Land Grabbing at Douala International Airport: 400 Hectares Lost, Flight Safety at Risk

Houses are going up inside Douala International Airport. Not next to it, but on land that belongs to Cameroon's busiest air gateway. Of the airport's 1,218 hectares, around 400 are now occupied by private individuals, some of whom hold land titles carved out of the airport's own title deed. For this investigation, we walked the perimeter with the officers in charge of airport security, went to the prefecture of Wouri, and filmed what pilots see on approach: rooftops, walls and people crossing a runway.

A neighbourhood inside an airport

The inspection starts behind a hangar. A few dozen metres from the aircraft parking area, a multi-storey residential building stands in what airport staff call the zone d'exploitation de l'aviation, the operational zone reserved for aviation. Further on, brick houses, some of them large and clearly expensive, sit on plots that the airport's master plan kept empty for safety margins and future expansion.

Airport security officers describe the pattern. A patch of land stays empty for a while. Then someone moves in at night. By the time officers return, there is a wall, then a roof, then a family with children sleeping inside. "Even the road, they want to occupy it," one officer says as we walk past a fresh foundation. Removing a family is far harder than stopping a first row of bricks.

The result, in the film's words, is "anarchy in concrete": the visible sign of a much deeper problem of land governance around Cameroon's main entry point.

Land titles on public land

How can someone hold a land title on an airport? The answer lies in the Cameroonian land system. Airport land is part of the State's domain. Unless it is formally decommissioned or downgraded, it cannot be sold or registered to a private owner. Douala's airport land has never been either. Yet, as Clive Obi Ntui, security commander (ASUR) at Douala International Airport, explains in the documentary, individuals now hold subdivisions (morcellements) of the airport's own land title:

"Today we find ourselves with individuals who have subdivided the airport's land title. Personal titles on the airport domain. The authority is in court today with certain families." (Clive Obi Ntui, ASUR commander, Douala International Airport)

Some claimants go further. In April, the commander says, the airport received formal requests from individuals asking permission to move the airport's security fence, because they claim plots behind it. His warning is blunt: if nothing is done, the airport "would no longer be operable, from a security point of view as well as a safety point of view."

At the prefecture of Wouri, the prefect, Benjamin Mboutou, points to where the problem starts. The fence along the runway is not the boundary of the airport: the airport domain extends well beyond it. He also names those who make the paperwork possible:

"We must also condemn the complicity of our traditional chiefs, and sometimes, I would say, a few corrupt officials in the administration. In a public space, someone ends up with a land title." (Benjamin Mboutou, Prefect of Wouri)

People on the runway

Encroachment is not only a land-law issue. Access to the runway is strictly limited to aircraft, yet neighbouring residents regularly cross it on foot, without any knowledge of civil aviation safety rules. The consequence has a technical name: a go-around (remise de gaz). An aircraft is on final approach, the crew spots a "foreign body" on the runway, and the pilot has to climb away and circle until the runway is clear.

Every go-around costs fuel and time, but more importantly it is a sign that the margins built into aviation safety are being eaten away. As the film puts it, safety and security, the two sacred principles of aviation, "are struggling to take off" at Douala.

Why every rooftop matters: the MANPADS risk

The most serious warning in the documentary concerns MANPADS, man-portable air-defence systems, or shoulder-fired missiles. Aircraft are most vulnerable during take-off and landing, when they are low and slow. An airport's security plan therefore assumes that the ground under the approach and departure paths is controlled.

In Douala, that assumption no longer holds. Houses stand all around the airport, and airport security cannot identify everyone living in them. "Anyone could stay in their room and wait for an aircraft on approach or take-off," the commander says. That is why, in the technical language of aviation security, almost every house around the airport is now classified as a potential rocket-launcher site. Given the security threats Cameroon faces, he describes this as "a terrible threat" to civil aviation.

The ICAO audit and the blacklist threat

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) checks every member State against its standards through two programmes: the Universal Security Audit Programme (USAP-CMA) for aviation security and the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) for safety. An audit looks at the country as a whole, not just its best airport.

The commander makes that point directly. Yaoundé-Nsimalen may be fully protected, but if Douala is not at the same level, "it is Cameroon that will be blacklisted, Cameroon that will be declared an unsafe destination." For a country whose economy depends on Douala's port and airport, a poor audit result would hurt airlines, insurers, investors and travellers alike.

