich food plate of the farmers in Bakingili.

In Cameroon, women account for 75% of the agricultural labour force and 80% of food production, and operate mainly in the informal sector. Furthermore, 52% of poor households are headed by women. In the value chains, women represent the critical mass of the labour force. Nonetheless, they have limited access to land and only 4% of them own land.

There is a great potential of cassava to reinforce food security, particularly with the increased population, recurrent droughts, disasters, market opportunities and recent policies aimed at reducing cereal imports in the sub-Saharan Africa.

Cassava starch flour processing. Photo: Neil Palmer/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

“Considering the rapid migration to urban centres, it is critical to support and further improve the value chain of cassava”, said Mohammad Abdul, a PhD scholar at the University of Dschang. “Harnessing the prospective commercial role of cassava should be given top priority by the government of Cameroon”.

Moreover, there is also a need to promote public and private partnership model, with a special focus on institutionalising farmers groups who are major stakeholders, supported by infrastructural developments. This will substantially reduce the current high production costs and make cassava more competitive with grains, thereby encouraging more farmers to cultivate cassava.

Also read: Hunger Worsens, Crops Scorch and Livestock Die as East Africa’s Drought Intensifies

In a continent, where cassava has been greatly affected by pest and disease attack until recently, inclusive research and development efforts are imperative in crop protection, integrated pest management, and tissue culture.

“Tackling cassava’s vulnerability to pests and diseases could be the final hurdle to a food secure future for millions of people,” said Jarvis. “If we are well-prepared for these threats, cassava could be one of the most climate change-resilient crops an African farmer can plant.”

Abhijit Mohanty is an Indian development professional currently based in Cameroon, Central Africa. He has extensively worked with the indigenous communities in India, Nepal and Cameroon on the issues of their land, forest and water.

Afro-Jazz Pioneer Manu Dibango Dies From Coronavirus in France

Dibango was outspoken in the fight against music pirating on his home continent, especially since many African musicians have been denied royalties.

Dibango is one of the first worldwide stars to die as a result of COVID-19. The Cameroonian saxophonist and singer blazed a trail for the distinctive funk/soul and jazz sound of his homeland to find global audiences.

Cameroonian singer and saxophonist Manu Dibango has died from a coronavirus infection, according to a message on his official Facebook page on Tuesday.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce the loss of Manu Dibango, our Papy Groove, who passed away on 24th of March 2020, at 86 years old, further to Covid 19,” it said.

Also read: In Times of Quarantine, Let Pankaj Kapur’s Debut Novella Be Your Literary Valentine

“His funeral service will be held in strict privacy, and a tribute to his memory will be organized when possible,” the message added.

Dibango’s music publisher Thierry Durepaire also confirmed the Cameroonian’s death. “He died early this morning in a hospital in the Paris region,” Durepaire said.

Worldwide hit: ‘Soul Makossa’

The veteran afro-jazz star did much to popularize the urban music of Cameroon that is better known as “makossa” (which means dancing), especially through his 1973 global funk-soul hit Soul Makossa.

The song was the B-side of Hymne de la 8e Coupe d’Afrique des Nations, a song that celebrated the Cameroon national football team’s appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament. “Soul Makossa” was later picked up and popularized by New York DJs.

A virtuoso on the saxophone, vibraphone and piano, Dibango was a regular in Germany and last performed at the Africa Würzburg Festival in 2018.

In 2009, he accused Michael Jackson of borrowing one of his hooks for two songs on the legendary Thriller album. Jackson settled out of court.

Cameroonian Jazz Legend and Saxophonist, Manu Dibango has died of coronavirus.

His 1972 hit, Soul Makossa, which peaked at no. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 was famously sampled by Michael Jackson on “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin.'” pic.twitter.com/4iPEYonc3L

— Africa Facts Zone (@AfricaFactsZone) March 24, 2020

Dibango was outspoken in the fight against music pirating on his home continent, especially since many African musicians have been denied royalties.

“That is a big problem for artists,” the saxophonist told DW in 2018. “At some point, someone will have to pay. Who is paying the price? Right now it’s the artists.”

The article was originally published on DW. You can read it here.

