CMR needs to step up peace building efforts

An organisation, Peace Revolution in Cameroon, has propounded the need to build more peace efforts in order to contain security threats posed by politically unstable neighbours like Central Africa Republic with her the Seleka Rebels and Nigeria with Boko Haram.

Speaking in Buea on September 21, during the commemoration of the International Day of Peace, the Country Coordinator of Peace Revolution in Cameroon, Henry Molinge Nyoki, asserted: “We may not have experienced armed conflicts in Cameroon, but we can not deny the existence of cold war and domestic violence. Therefore, there is need for more peace building efforts in Cameroon, considering the terrorists’ threats around our borders,” he stated.

This year’s edition was hinged on the theme “The Right of People to Peace.” Molinge averred that “Domestic violence, inter-village disputes, rivalry and sometimes stress, if not properly addressed, can threaten national peace.”

He congratulated the Head of State, Paul Biya, for his peaceful policies, which earned him the Pan African Lawyer’s Award for Peace. He equally appreciated the participants at the seminar for prioritising peace among other things.

“There is the need for us to be one another’s keeper, if not, we will be indirectly destroying the bridge that we must cross,” the peace crusader remarked.

Quoting the preamble of UNESCO’s Constitution, Molinge stated: “Since war begins in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.”

Tambe Tiku, Southwest Regional Secretary of the National Commission of Human Rights and Freedoms, NCHRF, stressed on the need to respect the inalienable rights of humans. To him, these rights are inherent in every man by virtue of his or her being.

According to the NCHRF Southwest scribe, after the two global wars, world leaders took a firm commitment to guarantee world peace and security.

This, he went on, led to the creation of the United Nations. The UN, Tambe Tiku remarked, failed to provide a forum for human rights. This led to the declaration of human rights in 1948 and the setting up of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, which eventually made human rights a more binding law.

He regretted that some unscrupulous civil servants in Cameroon are still infringing on the basic rights of the masses which, he said, is causing the Government a lot of embarrassment on the global scene.

He said his organisation is doing everything to cleanse the image of Cameroon by working hard to bring to book those who violate basic human rights.

The Commissioner of State Security, Atangwa Anagho, saw the realisation of peace as the duty of law enforcing bodies, as they protect public peace and maintain law and order.

He, nonetheless, regretted that, at times insecurity is rife when security is tightened, because some bad eggs in the police corps use such unstable moments to enrich themselves. Commissioner Atangwa said Government is working hard to rid the corps of such miscreants.

Atangwa’s assertion was corroborated by the Divisional Officer for Buea, Paul Wokam Kouam, who said Government is taking necessary measures to ensure that peace reigns in the country.