Cameroonians in Equitorial Guinea decry police maltreatment, harassment of foreigners

A Cameroonian residing in Equitorial Guinea has said police in the country are “wildly maltreating and harassing African foreigners living” in the country, but give preferential treatment to Indians and Chinese.

“For almost two years that I’ve been here (in Equitorial Guinea), I’ve experienced a lot of gross violations of human rights by police officers, especially the maltreatment of Africans, with Cameroonians most affected. Most Cameroonians like myself fled from the ongoing crisis back home just to find refuge here,” he said.

According to him, the uniform officers discriminate between foreigners from African countries and non-African countries, especially Chinese and Indians.

“They go around harrassing people, especially during this Christmas period, whether you have a mask on or not.”

The Equitorial Guinea police have arrested and detained foriegn residents several times, triggering the intervention of diplomatic officials in some instances.

The security officials usually capitalise on residential documents to get money from foreigners whether they are guilty of something or not, a source has said.

According to him, about 90 percent of foreigners in Equitorial Guinea do not have valid resident permits and this has triggered more harrasments from police, who usually collect money from them rather than helping them secure documents.

Mimi Mefo Info