Early Humans in Africa May Have Interbred With a Mysterious, Extinct Species

A new study suggests that early humans living inside Africa may have interbred with archaic hominims, extinct species that are related to Homo sapiens.

One of the more startling discoveries arising from genomic sequencing of ancient hominin DNA is the realisation that all humans outside Africa have traces of DNA in their genomes that do not belong to our own species.

The approximately six billion people on Earth whose recent ancestry is not from Africa will have inherited between 1% and 2% of their genome from our closest but now extinct relatives: the Neanderthals. East Asians and Oceanians have also inherited a small amount of ancestry from the Denisovans, another close relative of Homo Sapiens.

Now a new study, published in Science Advances, suggests that early humans living inside Africa may also have interbred with archaic hominims. These are extinct species that are related to Homo sapiens.

Also Read: Will the Second Iteration of the Human Genome Project Usher in Greater Innovation?

The interbreeding outside Africa happened after our Homo sapiens ancestors expanded out of Africa into new environments. It was there they had sex with Neaderthals and the related Denisovans.

This led to new discoveries. Early genetic studies of people from across the globe had previously suggested that our current distribution was the result of a single expansion out of Africa around 100,000 years ago. But the identification of Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry in modern Eurasians complicated things.

Homo Sapiens versus Neanderthals. Photo: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA

We still think that most – anywhere between about 92% and 98.5% – of the ancestry in people not living in Africa today does indeed derive from the out-of-Africa expansion. But we now know the remainder came from archaic species whose ancestors left Africa hundreds of thousands of years before that.

What was happening inside Africa?

Insights into interbreeding have been driven by the much greater availability of modern and ancient genomes from outside of Africa. That’s because the cold and dry environments of Eurasia are much better at preserving DNA that the wet heat of tropical Africa.

But our understanding of the relationship between ancient human ancestors within Africa, and their connection with archaic humans, is beginning to deepen. A 2017 study of ancient DNA from southern Africa investigated 16 ancient genomes from people alive over the last 10,000 years. This showed that the history of African populations was complex. There wasn’t just a single group of humans around in Africa when they expanded out 100,000 years ago.

It’s a result that was supported earlier this year by a paper examining ancient DNA from four individuals from what is now Cameroon. Taken together, this research suggests there were geographically diverse groups in Africa well before the main expansion out of the continent. And many of these groups will have contributed to the ancestry of people alive in Africa today.

In addition, it now appears that there was potentially gene-flow into ancient African Homo sapiens populations from an archaic ancestor. One way in which this could happen is for people to expand out of Africa, have sex with Neanderthals, and then migrate back into Africa. Indeed, this has been demonstrated in one recent study.

The new paper provides evidence that there may also have been gene-flow into the ancestors of West Africans directly from a mysterious archaic hominin. The researchers compared Neanderthal and Densiovan DNA with that from four contemporary populations from West Africa. Using some elegant mathematics, they then built a statistical model to explain the relationships between the archaic hominins and modern Africans.

Also Read: ‘Ghost’ Ancestors: African DNA Study Detects Mysterious Human Species

Interestingly, they suggest that 6%-7% of the genomes of West Africans is archaic in origin. But this archaic ancestry wasn’t Neanderthal or Denisovan. Their model suggested the additional ancestry came from an archaic population for which we don’t currently have a genome.

This ghost population likely split from the ancestors of humans and Neanderthals between 360,000 and 1.02 million years ago. That was well before the gene-flow event that brought Neanderthal DNA back into West Africa around 43,000 years ago – although the value of this could be anywhere between 0 and 124,000 years ago.

These dates position this ghost species as something akin to a Neanderthal, but that presumably was present within Africa, during the last 100,000 years. An alternative explanation is that the archaic hominin was present outside of Africa and interbred with populations there before they migrated back in.

Despite a raft of analyses that show that this result is not an artefact of either their methodology or some other genetic process, the authors are cautious about this result. They call for further analysis of both contemporary and ancient DNA from diverse populations in Africa.

Nevertheless, this research contributes to the ever-growing cannon of research demonstrating the promiscuous, species-crossing and complicated behaviours of the ancestors of all of us.

George Busby, senior research fellow in translational genomics, University of Oxford

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

FIFA Women’s World Cup: England Beat Cameroon in Farcical Circumstances

England booked their place in the quarterfinal, but their win will be remembered for less savory reasons.

