Cameroon: Ambassador Matthew Rycroft's statement to the press
Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations was in Cameroon during the UN Security Council visit to the Lake Chad Basin.
Ambassador Rycroft with the Cameroonian media
Speaking to the Cameroonian media on the 3rd of March while visiting the Cameroonian President, H.E. Paul Biya, the UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and President of the United Nations Security Council for the month of March, Matthew Rycroft, said:
The Security Council has chosen to come to Cameroon and to the other countries of the Lake Chad Basin in order to shine a spotlight on the crises that are taking place in your country and in this region. We’re delighted to have met the Prime Minister and many of his ministers. The messages that we came with were, first of all, that we strongly stand with the Government of Cameroon in tackling the terrorist threat that comes from Boko Haram. We acknowledge the sacrifices made and we encourage the governments of the region to continue to work together and ever more closely together through the Multinational Joint Taskforce which we’ll be visiting later this week.
Secondly, we welcome the way that the Government of Cameroon and the people of Cameroon have taken refugees from Nigeria into their country and into their homes. We welcome the signing yesterday of the tri-partite agreement and we encourage everyone to implement it fully. And thirdly, we noticed how this crisis is not a narrow one. This is a deep and broad set of factors which all come together. It is not possible to tackle terrorism without tackling poverty. It is not possible to tackle terrorism here without tackling climate change. It is not possible to tackle terrorism here without fully respecting and empowering the rights of women and girls. And in particular there is the need for ever more economic investment in the north.
And finally, we came in order to show that this will no longer be a neglected crisis. It is such a large crisis, we are here to shine a spotlight and to raise the attention of the world on your country.