Armed Conflicts: Women Build Peace, Piece By Piece

The first ever Cameroon Women’s Peace Convention held in Yaounde in 2021. In 2022, women assembled and simulated a mediation exercise with regards to the different conflicts wrecking Cameroon. As follow-up, women in 2023 decided to break up into 10 regional Convention branches to present the results of their work since 2021, Mrs. Yvonne Muma Bih, President of the Cameroon Women’s Peace Movement, CAWOPEM, explained in Yaounde on Wednesday, September 6, 2023. She spoke on the effects of various conflicts in the country on women and society in general in the Centre Region.

76 Women’s Organizations 
Mrs Claudine Lucie Mboudou Mballa, the Regional Coordinator of the National Women’s Convention for Peace in Cameroon, Centre Region, recalled that the National Women’s Convention for Peace in Cameroon comprises 76 women’s organisations. Which came together to promote and consolidate peace in Cameroon. “We have carried out a number of activities since 2021. For example, we gathered 1,800 women in Yaounde to launch the Convention and later held discussions on peace with parliamentarians,” Mboudou Mballa said.

Social Cohesion 
“We met to put heads together on how to enhance social cohesion in the Centre Region. The Centre Region today bears the brunt of different conflicts in the country through the influx of Internally-displaced People, IDPs and refugees. All this has led to the acute shortage of employment opportunities, shelter, natural resources…. We wanted to see what women in the Centre Region can do to enable government and the common man to live in harmony,” Mrs Claudine Lucie Mboudou Mballa explained.

Piece By Piece 
“The 2021 Convention produced some documents – like the Peace Pact, the Cameroon Woman’s Peace Treaty…. The Convention also adopted a logo with the message that every Cameroonian woman is a piece of peace. And that we build peace piece by piece,” Muma Bih noted. 

Host Community Interests
“The effects of armed conflicts Cameroon faces are felt differently in the 10 regions. That is why in the Centre Region, we discussed the consequences of the crises and came up with proposals to ensure social cohesion. The influx of refugees and Internally-displaced People creates challenges for host communities, which must be addressed,” she stressed. “We are considering taking the message of the 2021 Women’s Convention to the divisions,” Muma Bih announced.

Influx Of Widows, Orphans
“Women in the Centre Region are direct and indirect victims of the crises in Cameroon. There are now many ...