Visa confusion hinders trade, travel

Kye-Ossi - A month after six central African nations scrapped visa requirements for their citizens, the long lines at the Kye-Ossi border crossing in southern Cameroon show the challenges facing efforts to boost trade on the continent.

Multilateral institutions like the World Bank say intra-African trade is a key to unlocking the growth potential of the continent's 1 billion consumers. But corruption, rampant bureaucracy and lack of infrastructure have long hampered this.

In bustling Kye-Ossi, 275km south of the capital Yaounde, baffled traders were told visas were still required despite the announcement in early May by the leaders of Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Police willing to turn a blind eye for traders

The town of 45 000 people lives on trade in contraband goods with neighbouring Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Cameroon, the region's breadbasket, exports food while wine and spirits come back across the border from Equatorial Guinea, almost none of it paying duty, a customs source said.

Desire Bohou, who runs a cross-border transport service, said police were willing to turn a blind eye and allow traders access to Equatorial Guinea's border town of Ebebiyin in return for a pay-off.

But if traders wanted to go beyond Ebebiyin, they had to obtain a visa, he said.

"Nothing has changed on the side of Equatorial Guinea because every car that goes in pays about $17.

Documents and money

Trade between Africa's nations accounts for just 12% of its total, versus more than 60% among the 28 nations of the Europe Union, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB).

In a bid to boost trade among themselves, 25 African nations signed a deal in Egypt this week to forge a free-trade zone linking three economic blocs into a market of over 650 million people.

That deal, however, did not include the central African bloc, known as CEMAC, which languishes at the bottom of the pile. In its 2015 Africa economic outlook, the AfDB said it took more time, documents and money to import a cargo container in central Africa than any other region of the world.

Trade is also hobbled by a chronic lack of road and rail infrastructure: only two of the regions six capitals are linked by a highway.