“I can’t stand here and say I enjoyed that,” said England head coach Phil Neville after his team’s 3-0 win over Cameroon. “It didn’t feel like football.”

The former England international was referring chiefly to the unprofessional behavior of the Cameroon players and staff during a farcical World Cup last-16 tie in Valenciennes.

But he could have been referring to any number of VAR controversies, tearful tantrums, reckless challenges, threatened strike action, spitting or even demands from an outraged Cameroonian journalist in the press box that his compatriots leave the pitch – all of which overshadowed the three goals from Steph Houghton, Ellen White and Alex Greenwood which saw England advance to the quarterfinal.

The farce began after the second of those goals in injury time at the end of the first half, which was given after the video assistant referee confirmed that White was a meter onside, correcting a clear and obvious error from the assistant on the near side. So far, so good.

England women’s coach Phil Neville. Photo: Reuters

Refusal to kick-off

But the Cameroonian players, led by captain Gabrielle Onguéné, saw things differently and, gathered together in a huddle in the center circle, appeared to refuse to restart play for over three minutes.

To the relief of everyone inside the Stade du Hainaut in north-eastern France, Cameroon re-emerged for the second half, but it didn’t take long for controversy to return. After Cameroon took advantage of a poor clearance from England goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, Ajara Nchout finished clinically.

Also Read: How Sexism Continues to Plague the FIFA Women’s World Cup

But the strike was ruled out after the video assistant’s calibrated lines identified a fractionally offside position in the build-up. The decision was, theoretically speaking, correct, but that was of no consolation to Nchout, the 26-year-old bursting into tears in the arms of head coach Alain Djeumfa.

As the Cameroon players and staff gesticulated wildly in the direction of the big screens inside the stadium, play was delayed again. Referee Liang had lost control, and England almost lost their composure.

Just minutes after Bardsley’s poor clearance, a short back-pass from Alex Greenwood inadvertedly played Alexandra Takounda clean through on goal, but the substitute fluffed her lines. Once they had regained their cool, the Lionesses wrapped up the victory with a well-worked corner routine and a cool finish from Greenwood, but the already tense mood was soured even further in injury time when a Takounda caught Houghton with a dangerous late challenge.

England’s Steph Houghton reacts after being fouled by Cameroon’s Alexandra Takounda Photo: REUTERS/Phil Noble

VAR hits the headlines, again

It wasn’t intentional but it was unnecessary and reckless, an outpouring of pent-up frustration, some of which was understandable, most of which was not. The Cameroon players’ apparent inability or unwillingness to understand or accept the video assistant’s technology-assisted decision was frankly embarrassing, especially in the case of England’s second goal, about which there could be no argument.

When it comes to Cameroon’s disallowed goal however, critics of VAR may have some sympathy with the distraught Nchout, whose finish was chalked off because Gaelle Emganamouit’s trailing heel was adjudged to be a matter of millimeters offside as she was jogging back into position before providing the cross. By the letter of the law, the decision was correct. By the spirit of the law, it was not.

Indeed, when we start needing calibrated lines and slow-motion replays to determine whether a retreating player’s heel is offside, the shark has well and truly been jumped. In such a scenario, the player is not goal-hanging, not gaining an advantage, and the offside rule has already done its job.

But modern football’s unquenchable thirst for perfection in an imperfect game demands that we analyse every decision in the minutest detail. It’s what the billions of global viewers demand from a game which has become little more than a TV soap opera. And as the raw emotion of live sport is drained, it is the match-going supporters in the stadium who suffer most.

Modern football’s unquenchable thirst for perfection in an imperfect game demands that we analyse every decision in the minutest detail. Photo: Reuters

A bad example for all

Nevertheless, fundamental arguments over the sense of VAR aside, the Cameroon players’ reactions were unacceptable, as was head coach Djeumfa’s post-match claim that there had been “a miscarriage of justice.” Midfielder Raissa Feudjio added: “We didn’t want to play any more, we just wanted the game to be over. We continued playing for our country despite the referee doing her dirty work.”

As Neville pointed out in an on-field interview with the BBC, it set a bad example at a tournament which is supposed to be capitalising on a welcome boost in the women’s game globally.

