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By Tata Mbunwe
Germany’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Gunter Sauntter, has said dialogue, and not military prowess, is going to end the crisis in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon.
Addressing the UN Security Council via video conferencing, the diplomat said only negotiations between Cameroon’s Government and Separatists will end the four-year-long conflict.
“There will be no military solution to the conflict. Inclusive political dialogue is the only viable path to peace. Measures taken so far – including legislation adopted in the aftermath of the Major National Dialogue – do not suffice,” Ambassador Gunter said.
The German Diplomat said his country is concerned about peace being restored in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, also condemning surging violence in Cameroon.
He said: “A peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Anglophone regions is the most pressing issue. We are deeply concerned about the recent rise in violence. We condemn in the strongest terms the attack on a school in Kumba on October 24.”
President Paul Biya launched war against “terrorists” in the English-speaking regions on November 30, 2017, after six uniform officers were killed near the Southwest town of Mamfe.
Since then, the conflict further aggravated with record numbers of civilians killed and hundreds of thousands of persons displaced from their homes.
The Cameroon military has been widely accused of burning homes in several villages, killing civilians and arresting hundreds of others in the two regions within the past three years.
Separatist militia are still controlling several villages in the two regions and have also committed crimes against humanity, including beheading, kidnaps and have enforced more than three years of school boycott in many parts of the two regions.
At least 3,000 persons have died in the conflict, with more than a million others displaced as IDPs or refugees.
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