After Failed Coup Attempt , Gabon Closes Border With Cameroon

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Gabon has closed border crossings with Cameroon since Monday's attempted coup against President Ali Bongo, halting trade and leaving Gabonese unable to return home. Goods and passengers destined for Gabon are stranded in Cameroon’s border town of Kiossi.

Trucks loaded with plantain, cocoyam, groundnuts, and other vegetables sit idle along with several hundred commuters in the town of Kiossi, on Cameroon’s southern border with Gabon.

Gabonese businessman Luc Eyene says Gabon’s border troops stopped him from crossing over from Cameroon. The government ordered the closure to protect civilians, Eyene says they told him, after Monday’s attempted coup against ailing President Ali Bongo.

He says even though Gabon is in a political crisis that could turn violent if Bongo does not recover, it is unpardonable for anyone to seal the border. It is known by everyone that Gabon depends on Cameroon for food, says Eyene. The poor are already suffering after just 24 hours of the border being closed, he says.

Traders like Eyene fear their perishable goods will not last until the border reopens.

Cameroonian businesswoman Caroline Ndifor supplies farm produce to Gabon. She says she was forced to make arrangements to take her goods to Equatorial Guinea instead.