"The texts are there. It is implementation that is lacking. And when implementation is lacking, it is the human factor." (Clive Obi Ntui, ASUR commander)

The forgotten runway and the fuel depot

The investigation also goes to what many people wrongly call the "old runway", designated 04/22 in the film. According to airport officials, it was never closed: it is still used by light and general aviation. Yet its runway safety area has been swallowed by houses, and "the standards are no longer respected there."

The same problem appears near the fuel installations. The airport's hydrant system, which pipes fuel to aircraft stands, had problems in previous years. It has been repaired but still needs certification before it returns to service. Right next to the fuel tanks, women grill fish and corn over open fires and fry doughnuts. Officials remind us that a leak has happened before. They warn that an explosion at the depot could have an impact reaching more than 8 km.

This matches what the CCAA itself has reported. In a 2023 statement on the Douala airport domain, the authority wrote that "an invaded airport domain represents a threat to aviation security." It also said residents near the fuel station and the security fence were carrying out activities capable of causing fires.

Eviction, compensation or dialogue?

The administration says it is choosing persuasion before force. In collaboration with the prefecture, the aeronautical authority has held meetings with chefs de bloc (neighbourhood heads) and gone door to door. Some residents living too close to the security fence agreed to demolish their own structures to respect a 7-metre setback.

The prefect is clear on the principle. "Public space is our space, all of us. Why should one individual take what belongs to all of us and call it his property?" A person who wants to use public land can ask the Ministry of State Property for an authorisation and pay a fee. But no authorisation can be granted to live inside airport or port zones. He recalls that the State had to clear an entire residential quarter from the port area: "a neighbourhood inside a port, that is something never seen anywhere in the world."

Two eviction phases have already been carried out at Douala airport. A third is planned, which the prefect hopes will be peaceful, with the CCAA, led by Director General Paule Assoumou Koki, committed to supporting affected families. The CCAA paid social support to about a hundred residents of the New-Town Aéroport neighbourhood in September 2023, as the final step before that third phase.

Why this matters in 2026

The issue went to the top of the government's agenda this week. On 23 September 2026, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute chaired a cabinet council devoted to the securing of airport land. It covers five airports: Yaoundé-Nsimalen, Douala, Garoua, Maroua-Salak and Koutaba. According to press reports, the plan has two phases:

• a census of irregular occupants and clarification of boundaries;
• physical demarcation, fencing, regularisation of titles and recovery of occupied plots.

The same reports say it comes just ahead of an ICAO aviation security audit scheduled for 26 November to 9 December 2026.

The problem is not new. As early as 2018, Investir au Cameroun reported the same 400 hectares of occupied land around Douala airport. The question now is whether the new programme will finally close the gap between the law and what is happening on the ground.

Related reading: Cameroon's ports: how Douala, Kribi, Limbé and Garoua carry the country's trade.

FAQ

How much of Douala airport's land is illegally occupied?

About 400 of the airport's 1,218 hectares are occupied by private homes, businesses and plots, according to airport officials interviewed in the documentary.

Who manages security at Douala International Airport?

The Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA) is the aeronautical authority responsible for aviation safety and security in Cameroon. At Douala, the airport security command (ASUR) is led by Commander Clive Obi Ntui.

Why are houses near a runway dangerous?

They put people and obstacles in the runway safety areas, lead to runway incursions that force go-arounds, and create uncontrolled sites from which an aircraft could be attacked with a shoulder-fired missile (MANPADS) during take-off or landing.

Can Cameroon be blacklisted by ICAO?

ICAO audits assess the whole country. Serious unresolved security or safety deficiencies can lead to a country being flagged, which damages its reputation with airlines and regulators. An ICAO aviation security audit of Cameroon is scheduled for late 2026.

What is the government doing about it?

A cabinet council on 23 September 2026 launched a programme to reconstitute and secure airport land at five airports, including Douala: a census of occupants, demarcation, fencing, regularisation of titles and recovery of occupied plots, alongside awareness campaigns and social support for affected families.

Sources: interviews and field footage recorded for the documentary with the airport security command (ASUR) of Douala International Airport and the Prefecture of Wouri; Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority; ICAO USAP-CMA; press reports on the cabinet council of 23 September 2026 (237online, Camer.be). Figures from the film are as stated by the officials interviewed.

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