Be Afraid of Him Who Can Kill Both Bodies and Spirits
by Sybille Ngo Nyeck

"Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28)

"Come now, let me sleep with you… I’ll send you a goat from my flock." (Genesis 38:16-17)

Once again, the Cameroonian national soccer team — the Indomitable Lions — has confirmed its status as the leader in African football, by winning the 2002 edition of the African Cup of Nations in Mali. It was a real challenge for this West African state to carry such an event. In total, sixteen African national football teams were competing for the prestigious trophy; the first in the new structure of the Cup.

Sixteen teams in search of good results gathered with a range of experience at the international level: from the youngest (in age) Malian selection, to the Cameroonian team, which was the most experienced side. The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon were the golden winners of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and also African champions the same year. They had participated in the World Cup all the way up to the quarterfinals, so they knew how to turn their experience to their advantage. They stood undefeated — challenged neither by the high heat nor intimidation. For the Malians had sung of victory before their match, but were severely beaten 3-0 in the semifinals.

The final game opposing the Lions of Senegal with the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon was difficult but exciting. The Cameroonian goalkeeper Alioum Boukar — who through the tournament exhibited talent and perfection — stopped two penalties [penalty kicks], which made the Cameroonian team the winner of the African Cup of Nations for the second consecutive time and the fourth time overall. Moreover, this team won without conceding a single goal, with the two best scorers of the tournament in its selection.

Back home, the whole nation congratulated the players as well as their managers. A huge crowd gathered alongside the road of Yaounde to greet the trophy. The attention to Cameroonian football is certainly an example of a good initiative that brightens up both bodies and souls.

As the excitement of the victory faded away, we gradually came back to our daily realities. While the ACN temporarily turned us away from political intrigues, the French police kept their eyes alert. On the 28th of January in France they arrested a Cameroonian parliamentarian, Hon. Mongkuo Ngupepong, with thirty kilograms of marijuana estimated at CFA 150 million. By his own admission, we know this dishonorable business was a fundraising activity for himself, a lawyer by profession. This scandal raised a cry of indignation in the country, and especially in the SDF (Social Democratic Front), the first opposition party in Cameroon [in which he was a member]. The SDF not only chose to sack the most dishonorable deputy from his post, but also asked for the withdrawal of his parliamentarian immunity. But, as one could have expected, some members of CPDM (Cameroonian People’s Democratic Movement), the ruling party, found the SDF sanctions too light, and for them the nation has been trampled down and mocked by an opposition deputy.

But no matter what the conclusion of this affair will be, it reveals the tricky problem of the financing of political parties — both those in power and in the opposition — in Africa; the morality of our political leaders that claim to represent the people blindfolded; and the institutional dishonesty that kills our nation.

These political rivals are hoping to overlook the long-term procedure of immunity suspension in order to sue the guilty deputy directly in court. But no matter what the conclusion of this affair will be, it reveals the tricky problem of the financing of political parties — both those in power and in the opposition — in Africa; the morality of our political leaders that claim to represent the people blindfolded; and the institutional dishonesty that kills our nation. For, usually with the complicity of the customs service, some people succeed in exporting drugs abroad, which kill God’s children — young people.

Mongkuo represents, without controversy, the plague; he is a cliché who lends a good conscience to the party in power, which has not renounced sowing confusion in this country. The head of state, President Paul Biya, in response to critics on the subject of blunder and massive frauds in the previous municipal elections, has created the NOE (National Observatory for Elections), while Cameroonians were claiming for an Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

The SDF party protested after the creation of NOE — both against the procedure and the appointment of some members of that Observatory, due to their affiliations with their ruling power. This protest was specifically directed against Enoch Kwayeb — the chairman of the NOE (he was a militant of CPDM and declared in the media after his appointment that he was still for Biya) — in what was submitted to the court by the SDF president. On the 25th of February 2002, the newspapers announced that Enoch Kwayeb had been urgently transfer to France for serious health reasons. Journalists said Kwayeb, the old fossil, was unable to handle his energy consuming functions.

In the meantime, the CPDM decided to renew its mouthpieces: "the national president of the ruling party has mobilized the public administrators for the supervision of the renewal of the staffs and committees of his party; condemning the country to observe one month of vacancy of its administration, and the public money and means will be affected to help the CPDM in its campaign" (Le Messager, no 1330, p.5). Worse than this, the vice-president of the NOE, Ms. Acha Morfaw, has been designated a member of the commission in charge of the supervision of the renewal of CPDM organs. For the daily newspaper Mutation, that is "a true scandal, if taken into consideration the principle of the presumption of independence that is required of the members of an institution that is to supervise different electoral mechanisms" (no 605, p. 56). Ms. Morfaw didn’t waste time before protesting in the columns of the same newspaper against the parallel role attribute to her person: "I have never been a member of a political party and I am not a member of CPDM. If it’s somebody else whose name is on the [CPDM] list they should present him to me. If this is an error, I cannot tolerate it!"

Behind women are the perpetrators of genocide, who raped them before and during the conflicts. In front of women are men who are the so-called peace promoters or humanitarians who prefer peace — but only between men, it seems to me, for they feel more at ease with doing war against women.

Between the ruling party and the opposition, there is a sort of cold war that can kill both the body and the spirit, and she who is standing between must not leave room for flattery. "War can kill the body, but peace can kill the soul" (Vitalis Cros, l’homme et l’Utopie, V. Cros et la pensée universelle, 1987, p.130). This assertion is true for thousands of women who find themselves around the globe trapped between different war camps falsely calling one another "enemies".

Behind women are the perpetrators of genocide, who raped them before and during the conflicts. In front of women are men who are the so-called peace promoters or humanitarians who prefer peace — but only between men, it seems to me, for they feel more at ease with doing war against women.

This is, according to the NGO [non-governmental organization] Save the Children, the situation of young women refugees in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. These young girls are sexually exploited by men who are working as local humanitarians.

This revelation has raised indignation in the high spheres of the UN Human Rights Commission. Young women are forced into sexual relations for food or medical assistance. This is just as it was imagined by Judah, who after sending Tamar to e

Young women are forced into sexual relations for food or medical assistance. This is just as it was imagined by Judah, who after sending Tamar to exile… approached her at night and said, "Come now, let me sleep with you… I will send you a goat from my flock."

xile — with no other alternative for her than to find refuge alongside the roads as a prostitute — approached her at night and said, "Come now, let me sleep with you… I will send you a goat from my flock."

The ritual is the same today; it feeds the mantra of patriarchal, so-called humanism. This system puts women in a permanent fight that names as crimes all sorts of violence against women; all that kill our bodies and souls. We are calling attention on the fact that post-war women-hating opportunists are to be severely judged with the perpetrators of genocide and war manufacturers, for they are evil from the same seed.

I saw it as a strong signal to politicians on the March 8, 2002 in Cameroon when, despite the fact that Nigeria and Cameroon were seriously involved in a border dispute, the Nigerian and Cameroonian women marched together in celebration of the 17^th anniversary of International Women’s Day. The land conflict has caused quarrels and fighting on both sides, and this case was actually debated at the International Court of Justice. Women have already said No to anything that will kill their respective nations. It is up to the politicians to maintain peace.

Sybille Ngo Nyeck is a regular contributor to A Globe of Witnesses. Her monthly column is Colors of Conscience. Sybille can be emailed at sybeck77@yahoo.fr