Stakeholders from the sub-region began meeting Yaounde on June 22, 2016 for three days of training.

Disasters – be they natural or man-made – are almost inevitable in any nation. As a result, governments must be prepared to handle any eventuality. It is in this light that stakeholders from the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS, began meeting in Yaounde on June 22, 2016 for three days of training. With theme, “Involvement of Central Africa in Implementing Decisions of the Istanbul Humanitarian Summit,” the workshop is organised by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UN-OCHA, under the patronage of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation.

Addressing participants, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, René Emmanuel Sadi, said Cameroon’s vulnerability to disasters has been compounded by the Boko Haram-led terrorist conflict in the Far North Region. This, he explained, has prompted the influx of thousands of Nigerian refugees into the country as well as resulted in the displacement of thousands of Cameroonian families, creating a heavy toll on host communities.

Minister Sadi noted that the dwindling waters in Lake Chad and threats of drought had aggravated an already worse situation for locals, concluding that awareness about potential risks must be followed up by urgent concrete action by governments. The Coordinator of the United Nations System in Cameroon, Rajat Rochdi, noted that early preparation for disasters ensures that more lives are saved. She said ECCAS member States were amongst others exposed to disasters arising from climate change, uncoordinated urban growth and human settlements in risk zones.

According to Rochdi, armed conflicts in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi had exacerbated the humanitarian situation in these countries. Thus, she warned of the urgent need for governments to act in a more coordinated way. The representative of ECCAS at the training, Dominique Kuitsouc, recalled that the creation of a sub-regional Climate Change Centre in Douala, the development of a guide on disaster management, the holding of simulation exercises, were some of the efforts member States had taken to tackle the threat.