Cameroon to deploy 750 troops to CAR

Cameroon is preparing the deployment of up to 750 troops currently stationed at the 21st regiment called in its french acronym "génie militaire" in Douala in a bid to boost security in war-torn Central African Republic(CAR).

The soldiers will benefit from a revaluation of their premiums and will be subject to the signing a deployment contract

The Cameroonian contingent be joining multi-dimensional UN Mission for Stabilization in Central African Republic (minusca) as part of a military cooperation agreement, according to a statement made by the Cameroonian Minister for Defence, Joseph Beti Assomo, during a visit to the soldiers at their Base in Douala-Cameroon on Thursday, July 21,2016.

The soldiers will be subject to the signing of individual contracts, and they will benefit from a revaluation of their monthly premium of about 80%, moving up from 250,000 to 450,000 FCFA.

The revaluation comes as a gesture to boost the morals of the soldiers. In September of 2015, some 200 military returnees from Central Africa Republic had staged a protest at the gates of the Ministry of Defence Yaounde, the Cameroonian capital, to demand the payment of up to eight months of unpaid premiums for the period from February to September 2014.

In panic, the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, had to arrange for the immediate payment,in anticipation of reimbursement from the African Union (AU),.

The Central African Republic is just beginning to emerge from a civil war that started in 2012 and quickly culminated in the ouster of then-President François Bozizé by predominately Muslim rebels from the north, known as the Séléka, before devolving into tit-for-tat massacres pitting Christians against Muslims.

Although the country recently held its first presidential elections since the coup, in February 2016, and inaugurated a new president in April, fifty-nine-year-old Faustin-Archange Touadéra, it remains mired in factional violence and humanitarian crisis.