An article about the Cameroonian poet, playwright Blaise Kaptue Fotso
Blaise Kaptue Fotso is a young Cameroonian poet living in cold exile, like hundreds of other
Cameroonian activists. He completed his university education at the University of Yaoundé
and writes poetry in polished, sophisticated French. His works include several books and
poetry collections. Kaptue is part of a new generation of African writers heralding a more
civilised, conscious African literature—one that resists brutal regimes and rejects allegiance
to dictatorships.
His literary trajectory transcends the bounds of local experience, offering a distinct African
voice that stands as a symbol on the global literary stage—much like the Nigerian Nobel
laureate Wole Soyinka, whose path he mirrors in many ways.
Kaptue Fotso’s talents unfold vividly in both poetry and theatre. His works promise a
humanist outlook and a fierce resistance to all forms of discrimination, oppression, terrorism,
violence, and tyranny. These themes permeate his distinguished texts, which reflect his strong
grounding in French literature and philosophy. He is an active contributor to local, regional,
and international literary platforms.
He has taken part in numerous Francophone poetry festivals in Brussels, alongside poets and
writers from Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, and other Francophone
African countries. He has also appeared in the Lyre of the Diaspora International Poetry
Festival and has participated in events hosted by PEN International.
Through these appearances, we have come to understand more about his life, poetry, and
writing—works that have crossed the African continent’s threshold into global relevance. His
texts address delicate literary materials and plunge deep into the core of African crises. With
poignant melancholy, he speaks not only of his homeland, Cameroon, but also of other
troubled African nations suffering similar ailments—Sudan, for instance.
In his bold, sorrowful poem Darfur, he touches the raw nerve of the human heart.
This dissident poet is also a human rights activist—akin to his compatriot, the great
imprisoned Cameroonian writer and poet Enoh Meyomesse, whose voice resounded during
the International Day of the Imprisoned Writer. I personally witnessed that event, held in the
autumn of 2014 and organised by PEN International in collaboration with the Flemish PEN
Club in Belgium.
The event was attended by significant figures such as Tade Ipadeola, president of Nigerian
PEN and recipient of Africa’s most prestigious literary prize for his English-language book
The Sahara Testaments, later translated into Dutch (which I shall explore further elsewhere),
as well as Joke Van Leeuwen, president of Flemish PEN, along with numerous poets, writers,
and advocates for freedom and culture.
At that gathering, the delicate and remarkable poet Blaise Kaptue Fotso delivered strong,
stirring readings—especially poems from his French-language collection Ashes of Cruelty
(original title: Cendres de la Cruauté), published in 2010 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, a city on
the Atlantic coast.
In that collection, the poet examines the contours of dictatorship, suffering, and the crisis of
liberty. He critiques the closed horizons of power in his country and across parts of Africa. He
calls for collective awakening and vows never to retreat from his anger—fighting an
unrelenting battle for democracy, freedom, and the restoration of civil life.
Within his verses, we witness rebellion, deep pain, and an enduring ache. Through his poetry,
stark and sincere images of the African scene emerge, carrying both emotional and political
weight. His work reflects an African theatre of suffering that is simultaneously intimate and
universal.
“Darfur” – A Poem by Blaise Kaptue Fotso (Translated)
Lost in the damp morning fog
Drenched in the tears and blood of their souls
Hell lashes them, and war rages between brothers
Hope ignited in cursed fire
Terror leaves only ashes
Beneath them, who weeps, bruised?
Faces lifeless, colorless
On the road to mere survival
Under a hail of bombs and fears
Trapped by ambushes and landmines
Old men, children, infants, pregnant women—
Entire families swallowed by treacherous roads
And when you look toward the horizon, you see terror alight
Fear vanishes
But horror flashes, unrelenting
And death completes its task in any shelter
The scene ends as a hostage taken
Fighter jets
Spit fire indiscriminately, with no name
The waves of slaughter rise
Cannons thunder, deafening
Tanks and dragon-ships
March through fields to the sound of war-horns
Soldiers preserve only defeat
From spring to autumn,
From winter to summer—beaten like distant ghosts
Where are you, from barbarism?
Where are you, from deceit?
Is this the price for a better life?
A Literary and Humanitarian Testimony
This poem, Darfur, is one of the most powerful, expressive, and symbolically rich poetic
tributes written in recent memory on the Sudanese tragedy. Blaise Kaptue Fotso demonstrates
a deep and raw engagement with African suffering—not merely through abstract lament, but
through detailed, embodied experience.
His poem continues:
A fence to escape the shadows
The inferno of war scorches the eyes
Dark ambitions for impunity
Frightened, disoriented memories
They plowed the universe with misery
Poor children, girls, and women
A husband kidnapped by bandits
They cower in a flood of flames
Ghosts of terror, skeletal with pain
Breasts dried on funeral scenes
Hope fights across dusty clouds
Streets lined with fire, looting, corpses
Orphans crushed under waves of blood
The captured—a horrifying tableau
Purged of anything that dares to live
A Poet of Conscience and Fire
The poet's works—especially Darfur—are not just poetic lamentations. They are real-time
documentation of injustice and genocide, a voice echoing through the still-bloodied chambers
of African memory. His tone is sorrowful, yet unyielding. Through stark images and burning
language, Kaptue Fotso evokes the physical and psychological devastation of war. What
makes this poem extraordinary is not just its content, but the way it is written: meticulously
constructed, emotionally charged, and aesthetically rich, even in translation.
The original French text (not included here) is, by all accounts, even more refined—layered
with metaphor, musical cadence, and devastating clarity. The Arabic version preserves much
of this impact, but Fotso’s mastery of French lends his poetry a Senghorian depth and a
Césairean fire, aligning him with the great voices of Negritude.
Legacy and Importance
This poem should be taught in Sudanese and African curricula. It anatomizes a real tragedy
with literary precision. While the Darfur crisis has been extensively documented in
international film and political discourse, it rarely finds such visceral, poetic representation in
Arabic or African literary spaces.
Where some African poets turn inward or romanticize struggle, Kaptue Fotso stares into the
horror—and writes it down, line by line, body by body, flame by flame.