“This is going out worldwide. There are young girls out there seeing that behavior and it’s not right,” he said, although he should probably have stopped short of declaring himself “completely and utterly ashamed of the behavior of the opposition” in the post-match press conference and focused instead on his own team, whose lapses of concentration would have been punished by a better team, such as their quarterfinal opponents, Norway.

There are much better teams than Cameroon at this tournament, which has already demonstrated the gulf between certain nations in terms of the professionalisation of the women’s game across the globe.

If the sporting gulf was highlighted by the USA’s 13-0 hammering of Thailand, the gulf in professional conduct and attitude was laid bare by Cameroon, whose women’s team only played outside of Africa for the first time in 2012 and whose football association forgot to organise a pre-World Cup preparation tournament for the team.

A regrettable afternoon for the West African nation was finally compounded by defender Augustine Ejangue appearing to spit at England’s Toni Duggan, a further unsavory addition to a football match which didn’t feel like football.

This article was originally published on DW.

Bleak Outlook for Press Freedom in West Africa

In many West African countries – Ghana, Liberia, Cameroon, Senegal and others – journalists and media organisations are being attacked, mostly by state actors.

Any objective assessment of the relationship between West Africa governments and media organisations will conclude that, but for a few exceptions, the outlook for press freedom in the sub-region is a bleak one.

From Cameroon and Ghana, to Nigeria, Liberia and Senegal, journalists and media organisations are being attacked for simply doing their jobs. The fact that these attacks emanate from mostly state actors, who as a rule remain unpunished, points to a culture of impunity.

Liberia is a case in point.

“The president does not like criticism,” said Costa, owner of Roots FM and host of the station’s popular Costa Show. “And because we are critical of some policies, our offices have been attacked on two occasions by armed men and our equipment damaged and some stolen.”

Some would say Costa was lucky, for the corpse of another journalist, Tyron Brown, was dumped outside his home last year by a mysterious black jeep. A man has confessed to killing the journalist in self-defence but his colleagues are not convinced. They believe the murder was a message – mind your words or you could be next.

This climate of fear was heightened when Weah accused a BBC correspondent being against his government. Then Front Page Africa, a newspaper that has been critical of successive governments, was fined 1.8 million dollars in a civil defamation lawsuit brought by a friend of the president.

Mae Azango, a senior Front Page Africa reporter, said the government’s new tactic was to “strangulate the free press” by refusing to pay tens of thousands owed for media advertisements. “One minister said since the media does not write anything good about the government, it won’t pay debts that are owed, which will compel some media outlets to shut down,” she said. “Some media houses have not paid staff for up to eight months.”

In Ghana, once Africa’s top-ranked media-friendly country, things have deteriorated to the level where a sitting politician openly called on supporters to attack a journalist whose documentary on corruption in Ghanaian football exposed him. Ahmed Divela was subsequently shot dead last January. In 2015, another journalist, George Abanga, was also shot dead on assignment.

How ‘Anglophone’ Conflict in Cameroon Has Taken Heavy Toll on Ordinary People

Trash is piling up in cities, corpses can be seen on roadways, businesses have gone bankrupt, school buildings remain empty. The list of hardship goes on.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has let Cameroon’s President Paul Biya know that his nation will no longer host the 2019 African Nations Cup competition. The decision is a humiliation. Once a powerhouse of Africa’s football, Cameroon’s reputation had dropped significantly.

CAF’s decision serves as a reminder that the country is sinking, and something must be done.

Until a few years ago Cameroon was a nation on the move. Despite its many political, economic and social problems, the country was peaceful, attracted people from all over for tourism, business, and education.

For example, the University of Dayton had, over two decades, run immersion programmes in the country, and so did many other American universities. Cameroon was also an international centre where major conferences, symposia, and cultural activities took place.

The nation was a major banking centre, as well as host to Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote’s many activities, and more recently the proposed site of car assembly plants to be constructed by Indian and Chinese businesses. And the list goes on.

