For once the United Nations has decided to intervene in the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Please remember that this is an organization that is two-faced, saying one thing from one side of the mouth and another from the other. History has told us never to trust the UN because it is an organization that only serves the “strong” nations of this world, helping them exploit the “weaker” ones. Anyways, this past Friday, the UN has called for a ceasefire in the DRC after Goma and Bukavu, two of the largest cities in the eastern part of Congo, in regions rich in minerals that could power the entire earth, were captured by the M23 rebel group backed by Rwanda and its Western masters.
“Holocauste au Congo, L’Omerta de la Communaute Internationale” by Charles Onana
The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Rwanda-backed rebels have taken control of two key cities in Congo’s mineral-rich eastern region in less than a month, following a major escalation in their long-standing conflict with Congolese forces.
Nicolas de Rivière is the Representative to the United Nations in France: “There is no military solution to the conflict. The M23 offensive, supported by Rwanda, must end. The priority now is to reach an effective, unconditional, and immediate ceasefire agreement.”
… “While it took the Council some time to reach a consensus, its resilience is evident. On behalf of the Government and all citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially those from Bunagana to Kamanyola, Goma, Sake, Minova, Nyabibwe, Kalehe, Kavumu, and Bukavu, I sincerely thank all members of the Council,” said Zénon Mukongo Ngay, the Representative to the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The rebels are supported by roughly 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts [UN experts, always present on the ground while atrocities are ongoing]. At times, they have threatened to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, located over 1,000 miles away.
Last week, the Kente cloth, Ghana’s national textile, has been recognized and added to the UNESCO list of Intangibla Cultural Heritage of Humanity. A few years ago, we published the article Kente Cloth: An Ashanti Tradition dating Centuries back. Here, we will go down memory lane.
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Have you ever seen those beautiful bright multicolored scarves worn on graduation day by thousands of African Americans and African students across the United States? Those scarves are usually hand-woven, bright, and multicolored, worn to represent the membership to a Black sorority, fraternity, or to just an African student organization at the different colleges and universities.
Kente cloth
Well, those scarves are made from a material commonly known as Kente cloth, which originates from the Ashanti people of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. The Ashanti people used to (and still do) hand weave these bright multicolored clothes for their kings and noblemen. The tradition of kentecloth is said to have been developed in the 17th century, and stems from ancient Akan weaving techniques dating as far back as the 11th century AD (this is one of Africa’s textile tradition). Kentecloth is known as nwentoma (meaning woven cloth) in Akan language, and is a type of silk, cotton, or rayon fabric made of interwoven cloth strips which is native to the Akan/Ashanti ethnic group of Southern Ghana (and also Cote d’Ivoire). It is woven on a wooden loom, which produces a band about 10 cm wide; several bands will then be sewn together to make a larger cloth. The elaborate patterns arise from the mixture of different weaving techniques applied to the same band of cloth. The quality of the fabric, and weaving indicates the rank of the person, the best being reserved for the kings. It is worn by men as a toga, and by women as upper and lower wrappers. The art of weaving kenteis passed down only to males, from generation to generation. The main center of weaving kenteis around the Kumasi region of Ghana.
We owe a lot to those who lost their lives for us to enjoy amazing freedoms. In Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, there is a monument, The Genocide Memorial, erected to celebrate those who went before, who lost their lives for us to be free. The Genocide Memorial can be found south of the Sam Nujoma statue on Independence Museum in Windhoek, Namibia. On the monument, is written, “Their blood waters our freedom.” On the inner plaque, whether on the back or front of the statue, are found images of the Herero and Nama people of Namibia who were almost entirely exterminated by the Germans, Germany in Namibia: the First Genocide of the 20th Century. At the top of the monument, are a man and woman in an embrace who have broken their shackles of the South African military occupation. The couple stands atop a rendering of a traditional Namibian dwelling.
