YAOUNDE, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Host Cameroon has told a joint inspection mission of Confederation of African Football (CAF) and world football governing body FIFA that the country is taking "all necessary security measures" to ensure a hitch-free 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
"As concerns security, I can assure you that everything is in place to provide security according to CAF standards" Joseph Beti Assomo, Cameroon's Minister of Defense told the mission in the capital, Yaounde on Monday.
The team of four led by the president of the Niger Football Association, Djibrilla Hima Hamidou is in Cameroon to check the readiness of security in the stadia ahead of the football championship next year. On Monday, the mission visited football sites and facilities in the Northern part of the country.
"Right from the start of the construction of new stadiums, we made sure that the national firefighting brigade was part of the construction so that security should be taken into consideration from the very beginning. Experts in the other corps of the Ministry of Defense have been visiting the construction sites to have a better understanding of the security measures to take during the competition" Assomo said and added that security measures will be intensified in troubled Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest where government forces are clashing with armed separatists before the football competition.
AFCON 2019 will be held from June 15 to July 13, according to CAF. It will also be the first AFCON expanded from 16 to 24 teams.