Cameroon: Government challenges French LGBTQ Ambassador’s visit, tells him he’s ‘NOT welcome’

By Mike Klaus

Cameroon’s minister of external relations, LeJeune Mbella Mbella has forwarded a correspondence to the French government, challenging a scheduled visit to Cameroon by Jean Marc-Berthon, the French Ambassador in charge of the promotion of LGBTQ rights.

In the strongly worded letter, the external relations minister made it clear that “the position of the Cameroon government on the sexual orientation of its citizens remains clear… It is therefore not possible to talk about LGBTQ persons in Cameroon.”

Minister Mbella Mbella reiterated that homosexuality in Cameroon remains “a crime,” and remains punishable by the country’s penal code.

Mr. Jean-Marc Berthon had been announced in Cameroon earlier this week and was scheduled to hold talks as a means to get the country to soften its stance on the issue of homosexuality. The announcement raised a lot of controversy among Cameroonians who took to social media to express their views.

His visit also comes in the wake of threats by the Cameroon National Communication Council to suspend foreign TV channels, particularly Canal+, for diffusing homosexual content to the Cameroon audience.