Cmr, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea traders protest against customs

The traders at the Kye-Ossi market located at the Cameroonian border town that opens on both Equatorial Guinea (Ebebeyin) and (Bitam) Gabon, have closed their shops all day November 24, 2014, to protest against the police, customs and communal harassment.

Protesters, went as far as demanding the discharge of the customs at the border post of Kye-Ossi, and also denounced the prostest of Cameroonian traders and their Equatorial Guinea and Gabon clients by officials of the customs administration, the police and the gendarmes.

The traders also rose up against the high cost of the royalty paid to the Town Hall of Kye-Ossi for occupancy spaces in the market.

To calm the tension, the Mayor of the municipality, Alain Bikoro Neme, immediately promised a decrease in the rights for spaces in the market, waiting to submit this decision to the consent of the Council. He also stated that the mediation initiated as a result of the movement by the assistant head of Kye-Ossi, M. Essimbi, failed.

It took arrival of the Head of Department of the Valley of the Ntem, Jean Roger Baourou Alim on the scene to calm the protesters, with whom negotiations were immediately engaged and still ongoing.

Also the hub of trade between Cameroon and the countries of the CEMAC, is the town of Kye-Ossi, is home to 45% of the total number of cross-border in the Southern Region, and 26% of the overall value of such exchanges, according to a study by the national statistics Institute.

This study, within 15 days identified exchanges for a total of 425 million Cfa francs.