So wherever we are, it is important to know that our ancestors gave their blood and sweats for us to stand tall today, and it is our duty to continue to battle for the next generations. Their blood waters our freedom!!!
“Their Blood Waters Our Freedom” Monument at the Independence Museum, in Windhoek, Namibia“Their Blood Waters Our Freedom,” back of the monument
Sam Nujoma (Source: newscentral.africa)
This past Saturday, February 8 2025, Sam Nujoma, Namibia’s first president and founding father passed away at the age of 95. The ancestors are greeting this illustrious brother who fought for the independence of his country. Nujoma led the long fight for independence from South Africa for many years, which culminated with independence on 21 March 1990 of South West Africa, as the country was formerly known. Nujoma helped found Namibia’s liberation movement known as the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) in the 1960s. After independence, Nujoma became president in 1990 and led the country until 2005.
Flag of NamibiaSamuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma was born at Etunda, a village in Ovamboland, on 12 May 1929, to Daniel Uutoni Nujoma and Helvi Mpingana Kondombolo, an Uukwambi princess. From his mother, he inherited his strong charismatic influence during his political career. He was the oldest of 11 children. His childhood was spent taking care of his siblings, tending to the family’s cattle, and farming.
Statue of Sam Nujoma in front of the Independence Museum in Windhoek, Namibia
At the age of 17, Nujoma moved to the harbor town of Walvis Bay, where he slowly learned about the plight of Black people under white-minority rule; he also worked at a general store and later at a whaling station. In 1949, Nujoma moved to Windhoek where he worked as a railway sweeper for the South African Railways (SAR), while he went to night school. It was there that he was introduced to the Herero tribal chief Hosea Kutako, who was lobbying to end apartheid rule in Namibia, then known as South West Africa. Kutako took the young Nujoma under his wing, and mentored him as he became politically active among Black workers in Windhoek who were resisting a government order to move to a new township in the late 1950s. First, he joined with the Ovamboland People’s Congress (OPC) co-founder Jacob Kuhangua to start a Windhoek branch; at its first congress, he was elected president. At Kutako’s request, Nujoma began life in exile in 1960, first to Bechuanaland (now Botswana), then Bulawayo in then Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and later ending in Tanzania where he was welcomed by President Julius Nyerere. The same year, he was elected president of the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) in abstencia. The problem of South West Africa, similar to Kamerun, was that they were former German colonies, which had been placed under League of Nations mandate of South Africa in the case of South West Africa, and France and Great Britain for Kamerun; thus the country should have been independent a while back. Nujoma spent a few years asking the United Nations to ensure that the occupying power that was South Africa released control of South West Africa. After many unsuccessful tries, while shuttling from capital to capital in quest for support, he authorized the launch of armed resistance in 1966 against South African forces. The attack marked the beginning of the Namibian War of Independence, which would last more than 25 years.
Sam Nujoma on a plaque to Early Resistance Leaders inside the Independence Museum in Windhoek, Namibia
On 19 March 1989, the signing of the cease-fire agreement with South Africa took place. After 29 years in exile, Nujoma returned to Namibia in September 1989 to lead SWAPO to victory in the UN-supervised elections that paved the way for independence. Nujoma was elected first president of the new nation which became independent on 21 March 1990. He was re-elected in 1994 and 1999, and stepped down in 2005.
The current president of Namibia, President Nangolo Mbumba said of Sam Nujoma, He “inspired us to rise to our feet and to become masters of this vast land of our ancestors,” … “Our founding father lived a long and consequential life during which he exceptionally served the people of his beloved country.”
Namibia’s Vice-President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is due to be inaugurated as president in March after leading SWAPO to victory in elections, said his “visionary leadership and dedication to liberation and nation-building laid the foundation for our free, united nation“.
