The two nations have signed the Cooperation Agreement on the modalities of coordination and joint action on cross-border defence and security.
The deal was sealed in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on July 21, 2020 after a high level security meeting chaired by the Defence Ministers of both countries.
A communique that sanctioned the Malabo deliberations Indicates that the Agreement was a significant expression of the high level of political dialogue and coorporation in defence and security issues between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
The two delegations lauded the efforts of both countries to strengthen the defence and security strategy at the common border and also examined mechanisms on how the legal document signed would be implemented on the field.
Through the Agreement, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea have decided to bury their hatchet and fight their common enemies, who are poachers, pirates in the Gulf of Guinea and armed groups terrorising and looting their respective populations.
The Border Crisis
Clearly, the border crisis between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea has existed for years with both countries pointing accusing fingers at each other.
Equatorial Guinea has constantly accused Cameroon of failing to prevent her citizens from illegally migrating into the country.
This has led to a series of border closures by the Guinean Government including the maltreatment of Cameroonians residing in the country.
In 2017, Equatorial Guinea sealed her border with Cameroon (in Kye-Ossi) for six (6) months, following a failed coup in the country after authorities arrested some assailants around the common border believe to be the coup plotters.
Tension has always existed between both countries at the common border in Kye-Ossi.
In 2019 it took a different dimension when President Theodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo ordered the erection of a cross-border wall between the two nations.
The Government of Cameroon did not find it funny and accused the neighbours of intrusion.
Military officers were immediately dispatched to secure the border, and confrontations which resulted into deaths.
In 2020, as the two nations worked towards resolving the skirmishes at the border, dialogue was eminent and the construction of the wall was suspended.
The first high level security meeting on the cross-border crisis held in Yaounde from June 29-30, 2020 at the Yaounde Hilton Hotel chaired by Defence Ministers from both country.
Joseph Beti Assomo for Cameroon and Leandro Bakele Ncogo for Equatorial Guinea.
It was the same delegation that met in Malabo and sealed the deal to defuse the cross-border standoff.
