Cameroonian pilgrims, blocked in Saudi Arabia

These pilgrims are waiting for their flights back to their towns; Garoua, Ngaoundere and Douala.

Since the feast of the Ramadan ended, these Cameroonian pilgrims have been blocked in Djeddah Saudi Arabia. They are waiting for the Ethiopian Airlines which had to bring them back to their respective towns in Cameroon. Le Jour newspaper related Yesterday 7^th of  July that, the victims of disappointment had earlier come to the Djeddah international airport on the 6^th of July only to be stranded and then look for a hotel in town where they could lay their heads.

Alhadji Hussein one of the pilgrims in this situation revealed to Le Jour that “we are still waiting for the planes reserved for our Journey to Cameroon. The Ethiopian airlines have instead decided to transport pilgrims from Qatar, considering the diplomatic conflict between the two countries”. According to Aladji Hussein, the embargo put on Qatar is affecting the pilgrims.

A diplomatic source contacted by the Cameroon Daily revealed that Saudi Arabia had to receive 3 000 000 pilgrims for this small pilgrimage (the Oumra) and around 20 000 000 for the big one (the Hadj). But it seems like the Holy city had over 12 000 000 pilgrims this time, which is more than what is required. With this number, it is not easy to handle the transportation within a short space of time, especially as an embargo has been placed on Qatar who usually played a significant role when it came to the transportation of pilgrims.