Latest Embassy News

Radio Reine Welcomes Ambassador Marquardt on the Air

On November 22, 2006, Ambassador Niels Marquardt visited Radio Reine, the first private radio ever to operate in Cameroon.  During the one-and-a-half-hour visit, Radio Reine General Manager and owner Abbot Jean-Marie Bodo offered the Ambassador a full tour of the complex.  “La Citadelle,” as Abbot Bodo affectionately describes the radio station’s premises due to the sweeping panoramic view of Yaoundé from atop Mount Mbakolo, comprises an auditorium, a humanitarian clinic for street children, and the studio itself.  In the Jean-Paul II Auditorium, a chorus welcomed the Ambassador with, among other songs, a celestial performance of “Hallelujah!” from Handel’s Messiah.  Ambassador Marquardt remarked that he was very touched by all the efforts Abbot Bodo and the Radio Reine staff undertake to help needy children from the streets of Cameroon. The visit ended in the studio of Radio Reine, where the Ambassador had a live interview on the stations’ prime-time program “Médiathèque.”

The interview, conducted by journalist Richard Touna, covered major political, social, and economic issues, such as free and fair elections in Cameroon, the Millennium Challenge Account, U.S. Government’s assistance to Cameroon and U.S. investment in Cameroon.
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