Coordinator says DDR to soon reintegrate 4,000 ex-fighters.

He made the disclosure during a two-day international conference, which ended in Yaounde, Friday April 19. 

The confab was to enable the participants share knowledge on how to ameliorate the process of peace building, through Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration processes by capitalising on lessons learned from the experience of Colombia.

The international confab was attended by delegations from Colombia, DR Congo, Nigeria and Cameroon.

The workshop culminated with the launch of the: “South-South Cooperation Programme for Peace building: From Colombia to the world”.

Addressing participants, Fai Yengo retraced the creation of the NDDR, through the presidential decree of November 2018.  

Fai Yengo told his hearers that the committee was created with a mission of disarming, demobilising and reintegrating Boko Haram ex-fighters in the Far North Region and armed groups operating in the North West and South West Regions. 

“The structure kicked off immediately with 176 ex-fighters at the headquarters of the Multi taskforce in Mora,” Fai Yengo said, adding that: “Today, we are pleased to inform you that in the three centres of Meri, Bamenda and Buea, we have some 4,000 ex-fighters”. 

According to the NDDRC National Coordinator, the ex-fighters have been engaged in skills-development activities such as agriculture, hairdressing, driving, building construction, and computer sciences, which is a step towards their final reintegration into the society.  

“As a whole, their activities are improved in a bid to prepare them for the final stages of the process, which is effective integration as normal Cameroonians back into the society,” hedeclared.

Fai Yengo mentioned that despite the series of progress registered during their over four years of existence, the persistence of both conflicts poses as a serious constraint to the implementation of certain initiatives. 

In the face of this, Fai Yengo indicated that the NDDRC has adopted a very cautious, strategic and proactive approach to doing things.

Counting some of their impacts created already, Fai Yengo indicated that they have created some three vocational training centres at the DDR centres in the North West, South West and Far North Regions. 

Appreciates partners for unmatched support

According to the NDDRC boss, if they have arrived at the level they are presently, in terms of impact, it is partly due to the unmatched support they have received from the Presidency of the Republic, as well as government partners.

He emphasised that the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, has never hesitated to provide the centre with the badly needed resources to accomplish its assigned programmes. 

“He has provided adequate means for the creation of the above-mentioned multipurpose centres and modern villages in these Regions, to cater for ex-fighters and their future,” he reiterated. 

While thanking government and the technical ministries that have been accompanying them in the different field activities, Fai Yengo expressed delight with the support from UN Systems, UNIFAC, UN Women, WHO, IOM, WFP, the head of defence and security forces, civil society and the population.

“We have also visited countries like Nigeria, Niger, Egypt, Chad, Mali, Morocco just to mention but these few. Tomorrow, we shall still go elsewhere or even the same places to continue following up how the DDR is being managed within the global rules from the United Nations and of course to continue to tell the story of Cameroon and to specify and highlight our specificities,” he stated.  

Although Cameroon’s DDR experience is quite younger compared to Colombia’s, he declared with optimisms that they will continue to privilege the learning process. 

Initiative lauded

For her part, one of the participants, May Salam, who works at the DDR Standing Capacity with the Department of Peace Operation, pointed out that the essence of the programme is to create a cooperation framework for south-south countries by looking at the peace building efforts. 

With the multinational programme launched in Cameroon, Salam stressed that the cooperation framework puts Cameroon as a regional player, not only within the CEMAC Subregion, but across the continent of Africa.

“We are here to learn from the Colombian experience but also to share the experience of Cameroon and other African countries,” she said.

She added that after the launch, a roadmap has been outlined to ensure the strict follow-up with the countries concerned.

The ceremony was chaired on behalf of the Minister of External Relations, Mbella Mbella, by the Secretary General at the ministry of foreign affairs, Chinmoun Oumar. This was in the presence of the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Justice, Jean De Dieu Momo, a representative of Colombian government as well as representatives of some UN agencies.