Some 200 trucks stranded at CAR border

Some 200 trucks carrying goods have been stranded for several days in Garoua-Boulai city east of Cameroon along the border with the Central African Republic.

The blockade is attributed to a state of insecurity despite the deployment of troops under the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the volatile Central African Republic (MINUSMA).

To prevent potential looters preying on their cargoes, truck drivers had demanded some security measures, prompting the Cameroonian and the Central African Republic authorities to decide on a timeline for the delivery of goods into CAR.

The new schedule provides that from now on, trucks bound for the border will benefit from armed escorts on the Thursday and Saturday of every week.

According to the MINUSMA, this schedule is to better ensure the safety and security of cargoes since conducting armed escort daily like in the past exposed some lapses in the security apparatus.

It also explained that for more efficiency, the number of drivers per trip should not exceed 150 to allow for optimum security all the way to the CAR capital Bangui.

Consequently, these new measures have been responsible for nearly 200 trucks laden with goods being stranded at the border waiting for the next security convoy scheduled for Thursday.

As a country without a coastline, the Central African Republic uses the port of Douala in Cameroon to import and export goods, accounting for more than 80 percent of the volume of trafficked cargo using the Douala-Bangui road.