BY NDUMBE BELL GASTON IN DOUALA
Members of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) in Cameroon have expressed indignation and frustration at what they say is the manipulation and lack of the earlier enthusiasm by government towards their reports gathered from conflict areas in the country. Their activity is enshrined in resolution 1325 of the United Nations Security Council, adopted by the government on November 16, 2017 through MINPROFF which is known to be in charge of the promotion of women’s affairs and the family.
Reports of their anger and frustration was communicated to the media at their administrative centre in Douala last Saturday April 20 during a crisis session to intimate what Resolution 1325 stands for, to inform the public that government had demanded feasibility studies from WILPF on the strategies of a National Action Plan which was done but that the implementation text is suspiciously now pending for years awaiting decree from the Prime Minister’s office. They also gathered to evaluate work done and the challenges faced over a period while trying to design other ways of overcoming all the challenges in the months ahead.
Resolution 1325 of the United Nations Security Council is a global breakthrough of women’s efforts demanding that all member countries of the United Nations allow women through the civil society to play the role of artisans of peace and prevention of conflicts at all levels and not only to be known as victims of conflicts. All countries were to give the women access and the means to enable them to discharge their duties.
Silvie Ndongmo, President of WILPF acknowledged the efforts made by the media in sensitizing and assembling women’s civil society groups at the national, regional and international level in the process of creating a National Action Plan of this resolution in Cameroon of which WILPF was very instrumental.
The President and all the executive members converged on the desired stand point that the media should continue to accompany the association in their apolitical objectives and reports which, they say, are within the framework of the guidelines of resolution 1325.
“We are just doing our job” exclaimed the president, followed by others. Today, the association reports that other civil society groups have been created to make alternative reports to discredit their own reports, which are seen by government quarters to be tarnishing the image of the nation. They are now being given the financial support far less than what it used to be before, the president added.
WILPF executives equally disclosed that they could no longer hide their feelings because they are haunted. The implementation framework is not being signed for years now and all of them agree that their secretariat had been ransacked several times and the hoodlums were said to have carted away with computers containing very important information. They are now working because of the U. N. envoy for West and Central Africa who visited the country and the representative offices pending the decree.
The civil society groups who played an active role in the formulation of the National Action Plan are being sidelined and some newly created groups are now given priority just for the sake of money. “So, we say that’s not proper. We are missing the point. Take for example, we had to go to New York but my name was removed at the last minute when we were very active in the beginning. They say we have become very political but we are reporting what is happening on the field as many people are dying in the war with Boko haram and in the North West and South West regions. The critical situation needs urgent solutions but they are saying that we are tarnishing the image of the country so something is wrong somewhere”, the president pointed out.
All the same WILPF is said to have been awarded with a Nobel Peace Prize. Documentations containing other activities, including monitoring electoral violence especially on women, were demonstrated at the session.