A two-day workshop of experts from the Central African sub- region has ended in Yaounde.

The atrocities of the Boko Haram attacks in the Far North Region of Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger as well as the precarious security situation in the Central African Republic which has led to loss of human lives, cattle, material damages and a disturbing humanitarian crisis are not only impeding development but also nerve-racking to the United Nations. It is against this backdrop that the United Nations System organised on April 19 and 20, 2015, a regional consultation workshop in Yaounde on the implication of the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Boko Haram crisis.

The conclave that brought together experts from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Nigeria, and Congo amongst others was intended to understand the political dimensions of the crisis and the role and opportunities of the United Nations System. Opening the workshop, Cameroon’s Minister of External Relations, Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo, said Cameroon and other countries faced with the Boko Haram threat have suffered severe attacks from Boko Haram terrorist group which has caused untold humanitarian and socio-economic crunch.

Minister Moukoko Mbonjo while stressing that more than 50,000 Nigerian refugees are camped in the Far North Region and tens of thousands of internally displaced persons caused by the Boko Haram incursions, decried the socio-economic nosedive with near zero custom revenue and the close-down of schools and colleges in the affected areas. The Boko Haram savagery, he added, has also contributed to jeopardise Cameroon’s development efforts in the region. In spite of these, the government has set up an emergency development plan in the region which Moukoko Mbonjo said needs multilateral support.

While enlisting government’s robust strides in tackling the nebulous Boko Haram attacks and the CAR crisis spill over, the Minister of External Relations commended the multilateral support from Cameroon’s partners including the United Nations. While asserting that a better handling of security situation in CAR is a prerequisite for peace and development in the sub-region, he challenged the experts to come up with strategies that will have a regional approach to stopping the crisis.   

Both the United Nations System Resident Representative in Cameroon, Najat Rochdi and the Director of the UN Regional Bureau for Africa and Assistant Administrator of UNDP, Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, who was earlier received in audience by Minister Moukoko Mbonjo, lauded Cameroon’s efforts in combating Boko Haram and maintaining stability in the region. UN, the officials affirmed, is committed in bringing peace and security in the Central African region as it coordinates efforts. The crises are not only paralysing development but are also breeding grounds for other looming crisis in the region.