BY SANDRA LUM
As the phenomenon of homosexuality is increasing in the country, suspected homosexuals are facing prosecution from the government as persecution from their family members and the general public.
Many suspected homosexuals have been jailed and others have been physically attacked and persecuted. Some of the incidents have led to the death of the suspects.
Most homosexuals in Cameroon believe their lives are constantly in danger as they are continuously being persecuted not only by security operatives but also by the public and sometimes their own family members.
The public, including Christians have been staged protests against the rise in homosexuality. One of such protests had taken place in Yaounde in 2013, marking an event which the organisers dubbed “Day Against Homosexuality”. They had said it was intended to honour the memory of a 31-year-old student who was “sodomised and killed by homosexuals” in August 2006 at a Yaounde hotel. The Bishops of Cameroon had also, years ago, condemned the ratification of the Maputo Protocol, which permits States to legalise homosexuality and abortion in their countries.
Sometime ago, the Catholic Women Association, CWA, in Kumbo Central Sub-Division, Bui Division of the North West Region had staged a protest march “against homosexuality, abortion and related ills”.
It should be noted that homosexuality is illegal in Cameroon and culprits can be punished with jail terms ranging from six months to five years with a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 FCFA, according to Section 347 of the Penal Code.
Meanwhile, despite being illegal, homosexual activities are still on the rise in the country and police and gendarmes have stepped up efforts to clamp down on this.
Rights groups say Cameroon has prosecuted more gay, lesbian and bisexual residents than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa.
This was the case in May 2005 when 11 men were arrested at a nightclub in Yaounde on suspicion of sodomy, and the government threatened to conduct medical examinations to “prove” their homosexual activity.
Many other alleged homosexuals have been arrested and detained under Section 347 of the Penal Code. One of these, Jean-Claude Roger Mbede, was arrested by security forces for sending love SMS messages to a male acquaintance and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment at the Kondengui Central Prison. The sentence was protested by international human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, the latter of which named him a prisoner of conscience. Mbede later died in prison. He had not received medical treatment for a month before he died, activists said.
In November 2011, a Cameroonian court convicted two young men, Jonas Kimie and Franky Ndome, who had been arrested for homosexuality outside a nightclub, based solely on their appearance and behaviour, to five years’ imprisonment.
In July 2013, prominent Cameroonian gay rights activist and journalist, Eric Lembembe, was found murdered in his house in Yaounde. Lembembe’s neck and feet appeared to have been broken and his face, hands, and feet burned with an electric iron, Human Rights Watch had said.
Transgenders jailed in Douala
Meanwhile, in May 2021, a court in Douala had jailed two transgenders to five years in prison and fines of 200,000 FCFA. The men, Njeuken Loic (known as “Shakiro”) and Mouthe Roland (known as “Patricia”), had been arrested and experienced abuse during pre-trial detention.
Gendarmes had arrested Shakiro and Patricia on the streets of Douala on February 8, 2021, for wearing typically female clothing. They interrogated the women without a lawyer present, beat and threatened to kill them, taunted them with anti-LGBT epithets, and forced them to sign statements, according to activists and lawyers who visited them in detention.
Shakiro and Patricia were later taken to the overcrowded Douala central prison where they reported being beaten and insulted by guards and other inmates. Prosecutors charged them with attempted homosexual conduct, public indecency, and non-possession of their national identity cards. Alice Nkom, a lawyer representing Shakiro and Patricia, said, “It’s a political sentence sending a clear, chilling message: ‘We don’t want LGBT people here in Cameroon.’ We ought to fight this and we will”.
Another case is that of Ivo Ewang Alobwede, who started showing signs of homosexuality as far back as his secondary school days in 2010. When he was in the university in 2012, Ewang is said to have perpetrated homosexuality after he found a male student who had the same feelings like him. This finally got to the knowledge to his parents. His father was forced to separate Ewang and his male partner.
Despite all efforts by Ewang’s family to stop the homosexual traits he portrayed, he continued to have sexual feelings for men only. Ewang’s father is said to have forced him to get married to a woman, with the hope that he will stop being a homosexual. Though Ewang accepted his father’s proposal just to satisfy him, he had no affection for her.
He is suspected to have secretly kept a sexual relation with a man, whose name we got as Wilson Epie. Though with the external pressures, Ewang’s relationship with his same-sex partner increased.
Meanwhile, on September 12, 2024, Ewang’s wife returned home from the market and caught Ewang and his male partner, Epie, red-handed in the house making love. His wife is said to have revealed Ewang’s secret to the community. As the community was planning to lynch him or take him to the forces of law and order, Ewang escaped.
It should be noted that the Court of First Instance in Tombel, on January 25, 2025 finally sentenced Wilson Epie after he was found guilty of same sex relationship with Ivo Ewang.
An arrest warrant is also said to have been issued for Ivo Ewang Alobwede though rumours have it that he fled to the United Kingdom.