Cameroon Coffee, Cocoa Exports Resume After Dock Strike

Exports of cocoa and coffee resumed from Cameroon's main port of Douala on Monday following the end to a dock workers' strike that had blocked shipments since Friday, officials said.

Two hundred workers blocked the entrance to the port on Friday demanding better pay and conditions, the latest in a series of strikes that have gripped the country amid mounting discontent with President Paul Biya's 35-year rule.

About 12,000 tons of coffee and 3,000 tons of cocoa that had been held up were loaded into boats and were due to be shipped on Monday, said a senior source at the National Office of Cocoa and Coffee who asked to remain unnamed.

"We made a number of decisions so that work could resume," said Cyrus Ngo'o, general manager of the port, without giving details about any agreement reached with dockworkers.

One of the leaders of the dockworkers' union said that the dockers went back to work at 7:30 am (0630 GMT) on Monday. Some had resumed work on Saturday afternoon to help load perishable foods such as bananas, he said.