President of Cameroon Paul Biya with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) attend a signing ceremony at The Great Hall Of The People in Beijing, China March 22, 2018. Credit: Lintao Zhang/Pool/File Photo

But the Anglophone conflict has taken its toll. A peaceful protest which began three years ago against the marginalisation of Anglophone Cameroon quickly turned violent as some called for the region’s complete secession from Cameroon to form the Ambazonia Republic. As a result, Cameroon’s military force and the Ambazonia Defence forces have been locked in a deadly embrace with no end in sight.

Already in the 7th term of office as president, Biya’s obsession with a military solution to the crisis has exacerbated tensions, as well as the misery of ordinary people.

Beneath CAF’s rationale that Cameroon was ill-ready, ill-equipped and ill-prepared to host the games was a sense that the country is deeply insecure. The cities of Limbe and Buea in the heartland of Anglophone Cameroon were going to host the games. But routine kidnappings, attacks, road closings, and killings in the region would have undermined the essence of the games.

CAF’s announcement coincided with the failure of a last-ditch effort by His Eminence Cardinal Christian Tumi to broker peace and convene an All Anglophone Conference. But the culture of threats, and Cameroon government’s failure to grant a permit for the conference to take place meant that it was doomed.

Also Read: World’s Major Powers Must Not Ignore Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis

Ordinary people have called on Cardinal Tumi not to give up. The conference, they note, must go on. Many Cameroonians are desperate for a peaceful solution to the conflict.

As the brickbats fell, conditions for communities in the Anglophone region continue to deteriorate. And while debates continue to rage about the rights and wrongs of widely publicised suggested solutions such as federalism, decentralisation, and secession, ordinary people continue to chafe in their daily lives.

What’s being lost

As the warring factions stand eyeball to eyeball waiting to see who will blink first, few are asking how the outcome of the struggle will change the lives of ordinary people in the region.

Yet the impact has been enormous. There are immense economic and social consequences which have transformed communities and their way of life.

Cameroonians who would go home for Christmas holidays and other festivities no longer do so. Their spending stimulated the economy. In email correspondences and responses to questionnaires with people in Kumba and Buea, local people are noting that Cameroonians living in other countries are no longer coming home for their holidays. As a result businesses, such as hotels, are barely holding on.

There have been more profound economic consequences. The region’s main agrobusiness facility, the Cameroon Development Corporation, the heart of the region’s economy, is in ruins. Plantations which produce palm oil are no longer operational. Workers at banana plantations are brutalised and rubber processors have been repeatedly attacked. Families that depended on cocoa for a livelihood now face a life of destitution.

Another disturbing aspect of the conflict is the gradual erosion of key parts of people’s culture. Funeral celebrations are a significant aspect of Cameroonian culture. But in conversations with people, it appears these festivities are disappearing. Irrespective of where people reside, Cameroonians typically prefer their burial sites to be in their village of origin. But not anymore. Increasingly, people are buried anywhere possible.

Visits to burial sites of friends and family members have turned into a deadly experience. For example, going to Lewoh in Lebialem, is unthinkable because of the violence.

Also Read: Why West Africa’s Pidgins Deserve Full Recognition as Official Languages

And there is more. In communities in Anglophone Cameroon, basic services such as trash collection no longer exist. Trash is piling up in the cities. And corpses can be seen on roadways. Businesses that traditionally operated in the evenings have been bankrupted.

The list of hardship goes on. School buildings remain empty. And both refugees and internally displaced people are nowhere close to returning to their homes.

Time to re-assess

The recurring accusation is La Republique has caused these problems. But it’s not all the fault of La Republique. Given that some of the attacks are undertaken by Anglophones, they have become accomplices to the violence. No wonder ordinary people are increasingly asking more direct questions about the benefits of the revolt they were promised.

Julius A. Amin is a professor at the Department of History at the University of Dayton.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

World’s Major Powers Must Not Ignore Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis

These powers must recognise that Cameroon’s ongoing crisis threatens the wider West African region’s long and short term stability.

Cameroon’s Anglophone region is rapidly becoming a no-go zone. Thousands of residents fled to the country’s French speaking cities of Douala, Yaoundé and Bafoussam, during August and September, anticipating more bloodshed before the country’s October presidential elections.

English-speaking Cameroon makes up roughly 20% of the country’s 24.8 million people.

