Police chiefs of central African countries are meeting in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, on a joint strategy to fight crimes in the region.
The gathering, which was opened on Monday, will culminate on Wednesday and Thursday in a ministerial council meeting of Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and Sao Tome and Principe, organizers said.
The meeting of the committee of police chiefs from Central Africa (CCPPAC) is also attended by deputy director of Africa's secretary general of Interpol, Elizabeth Kuteesa, and a delegation from the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC)headquartered in Bangui, Central African Republic.
"Our meeting is taking place within a crime prone environment characterized in our sub-region by massive importation of stolen vehicles across the world, trafficking and illegal movement of arms and an increase in the number of highway robbers, drug trafficking, cyber crime, proliferation of fake drugs," a delegate from Cameroon, Emmanuel Edou, pointed out.
Two objectives are being targeted including the improvement of cooperation among the police services in the region and intensified fighting against cross-border crimes.
The police chiefs vowed to clean roads of armed bandits including highway robbers, drug traffickers, as well as traffickers of women, children and human body parts.
The CCPPAC was created on April 10,1997 in Brazzaville with the backing of Interpol.
Its permanent secretariat is based in Yaounde.