A direct appeal for unwavering vigilance
In a passionate editorial broadcast on Saturday, September 19, 2026, during the program “Honneur et fidélité,” Atonfack Guemo, Director of Communication at the Ministry of Defense, issued a powerful call for vigilance. His message, rooted in the concept of global peace and security, urges all Cameroonians to remain alert and patriotic. But what does this mean for a nation already grappling with multiple threats?
The global landscape of violence
Frozen conflicts are thawing, ongoing wars drag on, and security crises persist. Across nearly every continent, the sound of weapons grows louder and more frequent—whether in clashes between regular armies, asymmetric operations, or the low-intensity but highly lethal gun violence that claims over 200,000 lives each year worldwide.
This globalization of armed violence breeds a palpable sense of permanent insecurity, one that can quickly spiral into psychosis, especially in countries targeted by international terrorism whose destructive capacity only grows despite unanimous condemnations and sanctions.
Attacks, raids, blockade attempts, and hostage-taking are multiplying. All this is made possible by the ease with which terrorists acquire operational means on land, in the air, at sea, and in cyberspace. There’s no need to ask who or why—our enemies are sustained by our friends, for our own good.
Insecurity beyond the battlefield
At the same time, other forms of insecurity are spreading into new areas of human activity. Industrial espionage targets businesses; wildlife, plant, and mineral resources are plundered; communication networks are sabotaged, destroyed, or diverted. Politics, education, and centuries-old cultural norms are also subject to distortion. These are all attacks—violence against people, institutions, and the environment. And at this rate, no country seems powerful enough to avoid being a target.
We Cameroonians are on the front lines, forced to fight hard to survive the multiple aggressions that converge on our nation.
Cameroon’s multifaceted battle
Our country devotes enormous economic, material, and human resources to blocking the fallout from instability on its eastern borders and to smothering transnational projects of obscurantist extremism in the north. And, as if that weren’t enough, Cameroon is also working to drain the abscess of secessionist ambitions in its western regions.
In this dangerous global environment, Cameroon is doing its best to prevent, contain, and if necessary, reduce the occurrence and severity of attacks targeting it. So far, the results of our efforts are rather satisfactory, though outbreaks of violence still occur in some parts of the national territory. In this noble struggle, the support of our compatriots for the professional defense workers is invaluable.
The imperative of constant vigilance
Nevertheless, we must continue to exercise vigilance at every moment, in every corner of the country, and in all domains, to thwart the maneuvers of an adversary from whom we can expect neither respite nor mercy.
Let us remain patriots, let us stay vigilant, let us definitively love Cameroon.
