East Region : Defence Minister Communes With Soldiers

The Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, Joseph Beti Assomo, was in the East Region over the weekend for his traditional end-of-year trip out of Yaounde to commune with members of the defence and security forces in that part of the country.
The trip that spanned December 31, 2022 through January 2, 2023, took the Defence Minister to the towns of Bertoua and Garoua-Boulai where he met and shared pleasant moments with the men in uniform who have been burning the midnight candle to maintain internal peace and the country’s territorial integrity.
During the first lap of the visit in Garoua-Boulai on December 31, the Minister Delegate watched the Head of State's end-of-year message to the nation at the military garrison there, after which he stayed late into the night with the soldiers to have a toast of the crossover night.
Beti Assomo and top officials of his entourage, namely the Chief of Defence staff, Lt General René Claude Meka, all raised their glasses in ecstasy at exactly 00:01 as they entered the new year 2023 in the company of defence and security forces in a part of the country where they have been struggling to beat a litany of security challenges. Garoua-Boulai is a border locality close to the Central African Republic. The town and its environs have over the years been a theatre of security disturbances by rebels on the other side of the border. The area is also host to a huge refugee settlement, which is equally a recipe for security concerns.
Apart from crossing over into the new year in the company of d...