Some 23 representatives from eight countries were on hand to chart a new way for the charity in the region.
After Libreville, Gabon last year, 23 officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, from eight countries from Central Africa met at the Seme Beach Hotel, near Limbe in the South West Region from October 17 to 18 for their annual coordination meeting. The countries are Gabon, Chad, Sao Tome and Principe, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, and Cameroon.
On their table was the follow-up of last year’s resolutions taken in Libreville, Gabon; notably restructuring the Gabonese Red Cross, a critical analysis of Red Cross strategies in the Central African Sub-region, planning for 2012-2013, preparing for upcoming international meetings, reinforcing the supporting role of governments, etc.
Conspicuously present at the meeting were Jean Jacques Tshamala, head of regional delegation, Alasane Senghore, Zonal Red Cross Director for Africa, and William Eteki Mboumoua, President of the Cameroon’s Red Cross. Tshamala highlighted the situation of the Red Cross in Gabon, praising the country’s government for having taken measures to keep it on good footing. He expressed thanks to the host, Cameroon, and welcomed its invited partners, including the Spanish and Canadian delegations.
On his part, Eteki Mboumoua presented activities in Cameroon and highlighted the troubling situation of cholera that has been persisting for close to a year in many parts of the country. He explained that the Red Cross had done all within its reach to alleviate the situation, but more resources were still needed to continue helping in the prevention, treatment and management of cholera risks. He re-echoed Tshamala, stressing that the whole of the Central African Sub-region was concerned by the cholera plague.
The Red Cross officials spent part of the second day attending a ceremony to donate hygiene utensils to some eight public primary schools in Limbe I and II Council areas. Some 2,000 pupils received water buckets, soap and bowls to enable them keep clean and avert cholera. Eteki Mboumoua personally presided at the ceremony at the Government Primary School, Bota Land in the presence of school heads and local education authorities. ICRC’s next rendez-vous will be in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
