Muslims criticize government over Hajj stampede management

Cameroon is one of the countries most affected by the huge Stampede which occurred September 24, 2015 at Mina, near Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Almost 8,000 pilgrims lost their lives in the tragedy.

For now, the exact number of Cameroonian pilgrims who were killed during the stampede is still being awaited. But already, the management of the disaster by the Cameroonian authorities is severely criticized by the Muslim community in the North.

Under anonymity, a senior official of the Muslim community in Yaoundé noted to the newspaper L’œil du Sahel on Thursday, October 08, 2015, that Islam is not considered by the head of State. "Certainly, the country is secular and himself is Christian, but before all that, he must be compassionate," he said.

To the journal, Muslims accused the Government and "the special envoy of the head of State in Jeddah" to express his condolences, Alim Hayatou, Secretary of State for public health.

"He arrived on 05 October 2015, visited hospitals, mortuaries; met the guides then pilgrims, then he presented the condolences of the head of State. Behind all this, it appeared that what mattered for the authorities, was the return with great pomp to the airport in Garoua. The surviving pilgrims are angry and dismayed," noted a caretaker reached by telephone by the newspaper.

To Habib Moussa, resident of Maroua, "political affairs can be treated with disdain, but when it comes to religious affairs, it is always good to put a little form of respect. In our minds, we say that if the head of State had been Muslim, the management of this crisis would have been totally different.

According to L’œil du Sahel, "a number of them, such as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adoum Gargoum, Minister of External Relations in charge of the Islamic world, could raise the level of the compassion of the head of State".

Another recrimination was the actual figures of the dead and missing among 4500 pilgrims. A good number of Muslims accuse the Government of wanting to hide the exact figures of the victims. According to a member of the official delegation of Cameroon, "we crossed the level of 50, this is a fact. We accounted for close to 45 missing, but it would be a miracle that they reappear since investigation has been interrupted. I think Cameroon will register around 102 dead.

Once the figure is made official, the Muslims won't despair that the head of State honours the memory of the victims by decreeing a national mourning, concluded the newspaper.