A team of United Nations Security Council Ambassadors who travelled to Cameroon to assess the security situation in the Lake Chad Basin have been received in audience at the Unity Palace by the Head of State His Excellency Paul BIYA on Friday 3 March 2017. Led by the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, Mr. Mathew RYCROFT, they UN delegation to Cameroon had discussions with the President of the Republic on various aspects of their mission, which include security, humanitarian and development objectives.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the audience, Mathew RYCROFT expressed his gratitude to the Cameroon Government and people for their efforts to fight terrorism and to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees in the affected area. “We have been looking at the factors that have contributed to the complexity of the crisis. The environment, poverty, lack of development, issues related to good governance… We look forward to continue working with the Government of Cameroon in that direction”.

The UN Ambassadors also promised to step up humanitarian assistance and draw the attention of the international community to the gravity of the situation in the Lake Chad Basin.

The Head of State offered the medal of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Independence and Reunification to each of the Ambassadors at the end of the audience. President Paul BIYA was assisted at the audience by some of his close collaborators, notably the Minister Delegate at the Presidency of the Republic in Charge of Defence, Joseph BETI ASSOMO; the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, René Emmanuel SADI; the Minister Delegate at the Ministry of External Relations in Charge of Commonwealth Affairs, DION NGUTE; and Cameroon’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Michel TOMMO MONTHE.