Introduction
Since 1989, international efforts to end protracted conflicts in Africa, America and Asia have required sustained investments in disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of combatants from the belligerent parties. Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) is a process through which members of armed forces and armed groups are supported to lay down their weapons and return to civilian life (1).
Even though it requires lots of investments, the DDR initiative is progressively growing in Africa as an effective post reconstruction process. The process has been successfully implemented in some African countries such as Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast in particular which recorded about 70,000 former combatants that had been integrated into the programme, along with 44,000 armaments, including 14,000 weapons that had been collected (2).
It did, however, register some failures in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the two former programs, DDR I and DDR II failed to consolidate peace and security and to neutralize a large number of armed groups as per their stipulated objectives (3).
Contextual Background
Faced with numerous security challenges over the past years among which we can list, the Anglophone crisis in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon, and the Boko Haram insurrection in the Northern Regions of Cameroon the government of Cameroon resolved to implement the DDR process to respond to these crises.
Further to this, the Presidential Decree of 30th November 2018 introduces the DDR initiative in Cameroon with specific mandate (4) to manage and implement the DDR process in Cameroon as a “Hand of peace” to members of armed groups to lay down their arms and benefit from the process of reintegration into the society (5).
As part of measures implemented to re-integrate ex-combatants from the Islamic Sect, Boko Haram, a transit Center was created in Mora and Meri, Far North Region of Cameroon which has recorded about 1112 returnees have been recorded since November 2021. In the Far north (290 men, 275 women, 297 boys and 25 girls) and about 130,690 ex-combatants occupied the said camp in 2022.(6)
Regarding the Anglophone regions, the Northwest region of Cameroon hosts a center in Bamenda and South West Region hosts a modern DDR center in Bokwango. 5 years after the implementation of these processes in the respective regions, it should be noted that, the DDR initiative is yet to have any significant impact on the Anglophone conflict as many challenges have hindered the operationalization of these centers and armed factions persistently fuel violence in conflicting regions.
This article, therefore, aims to evaluate the state of the DDR initiative in Cameroon (I), as well as their challenges (II) and propose recommendations for an improved implementation of DDR processes in these regions of Cameroon.
- Status of the DDR initiative in Cameroon
In Cameroon, the missions of the National DDR is to deradicalize former combatants and help them in their reintegration process. Decree No. 2018/719 on the creation of CNDDR elaborates its missions and the functions of the different centers created in order to implement this process (7). The DDR was decreed in a political logic targeting mainly the two security crisis in Cameroon.
The fight against Boko Haram is a long-term fight and an increase in attacks has been recorded in towns and villages in the Far North region of Cameroon. The Mora center which is the main center created in the North was put in place to provide a safe social environment and prepare for the reintegration of former members of the Boko Haram group. It has registered about 1600 returnees have been recorded since the creation of the Meri camp in the Far north (684 men, 699 women, 217 children, (8) and about 130,690 ex-combatants occupy the said camp in 2022.
The Bamenda based center for DDR was created to give peace a chance in this ongoing crisis in the Northwest region. It is a “center of opportunities” for those combatants who have decided to bring down their arms. The first registered cases in this center were in December 2018 when two former combatants from OKU-BUI were received and today the center now has about 52 members who are given professional trainings which will facilitate their reintegration into the society (9).
The Regional Center for demobilization, disarmament and reintegration in Buea, South-west region is based at the Bolster Institute, a center used to rehabilitate delinquent children. In 2021, 279 ex-combatants were registered in this center, 38 of them were reintegrated into active life, 18 deserted from the center, three deaths were registered, and 220 are present at the center. Despite this registered number of ex-combatants in this center a great number of complaints have been registered. On February 1, 2021, pensioners of the Bokwango DDR center went on strike, protesting against poor living conditions, degrading treatment, unemployment that they were subjected to (10).
- Challenges Faced in the Implementation of DDR Processes in Cameroon
As per Prof. Alain Didier Olinga, head the of Department at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, DDR processes should be proceeded by certain traditional prerequisites which include; the signing of an agreement between the belligerents, providing for and organizing DDR, mutual trust and willingness of the actors concerned to submit to the DDR process, and the guarantee of a minimum level of security (12).
In Cameroon, it is noticed that the conditions were not respected, the DDR is being established in a backdrop of prevailing hostility between separatists armed groups and the Defense and Security Forces. Tensions are exacerbated by the increasingly visible radicalization of both parties. In addition, there is a lack of trust between the separatists armed groups and the Defense and Security Forces.
The separatists armed groups are sceptical about the governments DDR initiative and are convinced that this initiative is an ambush reason for their reluctance to collaborate. Taking a good look at other countries in the sub regions that have implemented the DDR programs in their countries, we notice that this process is generally supported by external institutions or structures like the UN DDR section, which has a great experience in this domain and whose expertise could be of great help in Cameroon.
A good example could be seen in Ivory Coast and Democratic Republic of Central Africa where we could effectively see the UN’s implication in the DDR initiative (13). Lack of human resources and experience of the personnel in charge of this DDR in Cameroon could also be considered as a limitation to the success of this initiative. Due to the fact that Cameroon’s experience in this domain is still young, there is a need for a range of tools in order to meet the expectations placed on it in order to resolve the various crisis in Cameroon.
One of these essential tools is the quality of human resources deployed to implement the missions assigned to the DDR both at the local and at the Central level. Unfortunately, till date there has been limited or no particular capacity building workshops for these personnel. The existence of a good number of little groups with allegedly secessionist ambitions, with self-asserted leaders who arrogate to themselves as leaders of these groups makes this initiative difficult to successfully install.
This situation tends to make the conflict more complex, as each warlord leads his group and part of the territory without giving any hierarchy accounts. Since the beginning of this crisis, we count at least a dozens of separatists’ factions both in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon.The multiplicity of these factions does not create favorable circumstances for reintegration (14).
Way Forward
For the DDR initiative to have any effective impact, the government of Cameroon must prioritize pre-conditions. It was noticed that one of the reasons the DDR was not effective in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon was because it didn’t respect the traditional prerequisites needed to establish a DDR. Furthermore, these must be accompanied by a National DDR Plan which would define strategic orientations which are crucial for the putting in place of the DDR in our actual context and guarantee a successful DDR in Cameroon.
There exists lack of trust between the belligerents. The combatants in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon still see this “Hand of peace” as an ambush from the government. A genuine and inclusive dialogue should be initiated which will include both parties. This could be a confidence-building measure capable of restoring trust between both parties (15).
The government of Cameroon must prioritize capacity building of DDR personnel and provide trauma healing sessions and create favorable opportunities for ex-combatants.
Makeutche Syndie Rhianne
MAKEUTCHE Syndie is an intern at the peace and security division of the Nkafu Policy Institue.
Antem Anthony
Antem Anthony is the Head of Conflict Analysis and Prevention unit & Policy Analyst in peace & security at the Foretia Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, he served as conflict, policy and security assistant at the International Crisis Group, Kenya. Anthony is a certified administrative and operations professional from the United Nations University for Peace and the Pan African Institute for Development, West Africa (PAID-WA)
