Cameroonian rights defender Maximilienne Ngo received at White House for winning international award

By Tata Mbunwe

Renowned Cameroonian Human Rights Defender, Maximilienne Ngo Mbe, got an honorable reception at America’s presidency, the White House, on March 8 alongside several other winners of the International Women of Courage award.

The 2021 award winner was accorded a special reception by the US presidential couple, Joe and Jill Biden.

The event was organised by the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, to honour 2021 and 2022 International Women of Courage awardees in commemoration of International Women’s Day.

Ngo Mbe was among three African women who attended the reception.

In 2021, she won the International Women of Courage award for her “extraordinary leadership, courage, and perseverance through adversity in promoting human rights in Cameroon and Central Africa,” the US Embassy in Cameroon said.

After meeting the US presidential couple, Maximilienne Ngo Mbe also met with the US Ambassador to Cameroon J. Lamora, who congratulated her for being the second Cameroonian woman to have won the award.

She was the second Cameroonian woman to win the award after Henriette Ekwe Ebongo.

Mbe Ngo has been a fervent human rights advocate in Cameroon and Central Africa.

She is the founder of the Central Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, known by its French acronym REHDAC.

The organisation has published reports exposing the ordeals of thousands of Cameroonians, especially in the English-speaking regions, where a separatist armed conflict has been raging for nearly six years now.

Through avenues like the Women of Courage Award, the US government has recognised and encouraged the brave efforts of women like Maximilienne Ngo Mbe and more than 180 others since 2007.

Mimi Mefo Info