Bust of Sam Nujoma, inside Independence Museum, in Windhoek, Namibia
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said the former Namibian president was an “extraordinary freedom fighter” who played a leading role in not only his country’s fight against colonialism, but also in the campaign that led to the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa in 1994. “President Nujoma’s leadership of a free Namibia laid the foundation for the solidarity and partnership our two countries share today – a partnership we will continue to deepen as neighbours and friends.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Nujoma led Namibia’s independence movement “against the seemingly unshakeable might of colonial and apartheid authorities and forces” and spurred the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa on its own final steps to freedom. “Sam Nujoma inspired the Namibian people to pride and resistance that belied the size of the population,” Ramaphosa said. “Namibia’s attainment of independence from South Africa in 1990 ignited in us the inevitability of our own liberation.”
Fenus unciarum refers to an ancient Roman concept of interest on loans. The term “unciarum” comes from the latin “uncia,” which means “twelfth,” and “fenus” means interest. Essentially, it was a legal term used to describe the interest rate of 1/12 (or about 8.33%) per month, which translates to an annual interest rate of approximately 100%. The Twelve Tables, an early Roman legal code, established this rate to protect borrowers from exorbitant interest rates. This was a common practice in Roman law which was applied in Africa during the slave trade. The debtor who cannot redeem himself becomes a slave: he can redeem himself by selling his son to the creditor. According to the law of the XII tables, the creditor can sell the debtor beyond the Tiber.
The fidelity of this scheme in Black Africa under the slave system is corroborated by Mungo Park, the Scottish explorer who visited West Africa in the 1790s. After an exploration of the upper Niger River around 1796, he wrote a popular and influential travel book titled Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa in which he theorized the Niger and Congo merged to become the same river, though it was later proven that they are different rivers. In this book, he shed a light also on the fenus unciarum use in Africa.
Slave capture
“When a Negro takes goods on credit from Europeans on the coast and does not pay at the agreed time, the creditor has the right, according to the laws of the country, to seize the debtor or, if he cannot find him, someone from his family, or finally, as a last resort, someone from the same kingdom. The person thus seized is detained while his friends are sent to search for the debtor. When the latter is found, an assembly of the chiefs of the place is called, and the debtor is forced, by paying his debt, to release his relative. If he cannot do this, he is immediately seized: he is sent to the coast, and the other is set free. If the debtor is not found, the arrested person is obliged to pay double the amount of the debt, or he himself is sold as a slave…”
From this, one can easily see how an entire kingdom could be captured.
We have been told by many that “Africans sold their brothers” into slavery. However, we have seen before, When the Kongo King, King Mvemba a Nzinga, most commonly known as Afonso I of Kongo, or Nzinga Mbemba, wrote to the King of Portugal against Slavery, that many kings fought against such. King Afonso I was concerned about the depopulation of his kingdom through the exportation of his own citizens into slavery, and complained to the Portuguese king against it. Below, we will see that the above statement is mostly a false statement invented by the guilty to turn the victim into an accomplice.
Here is Guillaume Bosman in La Traite des Noirs au Siècle des Lumières (Témoignages de négriers), p.38 who also confirms the disorganization of Black Africa by slave-trading Europe. He writes:
“there are many people among us who imagine that fathers sell their children here, husbands their wives, and brothers their brothers, but they are wrong. This never happens except out of necessity and for some crime; most of the slaves taken to us are people who have been taken prisoner in war, and whom the victor, considering as his booty, has sold to make a profit.”
On January 13, 2025, the people of Limbe stood together against the alleged ceding of the historic slave trade site to a private company GilGal Tours for 50 year lease!!! Can you imagine that? It’s like the government is once again trying to erase the history of this place. One day, Cameroonians will wake up and find out that their government has sold the entire country away! How can one even fathom selling a national historic site? This site waseven been added to the UNESCO tentative list of World Heritage lists in 2020. How can one even wrap their minds around the ceding of Bimbia to a private company, after so many descendants of slaves taken from its shores have just started to reconcile with their history? After the whole country has reconnected with their history? A few years back, a friend visiting the site was told by her guide that a business man had come to level the place down, and had been stopped just in time; now this? Sure, Limbe, and the country as a whole needs development. Cameroon is full of beautiful places and tourist sites that are not being valued. It is no doubt that the site would benefit from the development in Limbe or simply the road to Bimbia which will open access to the area, and increase touristic benefits. The entire area should be honored !
