Mvog-Betsi Poultry Complex : Transformed Into Slum For IDPs

In Yaoundé’s Mvog-Betsi neighborhood, what was once a centerpiece of Cameroon’s poultry production, Complexe Avicole de Mvog-Betsi (CAM.SA) has become a haunting shadow of its past, a crumbling relic occupied not by chickens, but by persons. For the past two years, internally displaced persons (IDPs) fleeing violence in the North West and South West regions have made the abandoned feed mills and chicken houses of the Complexe Avicole de Mvog-Betsi their makeshift homes.
The poultry complex, which spans 24 hectares out of a 90-hectare government-owned property, is caught in a delicate tug-of-war. On one side, former director and administrator, Ahmadou Moussa, now President of Honor of IPAVIC (Interprofession Avicole du Cameroun), is pushing to revive poultry operations. On the other, 18 displaced families cling to what little shelter they’ve found inside its deteriorating walls. Their presence is illegal, but their reality is hard to ignore. The living conditions are dire. The buildings, never designed for human habitation, have been crudely transformed. Inside the feed mills, heat is felt through rusted zinc rooftops with little or no ventilation, turning rooms into ovens by midday. Spaces meant for storing chicken feed now serve as overcrowded living quarters, partitioned by thin plywood sheets that offer no soundproofing, no privacy. Dresses and undergarments dry on idle feed mill machinery. Outside, women stir pots over three-stone fires, the acrid smoke blending with the stench from a single, makeshift toilet, patched together with plastic wrappers and old banners. The floor remains untarred, dusty in the dry season, muddy in the rains. Children play barefoot, dodging metal scraps and broken equipment. There’s no running water, barely electricity.  “One day we heard noise in the feed mills and decided to check, we discovered little cubicles made of plywood with children everywhere and families” Oscar Asongwe, the technical director of CAM.SA says, his voice tinged with both concern and frustration. “We are not insensitive to ...