Cameroon lauds Hajj preparations

Cameroon’s Ambassador, Iya Tidjani, has expressed his appreciation towards the preparations made by Kingdom in connection with the Hajj pilgrimage this year.

“One thing I have noticed is that we can now do things electronically. Like applying for Hajj or accessing the Saudi Embassy for whatever information a pilgrim needs,” said the Cameroonian envoy.

He also noted that, pilgrims could now travel between Makkah and Mina and Arafat by railway, which was not possible before.

“Some pilgrims could use the service, but not all. I hope, however, that all hajis will be able to avail themselves of this service in the future,” said Tidjani.

He also noted the excellent transportation and accommodation facilities for the pilgrims.

He added that the first group of Cameroonian pilgrims will arrive in the Kingdom on Sept. 3.

“They will take off from the city of Garoua in the northern part of Cameroon and arrive in Madinah on Sept. 3,” he added. They will be headed by Boubakari Oumarou.

He said that his country has a quota of 10,000 pilgrims although only 4,500 had been given the green light to come for Hajj this year.

The same number of Cameroonian pilgrims also came to perform Hajj in the Kingdom in 2014.

“We have applied for more with the Saudi Ministry of Hajj but our request was not granted. Besides, there’s also the problem of the high cost of performing Hajj,” he said.

He expressed the hope though that more Cameroonian pilgrims could come for Hajj as an expression of their Islamic faith in the future.

“Like any other country, Cameroon wants to send more pilgrims for Haj because it has excellent bilateral ties with Saudi Arabia,” he said.

He noted that there are nearly 50 Cameroonian scholars enrolled in Arabic and religious courses at universities in the Saudi capital.