Bilingualism commission crusades urgent action to address intercommunity conflicts.

Situating the conference as discussions went underway yesterday, the President of the NCPBM, Peter Mafany Musonge, stated that intercommunity conflicts pose a threat to peace, development and living together.

He restated that the call for urgent action “is a genuine cry with respect to the resurgence of inter-community conflicts and their adverse consequences in our beloved country”.

Given the threats of intercommunity conflicts to the wellbeing of the citizenry, he stated that urgent actions must be engaged to prevent and manage such conflicts.

He said the ongoing symposium is a demonstration of the NCPBM’s commitment within its assigned missions to ensure Cameroonians live in an environment free of hate and acrimony.

The resurgence of intercommunity conflicts, the former Prime Minister said, are a threat to the efforts of the Head of State, Paul Biya, to enhance living together. 

He said the NCPBM is committed to work alongside other stakeholders to end intercommunity conflicts, averring that the vice also retards national development.

Musonge was emphatic that: “The situation is grave and needs urgent attention”. He cited the 2021 intercommunity clashes between Arab Choa herdsmen and Mousgoum fishermen in the Far North Region. 

He detailed that the incident claimed 32 lives, left 74 persons with injuries, displaced over 7,300 within the country and 11,000 others to neigbouring Chad plus 19 communities that were razed.

The Noun Division in the West Region wherein Bamouns and Tikars clashed, leaving five persons dead, 20 shops burnt and others looted, he added, also point to the rising threat intercommunity conflicts pose.

The NCPBM boss equally mentioned situations in the South Region and farmer grazer conflicts in Wum, Menchum Division and Big Babanki in Ngokentunjia as indicative of the need for action.

He said, the NCPBM targets enhancing public understanding of intercommunity conflicts and making proposals   with contributions from experts on how to best manage them.

According to the Secretary General of the NCPBM, Dr Chi Asafor Cornelius, who is General Coordinator of the colloquium, the gathering will feature four sessions and 18 presentations. 

He said inputs will come in from historians, administrators, traditional rulers, scholars, sociologist, conflict experts among others.

The First Deputy City Mayor of Yaounde, Simon Mvogo, said the NCPDM initiative will enhance living together and peace promotion.

The National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, NCPBM, has underscored the urgent need for synergy of actions to address recurrent incidents of intercommunity conflicts nationwide.

The call was the highpoint of the opening ceremony of a colloquium on intercommunity conflicts and living together in Cameroon, in Yaounde, Thursday.

Inaugural lecture sets tone for intense exchanges

Varsity don, Prof Paul Abouna, set the tone of the symposium with an inaugural lecture on the topic: “Dealing with intercommunity conflicts in a multicultural context in Cameroon: Patriotism undermined by the by competition over resources”.

Prof Abouna said the NCPBM through the seminar has opened a new phase of reasoning towards addressing intercommunity conflicts. He remarked that most intercommunity conflicts are linked to ethnicity and manifests in all facets of the nation’s fabric.

The varsity don cited land, politics, churches and the naming of localities and vicinities as replete with traces of ethnicity that can provoke conflicts. He nonetheless remarked that the NCPBM-organised conference could “mark the beginning of the end of intercommunity conflicts in Cameroon”. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3242 of Friday September 27, 2024