Frustrations grow in Cameroon over oil pipeline
Oil was meant to bring hope and money to this sleepy fishing town in Cameroon, but Kribi’s residents say they can barely make ends meet.
The terminus for a 665-mile pipeline bringing oil from landlocked Chad to Cameroon, Kribi was full of expectations that wealth would trickle down from the $4 billion venture — one of Africa’s biggest infrastructure projects.
Instead, Kribi’s fishermen say a reef was destroyed during the construction of an offshore facility three years ago and this has endangered their livelihoods. Their complaints echo those heard from others living along the Doba pipeline route.
“These people only cared about their pipeline and the money they will make from it, they cared little about us,” said Agathe Mbedi, who sells fish at Kribi’s market.
“They destroyed the rock that shielded the water in which fish used to breed. They promised to replace it, but have done nothing. Our men are earning less money, our children are out of school and we risk starving.”