Cameroon Hopes for Stability as CAR President Is Sworn In

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON - Cameroon Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said chaos in the Central African Republic has stalled development efforts and peace initiatives in Cameroon. Ngute met Monday night with Faustin-Archange Touadéra before Tuesday’s second inauguration of the C.A.R. leader.

Ngute said Cameroon President Paul Biya, who sent him to Bangui for the inauguration, has hope that Touadéra’s leadership will bring back peace to the C.A.R. and, by extension, to Cameroon. He said both Cameroon and the C.A.R. can never have peace or develop if there is a crisis in any of the two states. He said the two countries are neighbors that must accept one another’s citizens in case there is a crisis. Ngute said Cameroon and the C.A.R. both have a common economic interest in the road linking Cameroon’s coastal city of Douala to Bangui, capital of the landlocked C.A.R. He said the road must be protected to stop any rupture in the supply of goods and services in the two countries.