The following was provided by the The Budd Group, Doula.

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Douala’s Harbour Master in charge of maritime immigration has just informed us that in an ever-increasing number of cases, ship’s agents are taking it upon themselves to organise the disembarkation at sea of Cameroonian stowaways (or stowaways who embarked in the Cameroon) without following the official procedures.

They either fail to inform the appropriate authorities or persuade police officers who are not from the immigration department to assist them.

In order to make money from the shipowners on the fallacious pretext of speeding up the disembarkation process and reducing the costs, they do not inform vessels of the official stowaway disembarkation procedures and intentionally break the rules. In so doing, they render the vessels liable for the risks involved in disembarking stowaways at sea, including the death or injury of the parties concerned.

In the Cameroon, the disembarkation and handling of stowaways must be officially approved and carried out with the assistance of the Immigration Services even if the stowaways claim to be of Cameroon nationality or embarked in the Cameroon.

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