Douala, the Cameroonian port city home to the African Union (AU) Continental Logistics Base (CLB), has and is a one-stop hub for deploying security, health and humanitarian supplies as well as related equipment.
As what AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Bankole Adeoye calls “a critical component” of the African Standby Force (ASF), it has on its recent and current “client” list the Multinational Joint Task Force against Boko Haram (MNJTF) in the wider Lake Chad region, the SADC (Southern African Development Community) Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM), the AU Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and the Somali government. Taken together, an AU statement has Adeoya saying, the CLB is assisting in making “a significant impact degrading terrorist groups on the ground”.
The statement follows a four-day working visit to the CLB which saw Adeoye, among others, “informing decisions for future developments and upcoming projects”. One of these is an AU medical training centre on the CLB site.
The Ambassador met with Dieudonné Ivaha Diboua, Cameroon Littoral Region Governor; Polycarpe Banlog, Regional Council President; Roger Mbassa Ndine, Douala Mayor; Air Commodore Eba Bede Benoit, Commander of the Second Joint Military Region, and Hamilton Sophrey, Representative of the Director General of Customs. They discussed improving mechanisms to ensure the effective deployment of CLB equipment continentally.
The CLB was taken into service in 2018.
Adeoye, as per the statement, called on AU member states to redouble efforts toward full operationalisation of the ASF noting particularly the need for airlift. “Strategic lift with the support of member states and partners is critical to move these equipment and resources to conflict theatres, where they are most needed.”
He thanked AU strategic partners the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Türkiye and the Republic of Korea (RoK) for “enormous support” to date in making the CLB workable.
