UN/IMF petition: Women in Cameroon divided

There have been diverse views and reactions from women of different backgrounds in Cameroon following two petitions addressed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations Security Council by twenty women in the central African country.

In the petition to the UN Security Council, the women say they are representing several women’s groups in Cameroon hit by the adverse effects of insecurity in Cameroon, a situation which is now unbearable on them and the people of Cameroon.

In the petition, the twenty influential women among them Edith Kah Walla, leader of Cameroon Peoples Party, Bar. Alice Nkom and Alice Sadio, erstwhile leader of Alliance of Progressive Forces political say “…over ten thousand of our people have died in the course of the fight against Boko Haram insurgent and Anglophone crisis. More than one million of our children have stopped schooling. Gross human rights violation and the most ruthless violence is being meted out upon our people daily”.

The 20 women moved from just calling on the attention of the UN Security Council to what is happening in Cameroon to urging the Security Council to consider prioritizing discussions on the insecurity in Cameroon on the agenda in the next UN security council meeting.

As concerns short term measures the UN security council can take to get peace in Cameroon, the women say immediate release of political prisoners, access and protection humanitarian workers in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon and other conflict zones in Cameroon are key.

The women further criticise government’s handling of the crisis in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon. To the group of women, the government puts in place cosmetic measures to fan the tension each day and thus continuous bloodshed.

In an interview granted to France 24 TV, Edith Kah Walla, one of those spearheading the petitions, said women in Cameroon don’t want a UN peace keeping forces deployment to Cameroon reason why the Security Council should live up to its name by maintaining peace in Cameroon.

In the petition addressed to the International Monetary Fund IMF, the irate women in Cameroon have urged the Bretton Woods institution to henceforth suspend all financial assistance to Cameroon until government produces a clear and credible financial balance sheet on how a huge sum of 180 billion funds to fight against COVID-19 was mismanaged and embezzled.

Going by a partial report leaked from the audit bench of the Supreme Court in Yaounde, twenty two ministerial departments in Cameroon are guilty of poor management of the funds. Pending final report from the audit bench, the ministry of public health and that of scientific research and innovation are among the top three accused of having squandered huge sums of public funds.

As twenty women petition the UN Security Council and the IMF, some women folks in Cameroon have distanced themselves from the petitions. To some women leaders, the twenty signatories of the petition do not in any way represents the thoughts and aspirations of women on the crisis.

To those who think so, government is in the process of finding lasting peace.

As members of UN Security Council prepare to meet in an ordinary sitting, the women are equally asking the IMF to block Cameroon’s move to negotiate a new extended credit facility with IMF.


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