Cameroon – Justice: Cameroonian woman attacks Air France for inhuman treatment and racial discrimination.
Air France could soon be taken to justice for charges of inhuman treatment and racial discrimination. This is the wish of Mrs. Gisèle Kamanou Goune (photo) who recently filed a complaint against the French airline company at the Yaoundé-Nsimalen airport police station.
“I had to leave Cameroon on an Air France flight on December 3, 2019. But I couldn’t travel because they refused to take me on board. They sent an alert to all the other airlines so they could refuse selling me their ticket, as if I were a terrorist, “narrates the complainant met by one of our reporters. This Cameroonian, a teacher in the United States of America, is weaving a string of complaints against the French airline. “Air France has a different policy when it comes to flights on the African continent. 1h30 minutes before the flight, they stop the recordings whereas according to international conventions in the matter this should be done at one hour of takeoff. When you ask them why they do it, they say it’s because Africans are always late, ”she denounces.
“They misplace your luggage, treat you like animals; but when you complain, they ask you to go elsewhere, ”she adds, stressing that this treatment is different from that reserved for passengers from other continents. Supporting documents, Mrs. Kamanou recounts her personal misadventures with the company consisting of missed flights, lost or damaged objects and sometimes discourteous comments from officials. “I returned to Cameroon recently on the Air France flight. When I left Paris, I told the company officials that my stay was short, so I wanted to have all my luggage on arrival. They reassured me that the said luggage was on the plane. But curiously once in Yaoundé, I did not find my bags. At the moment, I got angry and I went to the office of a company manager, I made a noise to make myself She adds. .
What next?
Following this incident, she was taken to the airport police service of the Cameroonian capital. “My act was considered, because I wanted the company to file a complaint against me so that I could fight back, and that’s what happened,” she explains. On December 3, Air France allegedly tried to settle this matter in a special way. “When I had to travel again, they called me to the airport police station. There, I was presented with a document in which Air France wanted me to recognize that I was wrong all the way and that I would never do it again. But I refused to sign this confession document. Suddenly, they made me miss the flight, ”she said. Ms. Kamanou therefore, in turn, filed a complaint against Air France for: aggravated violation of the Yalta conventions, discrimination against blacks, disproportionate treatment on flights to Africa.
If she hopes to obtain financial compensation, the complainant mainly wants to initiate collective action to bring the French company to review its service on the continent. “I want to draw the attention of the general management of Air France to all these dysfunctions,” she claims. Our editorial team contacted Mr. Mboueme Ayangma Armand, multi-purpose station agent on duty at Air France Yaoundé. But he did not wish to expand on the subject. “We have filed a complaint and the procedure is underway, so we cannot communicate on the matter,” he said, advising us to go to the agency to meet with a manager.
