People risking train travel face abuse from bogus officials

People who are once again risking the journey by goods train from Point Noire, the economic capital of the Republic of Congo, to the capital Brazzaville, are being forced to pay bribes to bogus officials, an official of the train company Congo-Ocean, told IRIN. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said young soldiers dressed as civilians were demanding money from travellers on goods trains that are not officially meant to take passengers. During the cycles of fighting between government forces and "Ninja" rebels, train travel and the movement of goods through the country were seriously disrupted. The government and rebels, led by the Rev Frederic Bitsangou, alias Pasteur Ntoumi, signed an agreement on 17 March to restore peace to the Pool region, which was particularly affected by the last round of hostilities. "Conditions are difficult," Jonas Kombila, a traveller, told IRIN, adding that bogus officials demanded more money from people carrying luggage. "From the station of Tie-Tie soldiers carrying false orders make the law," he said. Another traveller, Julien Ganga, said that "Ninja" rebels were also exploiting travellers. "These robbers don't demand any particular sum, they just take whatever satisfies them," he said. "If they don't get enough they take goods." The "bogus soldiers", Ganga said, got off the trains at Mfilou station, on the edge of Brazzaville, to escape military police patrols.