Cameroon that became a member of the United Nations Organisation (UNO) on September 20, 1960, October 25, celebrated the 65th UN Day with a call on the international community to act in solidarity and build veritable partnerships in order to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The Minister Delegate at the Ministry of External Relations in charge of Relations with the Islamic World, Adoum Gargoum, stated Cameroon’s position as he presided at UN Day celebration in Yaounde. This was in the presence of some members of government, heads of diplomatic missions and international organisations resident in Cameroon.
Making reference to President Paul Biya’s call during the summit in New York last September 2010 to review the attainment of MDGs five years into 2015, Adoum Gargoum said MDGs could only be attained if States commit themselves to promoting and strengthening world partnership for development, stating that partnership was the main pillar in international cooperation. The UN Day celebration in Cameroon that came a day after the 65th anniversary of the organisation was under the theme, “an authentic world partnership for the effective putting in place of the Millennium Development Goals”.
The event in Cameroon was an occasion to celebrate 50 years of the country’s fruitful membership of the UN. Cameroon-UN cooperation between 2008 and 2012 centres on five priority areas that include governance, sustainable growth, social development, prevention and management of disasters and the environment being executed by the 18 UN agencies working in the country . Sources at the Ministry of External Relations indicate that the five areas were identified by the UN after consultations with the government, representatives of donors present in the country and civil society organisations. Minister Adoum Gargoum in more concrete terms cited the UN projects in the country to include generalisation and free primary education, social mobilisation to achieve girl-child education, improvement of mother and child health, fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria, elimination of all forms of discrimination, strengthening of respect for human rights, environmental preservation and catering for refugees.
The UN for some time now has consistently felt the impact and positive contributions of Cameroon. Since 2005, Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has attended all UN General Assembly sessions and made the country’s and Africa’s position known. First Lady Chantal Biya since 2004 gained UN recognition when she was raised to the position of the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for education and social inclusion. The country has equally deployed forces to boost UN Peacekeeping missions in Cambodia, Kosovo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Côte d’Ivoire and Darfour in Sudan.
One of the hallmarks of the UN Day celebration in Cameroon was the reading of the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon’s message by the Regional Representative of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa, Maarit Kohonen Sheriff.
