THE men of a Cameroon village have been able to breathe a sigh of relief after their wives called off a three-month sex strike.

The 2,000 women of Aghem, northwest Cameroon, had withheld sexual favours and refused to cook for their husbands to provoke them into settling a dispute over grazing rights. The women, who work in separate fields from their husbands, were complaining about graziers claiming their land and allowing cows to eat their crops.

The strike was called off after the regional governor, Koumpa Issa, arrived on Monday to settle the matter.

The conflict began more than 30 years ago, and the Government has been issuing controversial decisions on the matter ever since. In 1981 eight people were killed before a government commission called on the graziers to keep off the women’s land. The latest strike was prompted by a ruling allowing two cattle owners to begin grazing in the Naikom and Mbinjam areas.

The women of Aghem felt provoked but could not get their husbands to take up the issue. By tradition in the Wum region, men are involved in production of cash crops, such as arabica and robusta coffee, while women work on subsistence crops, such as rice, maize and potatoes.

Snubbed by husbands who refused to take an interest in their affairs, the women gathered at the local palace of chief Bah-ambi III without their husbands. For three months they not only denied their husbands sex, but also refused to cook food for their families. The women had marched naked from Wum to Bamenda to put their complaint to the governor before returning to organise the sex strike.

Before the negotiations the women, who were half naked, carried out a traditional cleansing rite at the palace to end their sex strike. The governor then took an oath that he would find a solution to the farmland problem.

During the first meeting, which featured ceremonial slaughter to resolve the conflict, the governor hailed the women for respecting his call to stop the strike, and he promised that a solution would be found to their complaint.

The governor’s wife said that as a woman she felt the women’s tribulations and that was why she decided to accompany her husband.

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