Occupants of the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) centre in Buea, South West region of Cameroon have cried out publicly over their fate at the centre.
Photo Credit: The Ultimate Author
Monday February 1, 2021, the former seperatist fighters in Cameroon protested publicly by blocking the main road linking Bokwaongo and Long Street in Buea.
The public protest was just an outward manifestation of the challenges they have been facing silently for over a while at the DDR Centre.
The “armless young men” made use of sticks, planks, tyres and stones to block the road.
The ex fighters were ready to tell who ever wants to hear what was the motive of their action.
Informed of the situation, the Divisional Officer for Buea, Abba Abdouraman, and the Secretary General at the South West Governor’s office, Dr Mohamadou, including Security Officials visited the protest site to try to bring the protesters to reason.
The ex fighters told the authorities that their problems are coming from the Government, that has failed to respect it’s promise.
In broken English, they said they were promised, better living conditions but what they live today is the opposite.
They said the Government had promised to give them jobs, but they have been waiting since to no avail.
Globally, live at the DDR Centre in Buea is not worth living they said, given that they are not too different from prisoners.
At press time, the ex fighters were not ready to call off the strike action, except a concrete solution is provided to their problems.
The public display to them was a means of telling the powers that be that it’s high time they fixed the situation in the centre, else the next option will be for them to quit.
Information about the fair treatment of ex fighters in the DDR Centres had circulated on social media but was immediately disclaimed by scribes of the Centres.
To the Director of the Centres, Fai Yengo Francis, the ex fighters are properly taken care of, with many learning a trade in preparation for their reintegration into the society.
The Centres it should be noted were created by the President of the Republic, Paul Biya on the 30th of November 2018.
The objective of the Centre is to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate seperatist fighters in the restive Anglophone regions.
