Bilingualism Commission to stage colloquium on intercommunity conflicts, living together.

According to the statement signed by the Commission’s president, His Excellency Peter Mafany Musonge, the gathering will run from September 26 to 28 at the Yaounde Conference Centre. 

It will be held under the distinguished patronage of the Head of State, His Excellency President Paul Biya, the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Secretary General at the Bilingualism Commission, Dr Chi Asafor Cornelius, will be in charge of general coordination during the three-day in-person meeting.

According to the president of the Bilingualism Commission, the aim of the forum is to raise awareness on the dangers of intercommunity conflicts to peace, national unity and social cohesion in Cameroon.

He said in the statement made available to newsmen that the colloquium intends to make recommendations aimed at preventing, managing and eradicating the occurrence of such conflicts from the Cameroonian society.

The colloquium, the former Prime Minister, disclosed will assemble experts in the conflict management cycle, university professors, representatives of international organisations based in Cameroon, government ministries in charge of managing intercommunity conflicts, and civil society organisations, among others.

Forum timely, a stitch in time 

The Yaounde forum comes amidst growing concerns over the occurrence of intercommunity conflicts in parts of the country.

According to the Bilingualism Commission, inter-community conflicts have become recurrent in the country, with seemingly no region spared of the menace.

In justifying the staging of the Yaounde forum, the Commission regretted that the phenomenon has been increasing in frequency in virtually every region of the country, with the concomitant loss of human life, destruction of property, displacement of populations amongst others.

The Commission recounted that the violent inter-community clashes that took place in August 2021 between Arab Choa herdsmen and Mousgoum fishermen and farmers in the Logone Birni Subdivision of the Far North Region led to the death of 32 people while 74 others sustained injuries.

The body also disclosed that the clashes also led to the burning down of 19 villages while 7, 300 people were displaced within Cameroon's borders and 11, 000 to Chad.

The Commission said the same applies to conflicts that arose in Sangmélima, Dja and Lobo Division of the South Region.

The Commission cited clashes “between the indigenous population and Bamoun traders; in the Noun Division between the Bamouns and the Tikars: those which regularly arise in the Adamawa and North West Regions between herdsmen and farmers; in the East Region between Central African refugees and the indigenous people of Garoua-Boulai in the Lom and Djerem and Kentzou in the Kadey”.

The body continued that “These examples, which vividly illustrate the gravity of the situation, prompted the Commission to address the situation and to include in its 2024 Action Plan, which it adopted in December 2023 and was validated by the Presidency of the Republic in April 2024. Hence, the organisation of a Colloquium on the theme: Inter-community Conflicts and the Promotion of Living Together in Cameroon…”

The Commission then noted that the organisation of the Yaounde colloquium is in line with the sixth axis "Promotion of Bilingualism, Multiculturalism and Citizenship" of the fourth pillar, "Governance, Decentralisation and Strategic Management of the State", of the National Development Strategy 2020-2030, NDS30.

Track record in promoting peace

The forthcoming Yaounde gathering which begins Thursday, it should be said, comes after similar events organised by the Bilingualism Commission in its quest to ensuring peaceful co-existence in the country.

With a mandate to work for the promotion of bilingualism and multiculturalism, the Commission has since it went operational in 2017, carried out field missions and organised scientific meetings in parts of the country.

Amongst such meetings was the Brainstorming Day on Living Together in Cameroon held on April 11, 2019 and a colloquium on the theme: Cameroonian multiculturalism at the crossroads: Between tradition and modernity which ran from April 24-25, 2019. 

The get-together reviewed the then state of multiculturalism and living together in Cameroon.

Meanwhile, in response to the resurgence of hate speech, xenophobia and identitarian closure, phenomena exacerbated by the messages conveyed via social media, radio and television debates, and discourse likely to jeopardise the ideals of peace and social cohesion, the Commission launched an awareness-raising campaign speech during the 2019 financial year.

The Commission also carried out a national communication campaign on the fight against hate speech and xenophobia in Cameroon.

The campaign drew on the recommendations made during the related colloquium which took place in May 2021.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3239 of Tuesday September 24, 2024