Cameroon Unions Call for National Strike over Fuel Subsidies Cut

Twelve trade union groups in Cameroon have called for a national strike from July 28 to protest cuts in fuel subsidies that have pushed up pump prices and transport costs.

Oil and cocoa-producing Cameroon removed some subsidies on petrol, diesel and cooking gas on July 1. Petrol prices rose 14 percent, diesel prices 15 percent and gas 8 percent.

The government took measures to soften the impact of the cuts, such as increasing base salaries for government workers and the military. But the groups, representing Cameroon's main unions, said those were not enough and demanded the government revoke the cuts.

The workers union confederation said it had not received a response from the government to a July 2 strike notice.

"So we are asking all public and semi-public service workers, those in the private and informal sector of the economy to mobilise for the general strike," Jean Amougou Zambo, president of union confederation CSTC, said in a statement.

The International Monetary Fund has for years urged cutting the subsidies, which cost around $600 million a year. But Cameroon has repeatedly delayed the move, after a violent 2008 taxi strike over fuel and food prices left more than 100 dead.

(Reporting by Tansa Musa; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Larry King)