It has been nearly three years since the Anglophone crisis began. It started when English-speaking teachers and lawyers went on strike demanding fair working conditions. They and other Anglophone residents complain that their language and culture are marginalised by Cameroon’s French-speaking government and legislators.

The government responded with force. The conflict that followed has been vicious; unprecedented in the nation’s history. It’s a reminder of older, brutal wars elsewhere in Africa: in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Rwanda.

During these wars, the world’s major powers did little as millions were slaughtered. Some later apologised for their inaction. And yet it seems no lessons have been learned. Countries like France, the US and China have issued carefully worded statements calling for an end to hostilities – and done nothing more.

Lip service is not enough. It’s time for these major powers to act. Great nation status comes with great responsibilities and particularly in an interconnected global environment there must be a moral imperative in the conduct of foreign policy. These powers must also recognise that Cameroon’s ongoing crisis threatens the wider West African region’s long and short term stability.

Business as usual

There’s no doubt that global powers know exactly what’s happening in Cameroon. In June 2018, the US Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organisations in Washington DC heard witness testimonies about the graphic nature of hostilities in Cameroon.

And yet, as a cursory glance at the US embassy website in Yaoundé reveals, it’s mostly business as usual for the two countries. American citizens are warned to avoid travelling to Cameroon’s English speaking regions – but that’s the extent of it.

On its official embassy website, meanwhile, France refers to Cameroon as a “friend” and a “partner”. It calls for “restraint.” Considering how vital the country is to its strategic interests in the West African region, one might expect France to say – or do – more.

China’s actions in this saga have also been extremely frustrating. At the recent Forum of China-African Cooperation in Beijing, President Paul Biya was given the red carpet treatment. No Chinese leaders, and none from the rest of Africa, made any public statements about the Anglophone crisis.

Strategic importance

All of this is extremely vexing given Cameroon’s strategic importance. For many years the US monitored its interest in Equatorial Guinea from Yaoundé. Cameroon and the US are partners in coordinating efforts against Boko Haram and other global terrorist groups.

Cameroon is vital to France’s interest in the West African region. The Anglophone crisis could destabilise the region by snowballing into neighbouring countries. And other former French colonies will be watching with interest, noting the European power’s hands off approach.

China’s policy of non-intervention in another country’s domestic affairs has only strengthened the resolve of tyrants like Biya. He remains one of China’s key allies in the region. Publicly, China’s Premier Li Keqiang has said little about the ongoing Anglophone Crisis. Instead he’s given more money to Biya’s government and enjoys cordial relations with the long time leader.

Perhaps as long as the crisis doesn’t interfere with China’s receipt of timber, rubber and other raw materials from Cameroon, there won’t be a shift in Beijing’s attitude any time soon.

Agitating for change

It seems unlikely, though, that the world’s major powers will totally change their approach to what are viewed as sovereign issues.

But there are things that can be done, and some are quite basic. Biya can be forced to do the right thing. For instance, he spends a significant amount of vacation time in Switzerland.

There is absolutely no reason why European nations and journalists shouldn’t speak out about the leader’s spending of his country’s resources in Switzerland, France, and other places.

Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, must turn his verbal threats into actions. Sanctions, for instance, will force Cameroon to address the Anglophone problem. France could also stop the supply of military hardware and intelligence to Biya’s regime.

China can also do more. Its policy of non-intervention doesn’t apply when its interests are threatened: it intervened in Zambia’s elections to safeguard its interests there.

Finally, the African Union has a role to play while it awaits more concerted efforts from European powers. For instance, the continental body could threaten to withdraw the hosting of next year’s African Nations Cup if Biya doesn’t offer a clear timeline for solving the Anglophone crisis. This threat to a major money spinner and point of prestige could shock Biya into action.

Julius A. Amin, Professor, Department of History, University of Dayton

This article was originally published on The Conv ersation. Read the original article.

Why West Africa’s Pidgins Deserve Full Recognition as Official Languages

Pidgin refers to what’s known as a trade language that emerged as a mixture of languages to help people who don’t have a common one to communicate with one another.

The BBC World Service’s radio service of English-based Pidgin for West and Central Africa, BBC News Pidgin, is now a year old. And it’s thriving. According to the broadcaster, News Pidgin reaches a weekly audience of 7.5 million people in Nigeria and around the world on radio, online, Facebook and Instagram.

