Youth-Led Peace Dialogue Brings Hope Amid Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis

Link Up Cameroon has organised a Peace Dialogue Session bringing together youth leaders, civil society actors, and peacebuilding experts under the theme, “Building Together Through Dialogue in Times of Division.”

The event, held in Yaounde and organised by Jude Thaddeus Afumbom, Program Manager at Link Up Cameroon, was conceived not as a celebration of peace already achieved, but as a call to action.

For over a decade, Cameroon has grappled with an ongoing socio-political crisis alongside rising cases of hate speech and gender-based violence (GBV)—challenges that continue to divide communities and destroy families.

Afumbom used the occasion to encourage young people across the country to champion peace and dialogue as active participants, rather than bystanders, in resolving these crises.

The session opened with a keynote address from Mr. Ekah Robert, titled, “The Cost of Division: A Call for Youth-Led Peacebuilding in Cameroon.”

Robert underscored the heavy toll division has taken on Cameroonian communities, urging participants to recognise their individual responsibility in the peacebuilding process.

One of the day’s most impactful moments came during the peer-to-peer dialogue session, facilitated by Madam Yaah Gladys Viban, a girl and youth development expert and consultant.

Adopting what participants described as a near-maternal approach, Viban guided an open conversation on violent extremism and walked attendees through the causes, effects, and potential solutions to GBV—a crisis that has seen a sharp rise in cases involving women across the country.

The session also featured group activities in which participants worked collectively to develop concrete recommendations.

The conference closed with a panel discussion moderated by Ibrahim, featuring Didier Floriant Fotsing, representative of AFRIYAN Cameroon; Michel Konde, representative of the Youth Policy Lab; Madam Tegwi Solange, journalist with The Post newspaper; and Alvine Ngum, peace advocate and member of CYPAN.

Panelists drew on real-life cases of violence to illustrate the scale of the challenges at hand, while offering practical insights into how such cycles of violence can be broken.

Speaking on the significance of the conference, Afumbom described it as one of his most important contributions to date and a tangible step in support of the ongoing Youth, Peace and Security agenda in Cameroon.

He reiterated his call for young people nationwide to take up dialogue, rather than silence or division, as the tool through which Cameroon’s path to lasting peace will be built.