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Central Africa's Muslim Feast Hampered as COVID-19 Blocks Livestock Trade

Moki Edwin Kindzeka

   YAOUNDE, CAMEROON - More than one million livestock being transported
   from Cameroon and Chad for Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice,
   have been blocked at the borders with Equatorial Guinea,'¯Gabon, and
   Nigeria.'¯Cameroon's neighboring states are refusing imports due to
   COVID-19, forcing livestock merchants who depend on the annual
   festival, known locally as Tabaski, to sell at cut-rate prices.

   Spokesperson for the Central African Association of Cattle Sellers
   Clementina Ondo said their trade was already crumbling because of
   COVID-19.

   The situation is made worse, she said, because border authorities are
   blocking trade of their livestock raised to sell for the Muslim feast
   of Eid al-Adha, known locally as Tabaski.

   Ondo spoke via a messaging app from the Cameroon town of Kiossi, on the
   borders with Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

   She said at least 500 sheep and cattle sellers now find themselves in
   serious economic hardship. Ondo said it is unfair for major consumers
   of their animals like Gabon and Equatorial Guinea to completely seal
   their borders during peak sales periods like the feast of Tabaski. She
   said Cameroon refused entry to 20 trucks sent from Equatorial Guinea
   and Gabon to transport sheep in less than 24 hours.

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