Gunfire disrupts Cameroon prime minister's visit to separatist region

FILE PHOTO: Cameroon Minister Delegate to the Minister of External Relations in charge of cooperation with the Commonwealth, Joseph Dion Ngute speaks at the Oslo Humanitarian Conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region in Oslo, Norway February 24, 2017. NTB Scanpix/Haakon Mosvold Larsen/via REUTERS/File Photo

DOUALA (Reuters) - Distant machine gun fire interrupted a speech by Cameroonian Prime Minister Dion Ngute on Tuesday during a visit to the capital of the restive North West region that Anglophone separatists had vowed to disrupt.

A video on social media shows Ngute trailing off mid-speech as the crowd turns and exclaims at a burst of far-off shots. In other footage, a suited man in a flak jacket puts his arms protectively around the premier as they are escorted away by security forces.