YAOUNDE, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon's House Speaker of National Assembly Cavaye Yeguie Djibril on Tuesday disclosed an urgent need to collect illicit weapons possessed by civilians in the central African nation amid rising insecurity.
Cavaye said, the circulation of illicit weapons was an "increasingly disturbing phenomenon" that poses a threat to the security of the country.
"Reports at our disposal talk of nearly seven thousand illegal weapons in circulation," Cavaye said during an opening plenary of the June session of the National Assembly.
"It is imperative that order be restored in this area, that the system of circulation and possession of weapons in Cameroon be restored," he added.
The declaration came following security reports that point to an upsurge in criminal activities in the capital Yaounde, and in the country's two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest where a prolonged separatist conflict is in progress.
In May, Cameroon's Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji banned the sale of weapons for self-defence while stressing on the need for the identification of gun holders in the country. Enditem
