Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the security situation in Cameroon during the covid-19 pandemic.

The UK Government remains deeply concerned about the situation in the North-West and South-West (Anglophone) regions of Cameroon. As the UK highlighted at a United Nations Security Council briefing on Central Africa, on 12 June, high levels of violence are having tragic consequences on civilians. These could be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UK has contributed approximately £540,000 to UNICEF to support with the COVID-19 response and related water, sanitation and hygiene activities in Cameroon. We have also contributed approximately £60,000 to the Centre Pasteur Cameroun to decentralise COVID-19 testing across the country, in support of the Government of Cameroon's National Response Plan. On 20 May the UK Government also announced investment of up to £20 million in the new African Union COVID-19 Response Fund, which will be used to tackle coronavirus, and save lives, including in Cameroon.

The UK welcomes the UN Secretary-General's call in February on armed actors to refrain from attacks against civilians in Cameroon. We also welcome his call on 23 March for an immediate global ceasefire in armed conflicts, and his appeal to open up spaces for diplomacy, protect the most vulnerable, allow humanitarian access, and focus our collective energies on fighting COVID-19.

On 19 May I spoke to the Prime Minister of Cameroon and discussed the need for a peaceful solution to the conflict. It is imperative that people are not prohibited by the violence from accessing testing or wider humanitarian assistance. We continue to call for an end to the violence in the North-West and South-West regions, and have shared experiences on conflict resolution with the Government of Cameroon. We will continue to work with international partners to support the restoration of peace in these regions, at the same time as we support Cameroon, and other African partners, to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on peace and security.