Hundreds of truckers have stopped working on Cameroon’s border with Chad to protest a ban on heavy trucking into Chad, which depends on Cameroon for 80% of its imported goods. Drivers transporting food and humanitarian assistance say they are disgruntled with what they call Cameroon’s refusal to repair the road linking northern Cameroon and Chad. The route is part of the lone highway used by truck drivers to transport goods from Cameroon’s Douala seaport to N’djamena, capital of landlocked Chad. The drivers also are protesting an August 2022 Cameroon government ban on heavy-duty truck use in the area north of the border with Chad. Cameroon officials say the lone road linking the two countries has deteriorated greatly, causing accidents and further damage to the road when used by heavy duty trucks. Cameroon is instructing heavy duty truck drivers to unload and use lighter vehicles to transport the goods from Cameroon to N’djamena. But the drivers say unloading and transporting goods in smaller trucks is expensive and time consuming. In May, Cameroon state broadcaster CRTV reported that the World Bank had approved a $538 million loan to improve road and rail infrastructure along the Douala N’djamena road within the next three years. The road also links Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria.
SOURCE: VOA