President Paul Biya’s message of condolences and comfort to his peer of Equatorial Guinea, Theodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo was transmitted during an audience granted the heads of Cameroon’s delegation to Equatorial Guinea.
The message was transmitted by the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, Joseph Beti Asomo and Minister of Territorial Administration Atanga Nji Paul who led Cameroon’s humanitarian assistance delegation dispatched to Equatorial Guinea.
During the audience granted the Cameroonian delegation, the President of Equatorial Guinea expressed his gratitude to President Paul Biya for standing by him and the people of Equatorial Guinea at a very trying moment.
On Tuesday March 16, 2021, the Cameroonian delegation was in Bata with a consignment of diverse Humanitarian relief items, different components of the Cameroonian army to help the Equatorial Guinean counterparts better manage the disaster.
The visit to Equatorial Guinea follows an explosion in a military barracks in Bata on March 7, 2021 that took away more than 100 lives and more than 600 wounded and enormous material damage.
The inter ministerial delegation, led by the Minister Delegate at the President in charge of defence Joseph Beti Assomo, and the Minister of Territorial administration Paul Atanga Nji came with three components of Cameroon military, the medical corps with a good stock of equipment and drugs, the Army fire and rescue unit, the military engineer corps which has the expertise in investigating issues relating to explosives.
The humanitarian aid and relief material contained important stock of non food items and non perishable food items from the ministries of trade, livestock fisheries and animal industries, with mattresses and blankets from the Ministry of Territorial administration. The assistance reflects the demand of the host.
The medical team, military engineering corps and army fire rescue unit will stay in Bata for as long as the host needs their services.
With the gesture Cameroon joins a number of countries who have come to the aid of Equatorial Guinea.
The Minister of State for Interior and Minister of Defence for Equatorial Guinea received the relief material on behalf of the President of Equatorial Guinea.
During the ceremony to official handover the Cameroonian Humanitarian Assistance package, the President and Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea made a stop at the Bata stadium where the ceremony was taking place to show their sign of appreciation to the people of Cameroon. The stopover was after the President had received the delegation.
Cameroon’s delegation paid a visit to the site to have an assessment of the magnitude of the disaster where a team of disaster experts from France were already on the site investigating. The experts were please to receive the Cameroonian delegation that will add to the work force and help speed up the process as the debris of the explosion extended to about 15km.
