At 83 years old Emmanuel Kouang is the oldest person in Ebome. Even now he leans forward with his fists clenched and his rhumy eyes wide in remembered excitement. "They lived in the rocks out to sea. But they've gone now". The rocks have vanished too, and with them the villagers' main source of livelihood. The reef was a rich feeding ground for fish caught by the villagers. For generations villagers relied upon its natural abundance of marine life. But their way of life was disrupted four years ago by the construction of an oil pipeline. News of the project caused great excitement. The pipeline came, but the pipe dreams did not.

The increased AIDS awareness amongst Cameroonians is strong evidence that Cameroon's political commitment to combat the disease is yielding positive results, even though greater challenges still lie ahead to curb the epidemic, according to Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). "The strong political will and social mobilization are realities which should lead to the scaling up of HIV care and prevention programmes and avoid a worsening epidemic in the country," said Dr Piot. He was on a two-day visit to Cameroon.

In a 27 May 2003 letter to Communications Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum expressed serious concern at the government's banning of the launch of the Freedom FM radio station and the threats made against three journalists. According to reports, on 23 May a state official came to the offices of the private radio station Freedom FM, which was due to begin broadcasting on 24 May, with a photocopy of a document issued by the Information Ministry purporting to stop the launch of the station for "illegally exercising the profession" of broadcasting.