Beitrag vom 20.04.2022

The Africa Report

BAD TIMING

Are Cameroon & Russia moving towards a military rapprochement?

By Georges Dougueli, Mathieu Olivier

In recent days, Joseph Beti Assomo, Cameroon's defence minister, made a discreet but remarkable visit to Moscow to sign a new military cooperation agreement between the two countries. This symbolic trip comes at a time when the Kremlin has relaunched its offensive in Ukraine.

On 12 April, Cameroon and Russia signed a new military cooperation agreement. Joseph Beti Assomo, the presidency’s minister delegate in charge of defence, had left Yaounde the day before for Moscow, where he met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoogou. The latter, who is part of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, initialled the 13-page document on Russia’s behalf.