Most of the children at the Saint Theresa Charity Centre in Ngaoundere, some 622 km north of the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, were taken there at an early age. "We receive children abandoned in the streets or in garbage dumps as well as newborns who lost their mothers at birth," said Sister Agnes Nana, who was temporarily in charge of the centre when IRIN visited it in late June. "We've received newborns who were still carrying their umbilical cord."

Cameroon's Supreme Court has ordered fresh legislative elections in nine constituencies because of irregularities committed during polls held on 30 June.

Cameroon's main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) party has ended a boycott of parliament and municipal councils in protest against "flawed legislative and local government elections".

A military court has acquitted gendarmes accused of killing nine youths who disappeared after being arrested by members of an elite crime-fighting unit.