Disturbing news from the Central African nation of Cameroon, where noted human rights lawyer Alice Nkom, who successfully freed more than a dozen imprisoned gay men and founded the Association to Defend Homosexuals (ADEFHO), could be arrested within days.
An official with Cameroon's Ministry of Communication appeared on French television Canal + (translation) on Sunday and said Ms. Nkom was guilty of crimes against Cameroon's "law, sovereignty, and independence." The alleged crime: Successfully applying for a €300,000 [USD $390,000] grant from the European Union to combat homophobia in Cameroon.
Mark Canavera at the Huffington Post:
Detractors claim that the European Union is financing a project whose activities are illegal under Cameroonian law, making the European Union complicit and equally responsible for any crimes committed. Human rights advocates note, on the other hand, that although homosexual acts are illegal in Cameroon, LGBT identities are not criminalized. Work with LGBT people, therefore, remains legal as long as it does not include or promote same-sex sexual acts.
On January 7, a spokesperson for a coalition of youth organizations declared a "fatwa" against LGBT people in Cameroon, calling on youth to "track them, denounce them, without any pity, not a single bit." [They have] threatened mass protests outside of the European Union office in Cameroon and called upon the government to block the transfer of the money to Ms. Nkom's organization. He has also called for the arrest of the European Union representative. The momentum against Ms. Nkom and her organization is growing and has taken a more sinister turn with the televised statements from the Minister of Communication representative, accusing Ms. Nkom of criminal behavior.
"We must remain vigilant for her safety," says Charles Gueboguo, African scholar and author of a book-length study on homosexuality in Cameroon. "She is the only lawyer operating in Cameroon who defends the rights of LGBT people, work that she does pro bono. Now her outspokenness has made her a challenge to the government's homophobic policies, so they want to shut her up."
Ms. Nkom herself is worried but taking the news in stride. "Do not worry for me," she wrote in an e-mail to a group of Cameroon's leading gay rights activists. "I believe I will be arrested in the coming days, but I will not lose sleep over this or, especially, abandon what we have begun together."
The fatwa poster is from a rabidly anti-gay Cameroonian blog.
Via Google Translation, Attorney Alice Nkom tells French homostyle glossy Têtu: "'I get death threats and physical assaults.' When asked if she is the subject of a 'fatwa' as some suggest, she responds 'You never know what happens in the mind of an extremist. Fanaticism .... can lead people to commit irreversibly silly, stupid [things].'"
Cameroon boasts one of the Africa's more repressive anti-LGBT regimes. The central African nation has become infamous for routinely subjecting men accused of sodomy to legal ordeals that continue for years. Alice Nkom—previously mentioned on Rod 2.0 HERE and HERE—captured international attention in 2005 and 2006 when she successfully freed the Yaoundé 11, who were arrested in a June 2005 raid on a gay bar and served a year behind bars. In 2007 she discovered an imprisoned gay man who was held for two years without trial. He was later released.
Background:
Cameroon Sentences Journalist to 6 Months
Cameroon Sentences Three for Homosexuality
Gay Man Imprisoned for Two Years Without Trial
"Homosexuelle en Afrique"
Cameroon Gay Man Re-Arrested
UN Condemns Cameroon Anti-Gay Laws
Yaoundé 11 Free?
FIGHT
ON
SISTER
SOLDIER!!!!
We stand with you and are praying for your continued health and audacious way of being!
Posted by: TheRevKev | 11 January 2011 at 12:24
Courage, and a need to fight injustice. She has both.
Probably, the Cameroonian government doesn't want anything violent to happen to her(would cause very bad public relations with Europe, and with educated Cameroonian folks), but when you let public officials talk crazy sh.t--sometimes you influence crazy people...like in Arizona last Thursday.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | 11 January 2011 at 13:12
This a relief! When it comes to stories about anything pertaining LGBT and Africa, it's rather easy to expect negative things no matter what the P.C. police says but it's admirable to see what she's doing. While it may not change my mind about Africa's disgusting and abusive treatment of LGBTs (and among other countries), this totally was a surprise and hope she manages to get out of this safely. Just about anyone who shows support is either threatened, maimed, and killed or jailed. I do NOT want to hear anything like that happening to this woman.
Posted by: Kevin Perez | 11 January 2011 at 13:14
Rod, you do an excellent job covering issues from across the African diaspora. Thank you.
Posted by: Kendall | 11 January 2011 at 17:58
I really command Alice Nkom for her courage to fight homophobia in Cameroon..We need more outspoken people back in Mother Land..It takes real courage to do what she does!!
Posted by: Etienne | 11 January 2011 at 19:42
The quickest and surest way to keep Alice Nkom from being arrested and tortured is for the European Union to threaten to withdraw economic aid.
The corrupt rulers and businessmen of Cameroon depend upon this aid for a good chunk of their income. Since the only languages these men understand are money and power, the European Union needs to speak the same languages.
We can only hope that gay rights organizations in Europe put pressure on their governments to make financial threats against the government of Cameroon. This is key.
Posted by: Jim | 12 January 2011 at 00:05
Thank you again, Rod, for all of your terrific global coverage.
Posted by: Andy Niable | 12 January 2011 at 04:21