Names like Gorée (Senegal), Bunce Island (Sierra Leone), Elmina (Ghana) and Ouidah (Benin) are all synonymous to the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and have gained an iconic place in history as locations from whence millions of Africans (up to 15 million it is believed) were transported to Europe and the Americas to be sold as slaves. How about the island of Bimbia? Have you ever heard of her?
Dr. Lisa Aubrey is an associate professor of African American Studies and Political Science at Arizona State University. She is also a Fulbright scholar (2014-15) based at the University of Yaounde I.
Ruins at the Bimbia slave fort, in Cameroon
Since 2010, Dr Aubrey has been conducting research on Bimbia, a supposedly forgotten or not so often talked about slave trade port she refers to as “The Apertura”, located in the South West region of the central African nation of Cameroon. “It is the site at which African ethnicities in Cameroon were forcibly and cruelly whisked away from their homeland, or killed,” says Dr Aubrey in a recent special edition of Villages D’Afrique magazine. She goes on to note that the Transatlantic Slave Trade on the coast of Cameroon took place between the mid-17th to late 19th century. Dr Aubrey’s research team (between September 2010 and July 2014) were able to locate and validate some 166 slave ship voyages that left Cameroon bound mostly for plantations in the Americas, sometimes via neighboring Equatorial Guinea. “Bimbia is opening the door for broader research,” says the Louisiana, USA native.
A few years ago, a colleague of mine visited Antigua, and when he came back, he told me that during his tour of the island, his guide told him that most of the island was peopled by descendants of slaves who all came from Cameroon. I was stunned, as at the time, I did not know of a slave fort in Cameroon, and how could an entire island in the Caribbean be filled with descendants from Cameroon? This was when I started digging, and a few years later, Pr. Lisa Marie Aubrey’s research came out which validated the whole story.
Map of Cameroon, with the capital Yaoundé
Today, we will talk about a slave fort whose existence was not even known until the 2000s, yet, it is said that at least 10% of all African slaves taken to the new world must have passed through its “gates”. This slave fort is Bimbia, in Cameroon. It is listed nowhere in Cameroonian history books, and even in African books. Even today, children learning about the slave trade in Cameroon, do not know about Bimbia. There is indeed a great silence about the existence of slave forts in the crook of the Gulf of Guinea whether in Nigeria, Cameroon, or Gabon.
Welcome Sign to the Bimbia Site, in Bimbia, Cameroon
Located in the South West region of Cameroon, Bimbia is a small village about 5 km from the seaside city of Limbe, on the hills surrounding the city center. It is strategically located on the Gulf of Guinea, in the nook of its elbow, east of the Bight of Biafra, between Rio del Rey and Cameroons River (as the Wouri river was known back then). The site was only re-discovered in 1987 during the earthworks on the church dedicated to the memory of Alfred Saker church, and is now classified as a national heritage of Cameroon.
Vestiges of the slave fort at Bimbia
What brought Bimbia back from its oblivion? Most likely the fact that since Ancestry DNA has gained in popularity over the years, many African American actors, producers, politicians, such Spike Lee, Quincy Jones, Eddie Murphy, Blair Underwood, Chris Tucker, Condoleeza Rice, Oprah Winfrey, or Brazilian Regina Ribeiro, and more have found their origins in Cameroon. This was surprising, and led to more research to find out where their ancestors could have come from, given the absence of information on slave forts in the region.
