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Over four hours after a plane carrying 126 asylum seekers from the United States of America arrived Cameroon Wednesday, October 14th, 2020, they have been confined at Douala international airport.
Among those deported are 81 Cameroonians said to have failed to obtain asylum in US. They reportedly left the US early today in an aircraft carrying eight Democratic Republic of Congo nationals.
Speaking to Mimi Mefo Info at the airport, a security agent who refused to be named said, “Instructions from the hierarchy say people are not to see those deported”.
The visibly tensed policeman failed to state if the instruction justifies why those deported are still at the arrival hall of the airport close to five hours after their plane landed.
At the departure section of the airport, three buses belonging to Douala City Council, DCC are parked ready to transport newly returned Cameroonians – and others from other African countries to a destination that remains unknown.
At the level of security, over fifty gendarmes and soldiers are in an unusual manner are parading the airport. Family members of those deported after standing for over five hours under the scorching sun have retired to their house while some are in drinking spots around the airport.
At 6:45 PM Wednesday October 14th, the airport becane more silent yet with no sign of those that have been deported.
Observers have questioned why Cameroonians will be subjected to such treatment at the hands of US immigration authorities.
Earlier Cameroon state radio has reported that these Cameroonians rubbished the name of Cameroon in US in a bid to obtain a permanent stay. The same source claims those that have been repatriated used the anglophone crisis as a pretext to seek asylum to no avail.
This is a developing story.
Mbatho Ntan.
