CAMEROON: Oil pipeline ruins fishing, creates unrealistic expectations

At 83 years old Emmanuel Kouang is the oldest person in Ebome. Even now he leans forward with his fists clenched and his rhumy eyes wide in remembered excitement. "They lived in the rocks out to sea. But they've gone now". The rocks have vanished too, and with them the villagers' main source of livelihood. The reef was a rich feeding ground for fish caught by the villagers. For generations villagers relied upon its natural abundance of marine life. But their way of life was disrupted four years ago by the construction of an oil pipeline. News of the project caused great excitement. The pipeline came, but the pipe dreams did not.