Some people swear that members of the Makea tribe are cannibals. For others, it is the Gbaya. Whatever may be the case, market stalls in that area are devoid of any human meat but rather overflowing with bush meat, beef or pork. Suffice to say that adepts of anthropophagy are not self-declared or openly seen tasting an appetising meal of human flesh.

Some press articles report that cannibalism was openly practised in some areas in the East before and during colonialism. “There are some ethnic groups in Cameroon, secret societies who practise cannibalism. But this only occurs in closed circles where the code of silence is the golden rule”, reckons a fiftyish man originally from the Western region (who asked to remain anonymous).

Even if these practices are officially over, it is possible to read from time to time in the local news section, that a well spiced morsel of human flesh was found in a restaurant dish or at the bottom of a food seller's pot. This was the case in 2009, in the Sodiko neighbourhood, in Douala. Practices whose reasons are beyond any rational thinking...

M.N.M.