Even though Pidgin hasn’t got the official status of a recognised language anywhere, it’s widely spoken across West Africa. Between three and five million Nigerians use it as their first language, while a further 75 million have it as their second language.

Today, variations of pidgins are used in all spheres of life ranging from political campaigns, television and radio broadcast. They are also taught in some tertiary institutions, used in music and other works of art and even speeches by public officials.

Pidgin refers to what’s known as a trade language that emerged as a mixture of languages to help people who don’t have a common one to communicate with one another. In West Africa these mixes include English and French, on the one hand, and local languages on the other. The mixing has developed into lingua franca of the region.

Pidgin is used differently in different settings. For example, the version spoken in Nigeria is different from the version spoken in Senegal. This is because in one English is the dominant European language while in the other French is dominant.

The BBC’s decision to launch a service in Pidgin should be applauded. Pidgin deserves full recognition because it is being spoken by a sizable number of people in West Africa. Governments in the region should take a leaf out of the broadcaster’s book and ensure the different versions are codified and standardised in both their formal and informal uses. They should be granted official status.

The history

Trade and colonisation brought Pidgin to West Africa. A range is spoken across West Africa. They include: Nigerian Pidgin, Sierra Leone Pidgin (also known as Krio), Ghanaian pidgin, Senegalese Pidgin and Cameroonian Pidgin.

Some, if not all, of these Pidgins have outgrown their status as Pidgins. But they are still called Pidgin. One of the reasons it that there’s a view that Pidgin doesn’t have native speakers. This isn’t true. In West Africa children and adults use Pidgins as their first language. These Pidgins are now creoles – that is a language that was a Pidgin but has become a first language for a new generation of speakers.

In Nigeria for example, Pidgin is viewed as being the language of illiterates even though it’s used by both educated and uneducated people in formal and informal activities. It has featured prominently in culture, from Afrobeat superstar Fela Kuti’s urban dance music to highbrow opera like in Nigerian-born singer Helen Parker-Jayne’s Song Queen: A Pidgin Opera.

An evolving language

The vocabularies of Pidgins evolve all the time to meet the communicative needs of their speakers. The BBC Pidgin experiences this fluidity in practise, as its head, Bilkisu Labran, explains:

It keeps changing all the time and it’s expressive as well. Sometimes, if you don’t have a word for something, you can just create an onomatopoeic sound and just express yourself. And it will be appreciated and understood.

Bulk of the lexical items found in these Pidgins is from the foreign language spoken locally while the others are from indigenous languages. These Pidgins also rely on the tones, pitch, nasality of the indigenous languages for proper pronunciation and use. This means that every sentence an average West African uses in Pidgin has a bit of the local language (any of the West African languages) fused into it.

The Pidgins also try to maintain the phonetics of the West African languages. For example:

Wetin de hapun?

This is a Nigerian Pidgin way of asking “what is happening?” or “what happened?”. “Wetin’” is a distortion of “what” or “what is”, while “hapun” is spelt as pronounced.

Di moto na tokunbọ.

This means “the car is fairly used”; “the car is second hand” (Nigerian English) or “it is a used car”. The word “tokunbọ” is borrowed from the Yoruba language but used to describe fairly used items in the Nigerian Pidgin.

Used for business transactions

Pidgins are viewed positively, negatively or with indifference. Some view them as languages that have helped to bridge the communication gap between them and others. Others view them as inferior languages and believe that those who use them are also inferior. The elites pretend not to have anything to do with them.

But these negative attitudes are changing in West Africa. The Pidgins spoken in the region are unique, showing that they have come to stay no matter what some say or feel about them. The Pidgins are expanding on daily basis as new lexical items are introduced into them.

Edosa James Edionhon, Lecturer of Linguistics, University of Benin.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

In Cameroon, Communities Are Using Football to Protect Wildlife

Environmental organisations are using games to engage communities on conservation matters.

A whistle blows and young men in brightly coloured jerseys race towards a soccer ball on a grassy field in Erat, a community that lies within the boundaries of Korup National Park in southwest Cameroon.

It might be hard to believe, but this is an excellent example of community-based wildlife conservation in action.

