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Remarks by Ambassador Janet Garvey at U.S. Embassy Ramadan Iftar

September 28, 2007 

Mr. Vice Prime Minister,

Excellencies,

Honored guests and friends,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Salam Walekum! 

Ramadan Kareem.

I am delighted, on behalf of the United States to extend warm greetings to you and to Muslims across Cameroon in celebration of the holy month of Ramadan.  You honor me with your presence. 

The US Embassy has hosted an Iftar dinner for a number of years.  We do this as a symbol of our respect for Islam and our friendship with the Muslim community in Cameroon.   I owe a special thanks this year to Ambassador Bedewi for donating the delicious dates for this evening’s Iftar. 

Muslims first arrived in America in the late nineteenth century, and today there are an estimated seven million Muslim Americans attending more than 1200 mosques.  Islam is the fastest growing religion in America, and American Muslims come from all over the globe, not only the Middle East, but from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Africa, and Europe as well.  Many of them are native-born Americans; almost a third of them are African-American.  These millions of Americans are joining you and Muslims around the world in this year’s celebration of Ramadan.

Just before I left the US I had a chance to visit an exhibition of the library of President John Adams, our 2nd President.  In his collection I saw the first Koran published in America – from 1788—published in my home state of Massachusetts. 

At his Iftar dinner for Muslim leaders, President Bush said that “our society is enriched by our Muslim citizens whose commitment to faith reminds us of the gift of religious freedom in our country.”   

We greatly appreciate the friendship we have developed with Muslims in Cameroon.   My staff has told me about the Embassy’s meetings with Muslim leaders in the northern region and our visits to the Islamic complex in Yaounde, which have allowed many of our people to participate in the Friday prayer, and the enjoyable discussions that have followed.  I would like to thank Grand Imam of Yaounde Ahmad a alsalamah for making these visits possible.

The U.S. Embassy has donated computers and books to the Cameroon Muslim Students Union, to the Islamic School of Kumbo, and to Franco-Arab schools around the country.  We have just acquired a new Ramadan slide show, "Islam in the USA,” which will be distributed on a CD and made available for events throughout the country.  The Embassy website also provides internet links that serve the Muslim community.

We also have an American Corner in Garoua, in the heart of the Muslim north, which sponsors events and maintains a library in this remote part of the country.  We intend to expand this into a Virtual Presence Post in Garoua so that we can enhance our efforts to interact with the people in this important region of Cameroon.

I look forward to continuing this important outreach.  Today’s Iftar is one of my first public events since arriving in Cameroon only two weeks ago.  I wanted to be here today to underscore my commitment to building on the strong foundation of friendship between the U.S. Embassy and the Muslim community in Cameroon. 

I take this opportunity to personally extend my wishes, on behalf of the American people, for health, prosperity, happiness, and peace during Ramadan and throughout the coming year.