Cameroon upgrades military arsenal

The military arsenal of Cameroon's Defence forces has been boosted with 163 operational and tactical vehicles, equipped with multi-head machine guns suitable for all types of combat missions.

The vehicles and motorcycles destined for the central services of the Ministry of Defence and the operational units of the army were handed over to the respective officials by the Defence Minister Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo\'o during a ceremony at the 101 military base in Yaounde.

The Defence Minister used the occasion to announce the creation by Presidential decree of three military training and combat preparation centres in Mindif, Babadjou and Motchebom.

The consignment of 163 vehicles, including 50 Mercedes trucks, 50 Landcruiser pick-up trucks, 18 Fortunas, two Prados and 15 Ford Rangerovers as well as 20 motorbikes, some equipped with quadruple machine guns mounted by Cameroonian soldiers is the latest effort to upgrade and modernise the army.

The Director of Equipment at the Ministry of Defence who presented each of the vehicles described them as robust, stable and suitable for multiple missions on different battle grounds.

The Minister of Defence, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o symbolically handed over the keys of the vehicles to Secretaries of State in the Ministry of Defence, the Army Chief of Staff and the Controller of Military Logistics.

The Defence boss noted that although the threats from Boko Haram have been pushed out of the national borders, they are not completely eliminated given the recent wave of attacks in neighbouring countries and recent invasion of one of our border posts which resulted in heavy causalities on the part of the enemy.

Minister Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o noted that Cameroon is determined to challenge any security threats to its development agenda. In this light, the 21st and 22nd Motorised Infantry Brigades have gone operational in Buea and Bafoussam. The Minister added that 50 trucks will soon anchor in Douala to boost logistics.