Campo-Rio Campo : So Close, Yet Completely Cut Off From Each Other

Today, no merchandise leaves Campo nor comes in from Rio Campo in Equatorial Guinea. Understandably, it is “holiday” time for customs officials, immigration officers and other security services deployed at Campo Wharf. Just over two weeks into the border closure by Cameroon – and over three weeks by Equatorial Guinean authorities – the impact is already evident.   
Campo is a little border town in Ocean Division in Cameroon’s South Region. Campo Wharf is located where River Ntem empties itself into the Atlantic Ocean. Across the Ntem Delta is the Equatorial Guinean town of Rio Campo. Prior to March 2020 before the borders were shut down to bar the way to the worldwide pandemic, Coronavirus, Campo Wharf boomed with commercial activities.  
Speed boats transporting goods and passengers to either side of the delta took just 3 minutes to cover the less than a kilometre distance. But today, Campo Wharf is a shadow of its old self – with nothing to show. Save for the 9 speed boats that used to operate from there now abandoned in the scorching heat of the sands. “All non-natives who did business in Campo have left, grinding commercial activities to a halt,” Bessekou Chrestien, a boat owner at Campo Wharf, explains in a mournful tone. 
“Before the shutdown, when it was my turn, each of my speed boats made a daily income of between 50,000 FCFA and 100,000 FCFA. Now, everything is lost because all boats that operated from Campo Beach are parked...