Douala Twilight Zone
Monday, February 25th, 2008We got back to Douala yesterday after spending some time at the coast near Kribi. We do not follow the news in Cameroon because it is in French. So we did not know that riots had started in Yaounde on Saturday and a transportation strike was scheduled for today (Monday). We were lucky to leave Kribi when we did because now the country is basically shut down. I would have told you yesterday about how peaceful Cameroon is and how well the people get along. Sure, they have a dictator masquerading as a democratically elected president, but so does most of Africa. We see few signs of government control such as troops and, in fact, we see more US Army and Navy personnel in Douala than Cameroonian because they are here training Cameroon troops. Cameroon has oil so it is an important country to America!!!!
Unfortunately, the transportation strike of today has resulted in rioting and the front of our hotel was trashed this morning. We saw rioters from an upstairs window and we heard gunshots although we do not know who was shooting. Now we are trapped in the hotel and the hotel personnel tell us that the strikers are planning to go all week. Pamela’s visa runs out Wednesday, but I am sure this is not an issue if we are not able to get to the airport or fly out on time. I guess we should have stuck with the original schedule of flying out on Saturday – damn! My guess is that this Cameroon business is not worthy of international news since Cameroon doesn’t have much oil and this would just be a normal day if we were a few kilometers north in Nigeria (I suspect that is why we have troops training in Cameroon). By the way, the strikes and demonstrations are for two reasons: 1) the price of petrol was raised by the government (and I suspect people here don’t get the idea that oil in general is increasing in price and someone has to pay for that) and 2) the dictator… I mean president…, Paul Biya, is trying to change the constitution to allow him to be president for life because he needs more time to fix things that he has not had time for in 26 years of control… I mean leadership!
I am not sure why I keep getting myself into the Douala Twilight Zone, but we are safe if not a bit bored trapped indoors. Will attempt to escape as soon as the rioters let us. Hope the hotel has enough food…
vagabondrick