Cameroon, four-times winners of the continent's top footballing prize, overcame scorching temperatures in only their second international in the northern town as well as the absence of key striker Samuel Eto'o.

With Eto'o playing for Barcelona in Sunday's Primera Liga decider, his replacement Mohamadou Idrissou opened the scoring in the 34th minute of the Group Five game.

Geremi added the second with a trademark free kick bulleted in from some 30 metres out three minutes into the second half.

Cameroon had to endure an nervous last few minutes after Jimmy Gatete pulled one back for the bottom-placed Rwandans in the 78th minute.

The result left the other match in the group - a 0-0 draw between Liberia and Equatorial Guinea, relatively meaningless.

The match, in which both teams rattled the woodwork but were unable to find a way through, and which was partly played in a downpour that wrecked what chance of a spectacle there may have been - means that Equatorial Guinea do, however, have an outside chance of going through as one of the best-placed group runners-up.