Prominent Cameroonian activist faces terrorism charges
A prominent LGBTQ activist in Cameroon is facing terrorism charges. Alice Nkom, a human rights lawyer and board president of Réseau des Défenseurs des Droits Humains en Afrique Centrale, a group known by the acronym Redhac that translates to Human Rights Defenders Network in Central Africa, on Jan.
2 received a summons from Cameroon’s National Gendarmerie, or national military intelligence. The summons follows a complaint that Lilian Engoulou, general coordinator of the Observatory for Societal Development, filed.
Engoulou has accused Nkom of attempting to endanger state security, financing terrorism, and funding separatist groups in the northwest and southwest regions of the country that are fighting for independence from Cameroon.
Nkom in recent months has been vocal over the human rights situation in the country, including LGBTQ rights. Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji last month suspended Redhac and sealed the organization’s offices for alleged illegal and exorbitant funding and lack of compliance with government regulations on how NGOs should be run.
