Cameroonian, Mariatou Yap was on Wednesday, October 14,  elected as the new Secretary General of the International Civil Defence Organisation, ICDO.

She emerged victorious following the elections that held today in Geneva, Switzerland, defeating her Lebanese opponent 30 votes to 23 while there was one empty ballot.

Mariatou Yap who is the Director of Civil Protection at the Ministry of Territorial Administration becomes the first woman to head the international organisation and replaces Russia’s Vladimir Kushinov.

“This is victory for Cameroon, I will start by thanking my President HE Paul Biya because he is the person who trusted me by submitting my candidacy to the ICDO and to all the ministers like the Minister of External Relations (Lejeune Mbella Mbella), the Minister of Territorial Administration (Paul Atanga Nji), and all actors like the permanent mission in Geneva. All these people supported me during the campaigns and that is why today Cameron has won this trophy,” Mariatou Yap said.

On his part, Solomon Eheth, Cameroon’s Ambassador and Resident Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva described the win as a victory of Cameroonian diplomacy piloted by the Head of State, Paul Biya.

“You can imagine that we are very happy, this is an important victory of Cameroonian diplomacy under the leadership of HE Paul Biya. This (victory is a result of) of a meticulous work of our diplomacy under the leadership of the Minister of External Relations and all the colleagues and Ambassadors everywhere. This is a very important position for Cameroon,” he said.