By Tansa Musa

YAOUNDE, Dec 13 (Reuters) - A group of 80 Cameroonians fleeing harassment by security forces and locals in Equatorial Guinea has been airlifted to Yaounde, state radio said on Thursday.

The contingent were among hundreds of Cameroonians who sought refuge in the consulate in Equatorial Guinea's second city of Bata to avoid violence sparked by two bloody bank heists eight days ago by gunmen who fled in speedboats to Cameroon.

The Hercules C130 plane carrying the evacuees, most of them women, arrived just before midnight. Many passengers burst into tears or raised their fingers in signs of victory on the tarmac, before testifying to beatings and robberies.

Some 300 others are still waiting in the Bata consulate to be evacuated, Cameroonian authorities said. Diplomats from Equatorial Guinean said the tensions were subsiding.

"We are happy that the situation is returning to normal," said Equatorial Guinea's ambassador in Yaounde, Florence Mangue Maye Ela. "We are also happy that the two heads of state have resolved to guarantee the stability of relations and fraternity during this period."

Equatorial Guinean security forces had only targeted foreigners living illegally without residence permits, she said.

Thousands of Cameroonians were forced to abandon their homes and businesses and seek shelter in diplomatic premises in Bata and the island capital Malabo after police backed by the local population launched a crackdown on foreigners. Most of them have now returned to their homes.

Cameroon's External Relations Minister Henri Eyebe Ayissi said most of those evacuated did not have residency permits and plans were being finalised to return home the 300 Cameroonians without papers waiting at the Bata consulate.

Many returnees interviewed by local media told of violent beatings and the loss of everything they owned.

"We've gone through hell," Augustin Feutmba, a 36-year-old restaurant owner in Bata, told the official daily Cameroon Tribune, exhibiting injuries on his neck and arm. "I can't understand what Cameroonians have done to merit such treatment in Equatorial Guinea."

A former Spanish colony, Equatorial Guinea has been transformed from one of Africa's most backward countries by the discovery of large offshore oil deposits in the 1990s, which attracted tens of thousands of migrant workers, mainly from neighbouring Cameroon.

Split between the lush volcanic island of Bioko and the dense jungles of the mainland territory of Bata, it remains one of Africa's most insular nations and its people are openly distrustful of foreigners.

In 2004, Ghana ordered the evacuation of its nationals when dozens were locked up and hundreds took refuge in its consulate after authorities blamed foreigners for a thwarted coup attempt. (Writing by Daniel Flynn, Editing by Matthew Jones)

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