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And authorities in Yaounde have over the past days launched a sweeping demolition drive, deploying bulldozers amid tight security to raze illegal street kiosks, makeshift homes and anything that is vaguely an eyesore.
Pierre Nene, who ran a profitable mobile telephone stall in the city centre, was among those hit and is now twiddling his thumbs.
"We were not warned about this operation," the 32-year-old said. "I lost two million CFA francs (3,943 dollars/3,050 euros). Many others lost everything and now find themselves without any work or earnings."
Nene added: "Because the pope is coming, we have to clean up the city."
But Yaounde's mayor, Gilbert Tsimi Evouna, argued that the drive had been planned months earlier and had nothing to do with the papal visit.
Others disagree.
"Tsimi Evouna is demolishing in the name of the pope," the private Le Messager newspaper said.
Locals say the areas targeted lie along the routes the pontiff will take during his stay until Friday when he leaves for Angola.
Papal visits to Africa have in the past stirred similar controversy. In nearby Ivory Coast, the country's founder president Felix Houphouet-Boigny splurged some 300 million dollars to build a giant church in his birthplace.
The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro, built with the finest Italian marble and featuring huge stained glass windows made in France, is clearly inspired by Saint Peter's in the Vatican but not an outright replica.
The cornerstone was laid on August 10, 1985, and it was consecrated on September 10, 1990 by Pope John Paul II, Benedict's predecessor, who however insisted that a hospital be built nearby as a precondition for his attendance.
In Cameroon, Benedict's programme includes a meeting with representatives of 52 African states preparing a synod on Africa to be held at the Vatican in October on the theme of "The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace."
According to Vatican statistics, the number of African Catholics grew by three percent in 2007 -- despite competition from evangelical Protestant denominations and Islam -- while populations remained stable elsewhere in the world.
The pope will also meet with Muslim religious leaders in the French- and English-speaking country, where relations between Muslims and Christians are good in stark contrast to neighbouring Nigeria which has been blighted by sectarian violence.
He will also visit a centre for the handicapped set up by a Canadian missionary -- a former Montreal archbishop who resigned after 17 years in 1967 to help the poorest of the poor in Cameroon.
Paul-Emile Leger, who worked with lepers and set up a home for the rehabilitation of the handicapped, said when he announced his shock decision that he wanted to "be a simple missionary in the midst of the poorest in the Third World."
The pontiff will deliver seven speeches and homilies in Cameroon, where he is expected to touch on conflicts scourging the world's poorest continent, including the situation in Darfur, Somalia and the Great Lakes region.
Cameroon's veteran President Paul Biya was educated in a Catholic mission and studied in a seminary. But he then went on to France for higher studies and opted for an administrative and political career instead of the priesthood.
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Image from The PostNewsLine.com
Pierre Nene, who ran a profitable mobile telephone stall in the city centre, was among those hit and is now twiddling his thumbs.
"We were not warned about this operation," the 32-year-old said. "I lost two million CFA francs (3,943 dollars/3,050 euros). Many others lost everything and now find themselves without any work or earnings."
Nene added: "Because the pope is coming, we have to clean up the city."
But Yaounde's mayor, Gilbert Tsimi Evouna, argued that the drive had been planned months earlier and had nothing to do with the papal visit.
Others disagree.
"Tsimi Evouna is demolishing in the name of the pope," the private Le Messager newspaper said.
Locals say the areas targeted lie along the routes the pontiff will take during his stay until Friday when he leaves for Angola.
Papal visits to Africa have in the past stirred similar controversy. In nearby Ivory Coast, the country's founder president Felix Houphouet-Boigny splurged some 300 million dollars to build a giant church in his birthplace.
The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro, built with the finest Italian marble and featuring huge stained glass windows made in France, is clearly inspired by Saint Peter's in the Vatican but not an outright replica.
The cornerstone was laid on August 10, 1985, and it was consecrated on September 10, 1990 by Pope John Paul II, Benedict's predecessor, who however insisted that a hospital be built nearby as a precondition for his attendance.
In Cameroon, Benedict's programme includes a meeting with representatives of 52 African states preparing a synod on Africa to be held at the Vatican in October on the theme of "The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace."
According to Vatican statistics, the number of African Catholics grew by three percent in 2007 -- despite competition from evangelical Protestant denominations and Islam -- while populations remained stable elsewhere in the world.
The pope will also meet with Muslim religious leaders in the French- and English-speaking country, where relations between Muslims and Christians are good in stark contrast to neighbouring Nigeria which has been blighted by sectarian violence.
He will also visit a centre for the handicapped set up by a Canadian missionary -- a former Montreal archbishop who resigned after 17 years in 1967 to help the poorest of the poor in Cameroon.
Paul-Emile Leger, who worked with lepers and set up a home for the rehabilitation of the handicapped, said when he announced his shock decision that he wanted to "be a simple missionary in the midst of the poorest in the Third World."
The pontiff will deliver seven speeches and homilies in Cameroon, where he is expected to touch on conflicts scourging the world's poorest continent, including the situation in Darfur, Somalia and the Great Lakes region.
Cameroon's veteran President Paul Biya was educated in a Catholic mission and studied in a seminary. But he then went on to France for higher studies and opted for an administrative and political career instead of the priesthood.
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Image from The PostNewsLine.com
