France and Cameroon are committed to strengthening bilateral cooperation to combat terrorism

PARIS, July 26. (DPA/EP) –

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and his Cameroonian counterpart, Paul Biya, have opted this Tuesday to strengthen cooperation between the authorities of both countries in order to more effectively combat terrorism in the African region of the Lake Chad basin.

The French head of state — immersed in a tour of Africa in the framework of which he will visit Benin and Guinea-Bissau — met this Tuesday with President Biya in the capital of Cameroon, Yaoundé.

Thus, as Macron has announced, and at the request of Cameroon, both countries have planned the expansion of their cooperation in security and defense matters, especially with regard to troop training.

The Lake Chad basin, located in the center-north of the African continent, covers seven countries, mainly the nation of the same name, although it also includes territories of Algeria, the Central African Republic, Niger, Nigeria or Sudan.

On the other hand, in the context of the war in Ukraine, Macron has put special interest in warning of the influence that Russia has over African countries, an aspect that worries Paris, but which, according to him, should alert the own nations of the continent.

At this point, he has brought up the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary company, involved in armed conflicts and which currently has a growing presence in Africa, where it has influence in the Central African Republic and aspires to spread throughout the Sahel region.

According to Macron, the presence of the Wagner Group in Africa does not respond to cases of cooperation in its most traditional sense, but rather Moscow makes use of paramilitaries to strengthen the power of weak governments and military junta in certain parts of the African continent in exchange for materials. cousins.

President Macron, accompanied by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Armed Forces and Foreign Relations, as well as the French Secretary of State for Development, began his trip to Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau on Monday.

After stopping in Cameroon, the Elysée tenant plans to travel to Benin, a country that Paris considers “increasingly connected to Sahelian issues.” Finally, Macron will end his tour in Guinea-Bissau on July 29, a country that has just assumed the rotating presidency of the Economic Community of West African States.