By Noela Ebob Bisong
The Minister of External Relations, Lejeune Mbella Mbella, in a Press Release signed on Monday May 13, stated that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Arria meeting on Cameroon was nothing more than a handful of members trying to intervene in the humanitarian conditions in Cameroon, thought to be worsening by them.
The Minister held that the said meeting was initiated by some council members, merely to share views on the humanitarian situation in Cameroon, and not to put the country on a hot seat, as many were speculating.
The release read that the Arria meeting was “a totally free encounter outside the purview of the council…neither an informal consultation nor an unofficial meeting…therefore the sharing of views through the Arria-Formula and any possible outcome there from is not in any way binding to the council”.
The Press Release however stated that “The Cameroonian Authorities commend the interest of several partner countries in the humanitarian situation in Cameroon”, but continued that “These authorities are however taken aback by the obsession of some countries and other stakeholders agitating and exaggerating the magnitude of the prevailing humanitarian crisis in Cameroon, in the vain hope of provoking the so-called humanitarian intervention”.
During the meeting, Mark Lowcock, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said eight of Cameroon’s 10 regions are affected by one of three concurrent humanitarian crises.
He said the situation in the Northwest and Southwest regions “has rapidly deteriorated” as a result of fighting, and “the level of the crisis today is more alarming than ever,” and continues to deteriorate.
“In 2018, 160,000 people were estimated to need humanitarian assistance in the Northwest and Southwest regions,” he said. “Today, there are more than 1.3 million people, or at least eight times as many, in need — and that amounts to a third of the local population.”
Lowcock said a half million people are internally displaced and thousands of homes and entire villages have been destroyed across the two regions.
In the East and North regions, meanwhile, Cameroon is hosting more than 270,000 refugees from the conflict in Central African Republic, putting “a significant burden” on already very poor host communities, Lowcock said. And, he said, in the Far North region, which is affected by the Lake Chad basin crisis, about 1.9 million people, including at least 100,000 refugees from Nigeria, “need urgent assistance.”
Lowcock said the biggest challenge is lack of funding, noting that last year the U.N. appeal for Cameroon was among the least-funded globally. This year, he said, the U.N. and non-governmental groups are seeking $299 million to reach 2.3 million people, one-third of them in the Northwest and Southwest regions. So far, only $38 million has been received.
Cameroon’s U.N. ambassador, Michel Tommo Monthe, defended the government and denied it is provoking violence. He said it is engaging in dialogue with opposition figures, but he stressed that it must deal with separatism, “terrorism and insurrection — and we will face that.”
“We want to be helped,” he said, but “we don’t want people working for Cameroon. We want people who work with Cameroon. That’s very different. We’re not half dead. We’re standing tall and we want people who will work with us to put an end to this.”