Cameroon Women Call On Conflict Parties To End War, Embrace Dialogue That Will Include Women Mediators And Negotiators

Members of the 38 groups that took part in the first National Women’s Convention for Peace in Yaounde from July 29-31, 2021, have affirmed their commitment to work for the return and consolidation of peace within
their respective families and communities. They appealed to their sisters, husbands, brothers and sons to join them in what they described as “patriotic commitment.”

On Saturday, July 31, 2021, at the Yaounde Congress centre, the over 100 women resolved that parties to Cameroon armed conflict should:

1.Pursue a continued and inclusive dialogue that addresses core issues around Peace,
Solidarity and shared Humanity in Cameroon;

2. End hostilities, immediately and permanently, and thus give meaning to African
Union’s campaign to ‘Silence the Guns’ in Africa in order to achieve a conflict-free
Africa, prevent genocide, make peace a reality for all and rid the continent of wars,
violent conflicts, human rights violations, and humanitarian disasters;

3. Ensure the equal and permanent involvement of Women peace mediators and
negotiators in peace processes at all levels, while enforcing their protection at all
times, according to the four pillars of the UN Resolution 1325;

4. Create additional and reinforce the existing centres for psychosocial support and
trauma-healing;

5. Render the existing DDR centres functional and responsive to the existing conflicts.

The women said that every peace process should have women don’t the table, including mediators and negotiators for the importance of their voices cannot be overemphasised

“And so, women from every corner of Cameroon and every group of society join their voices
in this united “Women’s Call for Peace”: women peace activists displaced women and girls,
victims and survivors of war-related violence, female traditional and religious leaders,
female soldiers and sportswomen, women entrepreneurs, domestic workers, bayam sellam
women, women from civil society, trade unions, political parties and many more.”

For five years now, the two Anglophone regions have been hit as government’s repression on lawyers and teachers protests pushed the Anglophones to demand a separate state. This led to the rise of the quest for independence for a country called Ambazonia.