Disarmament Committee : Brighter Prospects For Ex-fighters

Government through the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Committee (DDR) is stepping up measures to ensure that Boko Haram fighters in the Far North Region and the separatists armed fighters in the North West and South West Regions who respond positively to the Head of State’s call of wilfully dropping their arms and come to DDR Centres will have a brighter future.
The National Coordinator of the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Committee (DDR), Fai Yengo Francis, disclosed during a press conference in Yaounde on August 14, 2020 that the Head of State, Paul Biya instructed the construction of big vocational training centres in Bamanda and Buea. He said the Bamenda Centre will be completed in the one and a half months time while the construction of the Buea Centre will start in the days ahead. The Bamenda Centre, he said, would accommodate over 1,000 ex-fighters who would be trained in different vocations such as agro-pastoral activities, computer science, sewing and other professions that will render them autonomous and fit well in the society upon leaving the centres. 
Fai Yengo Francis revealed that at moment, there were over 500 ex-fighters in the Bamenda, Buea and Mora DDR Centres. Reacting to some press allegations of suffering in the Buea Centre, he said the “allegations are baseless.” Fai Yengo Francis said, “The Centres function well. We have sent enough financial means to ensure their proper functioning.”  The ex-fighters, he further said, eat three times a day, are cloth and given proper healthcare, reason why as at now none of them has died. He urged the press to do proper investigative reporting to ascertain the truth. With regard to some arguments that the DDR Centres should be closed or selective admission of ex-fighters be done owing to the fact...