NAIROBI, March 18. /TASS/. Russia supports Cameroon in its anti-terrorist efforts, Russian Ambassador to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, Georgy Todua, said in an interview with TASS.

"Our country traditionally assists many African states in maintaining security and stability both through military-technical cooperation and in training national personnel. Cooperation with Cameroon is no exception. This is intended, in the first place, to help eliminate various threats, including the terrorist [threat] hampering the sustainable development of the country," the ambassador said.

He added that the government of Cameroon is now trying to put its national economy on the right track by improving the investment climate and cross-border exchanges with neighboring countries and removing barriers to trade. Currently, Cameroon is also facing a number of security challenges in the north of the country, where scattered units of the terrorist group Boko Haram and the West African branch of the Islamic State terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia) are still present.

"In 2015, units from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Benin and Niger, as part of a joint multinational force, began an operation to combat these groups. Despite the situation improving a little, it is too early to talk about the end of the period of instability in the region around Lake Chad," the ambassador said.

According to him, the situation remains difficult in the South-West and North-West regions of Cameroon, where since 2017 there have been terrorist attacks by separatist illegal armed groups, claiming the lives of both government officials and civilians. In 2024 alone, two terrorist attacks have already been recorded, Todua added.

"The problem of refugees from the neighboring Central African Republic, who are concentrated in the Cameroonian border Eastern region, requires a solution. According to official authorities, there are currently up to 500,000 internally displaced persons in Cameroon," the diplomat said.

In the meantime, thanks to the joint efforts of the states of the subregion, it was possible to significantly reduce the threat of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, although the situation in this area should constantly be under the microscope of the relevant services of African countries, Todua believes.