Cameroon plays an important role in the fight against Islamist terror in the region, President Sergio Mattarella said after meeting with President Paul Biya in the African nation's capital on Thursday.

"We spoke of the common fight against terrorism," Mattarella said. "Cameroon is playing an invaluable role...in the region for common action with neighboring countries. It is a forward thinking and highly effective approach".

"Responses to humanitarian emergencies such as those of migrants and refugees - which Africa and Europe are facing - require assumed and shared responsibilities, vision, and leadership capacities that can bring together security, solidarity, and respect for values and human dignity," Mattarella said. "Building walls and barriers is not a solution".

No country is safe from Islamist terror, the Italian president added. "The current threat of international terrorism is one of the principal attacks on the founding values our two countries both recognize," Mattarella said. "Today, no one is safe from this threat. Against this backdrop dialogue among peoples, faiths and cultures takes on a key significance"

The Italian president arrived Thursday in Cameroon, the second stop on his Africa mission after a visit to Ethiopia. He was received with every honor in the capital Yaounde, where President Biya awaited him at the airport and cheering crowds lined the streets on their way in to the city.

Mattarella earlier in the day sent a message in praise of liberty and national unity on the 155th anniversary of Italian unification. "The more united the country is, the better growth will be in terms of duration and sustainability," Mattarella said. "When fissures open, on the other hand, we all become weaker".

He said "the institutions are the first in line to be called on to give an example of collaboration, responsibility and transparency in the service of the common good".

"Unity is also an ideal," the president said. "This is what we intend to celebrate today - especially in the dialogue with the younger generations, who are facing problems never seen before and whom we have a duty to accompany towards a future of liberty and cohesiveness".