Ruins of the slave prison in Bimbia
According to Pr. Lisa Marie Aubrey of Arizona State University who published her study in 2014, thousands of Africans were taken from the slave fort of Bimbia, similar to Gorée in Senegal, or more. From her research, she found out that at least 166 slave ships left the coasts of Cameroon. Bimbia is not the only slave fort found in the country, Rio del Rey near the Bakassi peninsula and Cameroons Town (Douala) are the others. From the ships inventoried, 9 left the territory in 1600, 98 in 1700, and 59 in 1800. 15 left from Bimbia, 9 from Rio del Rey, and 32 from the Wouri River.
The slaves who arrived in Bimbia from hinterland came from everywhere, but the majority came from the Grassfields, the Bamileke region, Northwest, Noun, Mbam, Tikar region, and even as far north as the Hausa region.
Ruins of where the slaves were fed, the manger, at Bimbia
For anyone visiting today, the road to Bimbia from Limbe is a tough road, sometimes impracticable during the rainy season; the site is hidden in a deep and lush green forest, with huge bamboos around. As a matter of fact, the slaves who ran away used this hostile environment with treacherous ravines, hills, and volcanic rocks to hide, to their advantage.
Bimbia was considered such a good location for the ships traveling the coast because of Nicholls Island whose south coast constitutes a deep sea port with at least 6 m depth, thus allowing ships to accost easily with no fear of crashing. Nicholls Island is located 300 m away from Bimbia which is on the continent; thus providing slavers with a perfect path to the continent for slaves. Once the slavers had gotten slaves from Bimbia, they could also make transit on the nearby island of Fernando Po (Bioko – where Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea is located). Thus, slaves were brought from the hinterland, and kept in Bimbia, while awaiting the arrival of the slave ships; once the slave ship arrived, the slaves were taken from Bimbia to nearby Nicholls Island 300 m away, from where they were then moved into the ships to far away destinations never to see their continent again.
Nicholls Island, viewed from Bimbia
For today’s visitor, there are still vestiges that testify of Bimbia’s dark history: brick columns, rusty chains hooked on the falling walls, iron chunks here and there, bells, and the manger where the slaves were fed..
Although Bimbia has now entered the national heritage of Cameroon, it has not yet become as popular a destination as it should, like Goree, Elmina Castle, Cape Coast and others. This may be more due to the lack of organization in the overall tourism of the country, bad governance, and also the accessibility to the place. This is a call to more historians, particularly Cameroonian and African historians to restore the story of Bimbia and many of the other hidden slave forts of West and Central Africa.
Alliance des Etats du Sahel (AES) (Source: Alliance-sahel.org)
This week, the Alliance des Etats du Sahel (AES) which includes Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, announced the creation of a joint military force, which will deploy 5000 troops in upcoming weeks in its territory. This force’s goal is to tackle security threats jointly as one-man, as the fight intensifies against the rising extremist violence caused by the foreign forces funded by Western powers. The creation of such a force reminds us of Osagyefo’s Kwame Nkrumah dream of an African union which actually serves its people and members. In this case, we applaud the AES’ effort stemming from a need to survive against the united forces of thieves whose leader in the case at hand is the old colonial power. It is no secret that the old metropolis is not leaving its military bases in Francophone Africa as we have heard, but rather, disguising them, moving them to other neighboring countries or other Lusophone or Anglophone countries of Africa.
Alliance des Etats du Sahel (source: linfodusahel.com)
A joint force of 5,000 troops from military-led neighbours Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali will soon deploy in their troubled central Sahel region, Niger’s defence chief said on state television.
… Niger Defence Minister Salifou Mody said the new force would have its own air assets, equipment, and intelligence resources and operate across the territory of the three nations, which have formed a cooperation pact known as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
“The unified AES force is nearly ready, numbering 5,000 personnel,” Mody said on Tuesday.
… The creation of the three-way alliance followed the countries’ decision to withdraw from West Africa’s main political and economic group ECOWAS, which is still pushing them to reconsider the move that reverses decades of broader regional integration.
African Heritage 