By DOH JAMES SONKEY
Visiting 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Head of the technical assessment Mission of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN), Leymah Gbowee was last April 17, 2019 received in audience at Emergence Building in Yaounde by the President of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, Peter Mafany Musonge.
According to the peace activist who was accompanied by former member of the African Union, AU, Panel of the Wise, Marie Madeleine Kalala, their close to two hours closed-door talks centred on the impact and possible way out of ongoing conflicts in the country especially that of the North West and South West regions.
Talking to reporters after the audience that marked the end of her four-day peace mission to Cameroon last week, the renowned peace advocate, Leymah Gbowee explained that “We came here to have a conversation about the mandate of the commission and to see how peace works can lead to the promotion of lasting peace in Cameroon. Also, we came to talk on the prospect for future engagement with children in schools and engagement with women in all of the areas affected.”
The Liberian Founding President of Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa clarified that “I have maintained repeatedly that it will be disingenuous of me and my delegation to determine that this is the way for Cameroonians to go to end the crisis. Our visit has basically been all about listening to government officials, civil society actors and to anyone who was willing to talk to us. We asked them what they think the way forward is and from what we gathered, I think, the general consensus is that there is a problem in Cameroon. No one has identified whether it is a conflict, crisis or a war but there is definitely a problem that has serious humanitarian impact on people in regions where these conflicts are happening. It is impacting the future of children due to the absence of school and there is the need for something to be done.”
She added that “Fro
of the Musonge Commission
m my own experience as a Liberian, I think it is important that Cameroonians come to the place where there is a consensus on how to solve the problem on the basis of humanitarian principles.”
After lamenting to the President of the Bilingualism and Multiculturalism Commission, Peter Mafany Musonge in the presence of the Commission’s Vice President, Oumarou Djika and Secretary General, Dr Chi Asafor Cornelius over stories of women using leaves as menstrual sanitary pads and pregnant women giving birth in the bushes, the 2011 Nobel Peace laureate stressed that “it is time for leaders in the country to take a step back and say we need to think about the humanity of people.”