A group of 10 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are suing French conglomerate Bollore in a French court over commitments it made to residents and workers at its palm oil plantation in Cameroon. The NGOs accuse Bollore of reneging on a 2013 agreement in which it promised to improve the working and living conditions of workers and residents around the plantation.

Officials at Bollore could not be reached for immediate comment.

"Our civil lawsuit aims to ask the French judge to force the Bollore group to comply with the commitments it made in 2013 to the local communities and plantation workers of Socapalm, a Cameroonian palm oil company directly linked to the group," Sherpa, one of the NGOs, said in a statement.

"We are now asking the French judge to order the forced execution of the action plan; it must be considered as a contract that has not yet been executed."