Increasingly, conservation organisations around the world are using sporting events to help promote conservation awareness, encourage wildlife and environmental stewardship practices and foster positive relationships among community, government and non-profit organisations.

One such example is Korup Rainforest Conservation Society (KRCS) in southwest Cameroon’s Korup National Park, an area rich in biodiversity and human culture. It is home to Preuss’s red colobus monkey (Piliocolobus preussi), drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus), pangolin species and forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis).

But there is also conflict, including direct human-wildlife conflict from crop-raiding wildlife, human safety risks and human-human conflict between those who harvest bushmeat for sustenance or illegal trade.

Local wildlife teams

Conservation concerns are typically addressed with more traditional biological and ecological techniques, such as wildlife population monitoring and response to human disturbance. But we also know that for conservation efforts to be successful, people must be engaged in solutions.

It’s important to build relationships based on trust, reciprocity and exchange. But this can be challenging when tensions run high.

KRCS started hosting soccer games to create space for building relationships – and promote conservation over conflict.

Soccer games are socially significant in communities across Cameroon and many other African countries. The game reflects a sense of nationalism and it’s easy to play with limited equipment.

KRCS uses soccer to promote community-based conservation. Soccer focuses energy and engages people in opportunities to connect in ways that may not be addressed by direct conservation messaging. An example is naming teams after animals – the Drills, the Mangabeys – to foster affinity for local wildlife.

Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, these soccer games offer a space for villagers, KRCS staff and park rangers to learn from each other and gain perspective into each others’ lives.

During and after the games, players have the opportunity to hear about the work KRCS and park rangers do in the area. Likewise, villagers can offer their local knowledge, concerns and livelihood needs. There are even opportunities for villagers to become involved in KRCS’s training, where they can learn skills that can help them find jobs, like working for the park or KRCS.

Broad reach

Other groups also use soccer games to create a common ground, build positive relationships and promote collective action. In Tanzania, Peace for Conservation uses Sports for Social Change to organise soccer matches among communities.

The games provide a social venue to share information and teach villagers about the importance of elephant and rhino populations in the Serengeti National Park area. Villagers also learn how to become involved with anti-poaching patrols and other locally relevant conservation efforts.

The soccer teams can benefit too. They receive jerseys and soccer balls for future games. Fans take home brochures and posters on species and conservation, raising awareness and encouraging stewardship.

When possible, Peace for Conservation also provides monetary prizes that communities can use for infrastructure projects.

Video assist

Board games and video games can also be used to promote conservation. They can be especially powerful in conveying important conservation messages. Players can learn via simulations of real-life scenarios and outcomes.

“Operation Ferdinand” is an example of a graphics-based video game recently used to addresses human-wildlife conflict that occurs in villages throughout Mozambique’s Niassa Reserve area.

The game teaches best practices for livestock husbandry and reducing conflict with predators, and discourages the use of poison. The game is highly experiential and controlled by the players themselves. Facilitators from the Niassa Carnivore Project are on hand to answer questions and give guidance.

While still in the early stages of development and testing, this game can teach people conservation concepts and practices in an interactive and interesting way. Importantly, the game promotes fun and enjoyment, and the ability for players to achieve success, important aspects in game-based learning.

That said, the costs and technical expertise associated with developing a game can be high, which may leave organizations reluctant to invest, especially with many other priorities.

Judging success

As a volunteer, I’ve been privy to some of the benefits of games for conservation. Tensions among government authorities, NGOs and villagers can be eased, and space for productive dialogue can be created. Games also encourage appreciation for local wildlife species, new and fun learning opportunities, and local participation to mitigate human-wildlife conflict.

Other benefits include developing educational scholarships for extremely disadvantaged young children, and providing health care or health equipment for people in need.

However, this is still a growing area in conservation science and practice, where evaluation on the relationship between games, or other locally relevant social enterprise, and conservation efforts is needed.

Now that KRCS, Peace for Conservation and Operation Ferdinand have built their foundation – the community connections, the teams, the fans – scientists like myself can work towards determining if all the good stuff that comes from playing a game also extends off the field.

Courtney Hughes, Conservation Biology PhD Candidate, University of Alberta

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Featured image credit: Korup Rainforest Conservation Society