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dam-l Cameroon dam danger/LS

Heavy rains threaten
dams in north Cameroon
07:42 p.m Oct 20, 1999 Eastern

YAOUNDE, Oct 20 (Reuters) -
Unusually heavy rains have raised
concern about two dams in northern
Cameroon, where water released
from the reservoir behind one of the
dams has already destroyed homes
and crops, local officials say.

``If it continues to rain as it is at the
moment, I fear the worst,'' an
official in the governor's office in
the Far North Province capital
Garoua told Reuters by telephone
on Wednesday.

The official said that authorities
were concerned about a build-up in
pressure on the Lagdo Dam on the
Benue River and said that villagers
had lost homes and crops
downstream when engineers
opened sluice gates to ease the
pressure.

The dam, built with Chinese help in
the 1970s, provides power for
northern Cameroon and Chad's
capital N'Djamena. Fishermen
migrated to the area in the 1980s,
drawn by the reservoir. Migrant
farmers have settled there as well.

Local officials further north in
Maga talk of a worrying build-up of
water in the reservoir behind a dam
built in 1978 to promote rice
cultivation. They say that the Maga
dam has developed cracks and
question whether it will hold.

``The torrential rain is continuing to
fall on the region. The threat
therefore remains,'' Felix Nkana
Bekek, a civil engineer working for
the SEMRY rice development
authority, told Reuters by telephone
on Monday.

SEMRY Director Yaye Zigla said
that rainfall was double the average.

The government provided extra
cash for maintenance two weeks
ago and assured the public that
there was no risk of the Maga Dam
collapsing.


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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
        and Editor, World Rivers Review
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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