Cameroon, Chad, Niger and the Philippines are to receive Cessna 208B Grand Caravans from the United States, configured for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. On 9 May, the US Air Force Life Cycle Management Centre awarded two contracts for the conversion of the Cessna 208Bs. The first was to L-3 Communications Corporation – Communication Systems West in Salt Lake City, Utah, which will produce the ISR equipment and spares. The deal is worth $14 185 927, with an initial $7 000 673 released at the time of the award. Contract completion is anticipated by 30 September 2017.

The second contract, worth $39 983 647, was awarded to North American Surveillance Systems of Titusville, Florida, and covers modification of the aircraft and integration of ISR capabilities, together with training and field support. Contract completion is expected by 30 September 2019. An initial $19 751 000 was released at the time of the award. Financing for both contracts comes from Fiscal Year 2016 counter-terrorism partnership funds.

The contract announcements, posted on the US Department of Defence website, did not indicate how many aircraft will be delivered to each country. The US military in September 2014 awarded Cessna a $13.67 million contract to provide three Grand Caravan EX aircraft to Niger, Kenya and Mauritania in support of counter-terrorism operations, but it is believed this contract is unrelated to the existing one. L-3 Communications Systems West also received a $31.2 million contract in 2014 to add intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to the three Cessna 208Bs. Work was due to be completed in September 2015.

The United States has donated a number of Caravans to African countries in support of peacekeeping and counter-terror operations. The Niger Air Force received two donated Cessna 208Bs in July 2013, but configured for transport tasks. In June 2014 the US government donated two new Caravans to the Mauritania Islamic Air Force to boost its capacity to conduct patrols to counter maritime crimes and regional terrorist groups. Another recipient of Caravans from the United States is Uganda, which received two aircraft on 16 March 2015, to support the Ugandan contingent battling al Shabaab militants in Somalia. The aircraft, worth $15 million including spare parts and training, were donated by the US Department of Defence.

Defenceweb

In Yaounde, it is common to find township taxis circulating with shattered head lights, door handles fastened with ropes to enable them open or close, worn-out tyres, cracked windscreens, unstable seats and at times, too dirty with cockroaches running on passengers. This unkempt state of cabs in Yaounde has not only left passengers disappointed as they break down in the course of transportation but has also left others injured due to the presence of exposed sharp objects.

Most passengers in Yaounde, can testify on the risk in boarding a cab while wearing a white dress or carrying something delicate. Rose Ebot is one of those who got into a cab and after alighting she could not continue her other activities for the day just because the back of her dress was not only dirty but wet.  Rose explained “the moment I stepped out of the taxi, a passer-by called my attention to the fact that my dress was dirty behind. I quickly patted my palms over and moved on thinking it was okay. But later I was made to understand that I was dirty because there was this visible trace of wetness around the buttock region of my dress.” It is at this point that Rose realised that the taxi she had entered was not only dirty but had wet chairs.

There are those who have sustained bruises and wounds because they came in contact with  sharp objects in the taxi either from the ramshackle nature of the taxi chair or the instruments  the driver has used to either support an old door or the widescreen. Helene B narrates how she sustained a wound on one of her legs as she struggled to alight from a cab.  The driver of that cab instead said “be careful not to dirty my car chairs with blood”.  In spite of the worrying state of cabs in Yaounde, the appearance of the cab drivers leaves much to be desired. Most cab drivers are very unkempt especially in the morning.

Most passengers say it is unbearable to pick up a cab in the morning because of the odour from the driver who had not even brushed his teeth before leaving his home.  Some of them do not even clean their faces talk less of putting on a clean dress, another passenger Ebenye M noted. Only the smell from some taxi driver and the bad state of their taxis has left many wondering. But many people say despite such, they have had no choice but to board such cabs especially when in a hurry. The current decision by the government to clear Cameroonian roads of such taxis as the country awaits the Female African Nations Cup is welcomed.

Cameroon Tribune