By DOH J. SONKEY & NOELA E. BISONG
The President of the Republic, Paul Biya and wife, Mrs Chantal Biya have sent a humanitarian aid convoy of 100 truckloads of food stuffs, sanitary kits and bedding equipment to Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, of the crisis-hit North West and South West regions. The military-led heavy humanitarian aid convoy described by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji as Christmas and New Year 2020 gift from the Presidential couple left the esplanade of the Yaounde City Council Hall last December 28, 2019 for the North West and South West regions for distribution by administrative authorities.
After dishing out firm instructions from the President of the Republic, the Minister told reporters that in a simultaneous manner, similar convoys of truckloads left Bafoussam and Douala to the crisis-hit regions.
In his capacity as Coordinator of the Humanitarian Assistance Plan in Cameroon, Minister Paul Atanga Nji at a press briefing in prelude to the departure of the convoy, vehemently refuted allegations of a humanitarian crisis in the country as a result of IDPs, justifying that “the fact that President Biya, due to his magnanimous nature, has succeeded to handle all the humanitarian needs of the IDPs proves that the management of IDPs can never be above the government. I wonder why some people of bad faith will think that Cameroon, with a strong tradition and history of helping other nations in civil wars by hosting thousands of refugees, would be unable to handle Internally Displaced Persons from the North West and South West.”
The MINAT boss while reiterating that “the situation in the North West and South West is under control,” boasted that, “in six months, MINAT has already organised a convoy of more than 5,000 IDP families who have voluntarily agreed to return to the North West and South West regions
because they believe that calm is gradually returning to their villages or sub-divisions.”
According to the Minister, the consignment of goods including precisely mattresses, vegetable oil, blankets, washing soap amongst others is expected to be stationed in the North West and South West regions for distribution to follow immediately.
Speaking at the press briefing, Minister Paul Atanga Nji explained that “within the framework of the Humanitarian Assistance Plan, government has already assisted over 160,000 internally displaced persons in the North West and South West regions and more than 10,000 displaced persons in other regions. MINAT and its collaborators have already undertaken over 103field visits.”
Addressing international partners and NGOs, he urged them to be more transparent in the way they carry out their activities, insisting that they must do so under government’s supervision.
“There is no need inflating figures. Why should we (the government) say that we have 152,000
internally displaced persons in the North West and South West regions and some plotters come to say that we have 600,000 IDPs?”.
“You gain nothing when you say we need 36 billion FCFA to take care of IDPs, meanwhile the government has said we need 12 billion FCFA.”
The MINAT boss said, “Bringing in these conflicting figures should be a plot by some partners to raise more funds but such attempts will fail because Cameroon’s humanitarian policies are designed and outlined by the government and the humanitarian partners have to simply align to the policies.”
He described government’s position in the humanitarian action to be that of driver sitting on the driver’s seat and coordinating all activities.
To support this point, the MINAT boss stressed that government occupies the driver’s seat in the humanitarian activities in strict compliance with international standards practiced by the United Nations stipulating that, “humanitarian action in a country is first and foremost the primary responsibility of the government concerned.”
Insisting that Humanitarian agencies can only support actions decided by government, Minister Atanga Nji Paul argued that, “a stranger cannot mourn more than the bereaved because if that happens, the stranger should be a suspect. You cannot be mourning at home and a stranger
comes to mourn more than you, the bereaved. If you grieve at home and a stranger comes to mourn more than you do, know that the stranger has a hidden agenda and should be wary of him.”
He concluded on an optimistic note that “lies and misinformation on figures, false information on the humanitarian situation in Cameroon will not flourish because truth travels without visa, therefore, lies and misinformation have a short lifespan.”
At the end he called on humanitarian partners to blend neutrality with transparency for the benefit of the needy population.
The gesture follows a similar one last June 2019, when the Head of State sent a special humanitarian aid convoy of 60 trucks loaded with food and non-food items to assists IDPs from the security challenged North West and South West regions.