YAOUNDE, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Cameroonian President Paul Biya said Tuesday he will ensure that peace and stability is restored in the two English-speaking regions of the country that have been ravaged by an ongoing year-long armed conflict.
"With the support of the Cameroonian people as a whole and convinced that there is an honorable way out in everyone's interest, I will strive to restore peace and calm in the two regions concerned, with due respect for the institutions of which I am guarantor." Biya said in his inaugural speech just after taking the oath of office as president of Cameroon.
The official swearing-in ceremony was held during a special session of Cameroon's National Assembly in the capital, Yaounde.
Paul Biya, 85, who has been president of Cameroon since 1982, won the October 7 presidential poll by gaining 71.28 percent of votes, according to the country's Constitutional Council.
Biya said he was "deeply" preoccupied by the separatist movement in the Anglophone regions that is jeopardizing "national unity and preaching secession".
"It is obvious that the secessionist ambition undermines our Constitution which establishes the indivisible nature of our Republic." Biya said in the speech.
According to the statistics announced by the Constitutional Council, only about 10 percent of registered voters were able to vote in the troubled regions following threats from armed separatists calling for "total boycott" of the election.
In order to address the conflict, Biya said efforts will be made to accelerate the decentralization process.
"Measures will be taken as soon as possible to broaden the powers of local authorities in order to provide them with the means for greater autonomy." Biya said.
According to him, the armed separatists whom who called "war-mongers" will soon face "not only the full force of the law, but also the determination of our defense and security forces".
"I am calling on them to lay down their arms and get back on the right track." Biya said.
In 1961, English-speaking Cameroonians voted to join Francophone Cameroon to form one country. Today, separatists want the two Anglophone regions to secede from French-majority Cameroon to form a new nation called "Ambazonia," complaining that they have been marginalized since unification.
Fighting is escalating in the two Anglophone regions, displacing over 180,000 people internally, according to the United Nations. More than 150 people of the government forces have been killed in the conflict, according to the Cameroon army.
Apart from solving the conflict in the Anglophone regions, Biya promised to implement measures that will render Cameroon an emerging nation.
"The goal of achieving emergence must become a major national cause rallying all our fellow citizens in order to transform Cameroon into a modern and socially advanced country." Biya said.
There were celebrations by members and sympathizers of the ruling party, Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) on the streets of Yaounde immediately after Biya was sworn in.
This inaugural day also coincides with the 36th anniversary of Biya's coming to power. He succeeded on Nov. 6, 1982 the resigned president Ahmadou Ahidjo.
However, as the swearing-in ceremony was going on, supporters of opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who took the second place in the presidential poll, also organized protests in Yaounde to denounce "fraud and irregularities" they observed during the vote.
Kamto was arrested by the police as he was addressing the protesters, officials of Kamto's party, the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, told Xinhua by telephone.
A police source also confirmed that Kamto was taken away from the protest then driven to his house, and is now under house arrest.
