Government denies involvement in illicit arms deal

Cameroon’s government has denied concluding any transactions with a French national accused of illegal arms deals. The denial came in reaction to a foreign newspaper report that Cameroon had ordered arms worth US $72 million, including Russian helicopters and rocket launchers, from Pierre Joseph Falcone, who is now in jail in Paris. Falcone, head of an international arms dealership, is under investigation in France in connection with the trafficking of arms to Angola. Cameroon’s minister of communications, Jacques Fame Ndongo, said in a communique on Tuesday that his government’s policy on military equipment “is to strictly respect the rules in acquiring the defensive supplies necessary for the maintenance of peace and territorial integrity”. He said there had been no transaction between the government and Falcone or his company, Brenco France, and that Cameroon’s army had no Russian-made helicopter or rocket launcher.