Excerpts Of The Prime Minister, Head Of Government’s Statement

“We have decided in unison that we want all our children to go to school. We have decided that we want to go to our villages and sleep well. We have decided that we want our businesses and particularly our agro-industrial enterprises to function well and to provide employment to our youth. We want the CDC, Pamol and other big firms to continue to work and provide jobs for our children. We have decided that we want an end to unjustified killings and kidnappings for ransom. We have decided that we want to enjoy Christmas this year in peace. We have decided that ten years of mayhem, killings, and psychological trauma that we have gone through in the South West Region is unjustified and should stop.” “We have decided to follow the prescriptions of the President of the Republic for community dialogue to be organised together with administrative, civil society, traditional, religious leaders, economic ope­ rators, cocoa dealers dialogue that will bring the remaining the remaining fighters out of the bushes. The government of the republic stands with you in this fight. From this meeting, we have all the ne­ cessary elements to put together a process in action. We have heard from the former fighters the intricacies of this dialogue, we have heard from professionals in the field what it means to engage the fighters. We are therefore calling on SDOs to launch this process in the respective divisions.” “We know that the conflict has changed. If you left Buea in those days and going to Kumba, you will be lucky if you met ten vehicles on the road. In all the villages, you hardly saw a single soul. There was nobody on the streets. Hardly was any school ope­ rating. Today we are in Buea. In Kumba, we understand people are going to night clubs drinking till dawn. In Ekondo Titi, Mamfe, Bangem, economic activities have resumed. Inter-urban transport is operational. And this did not come about fortuitously. It happened because the government decided that peace will return and a lot of young people in the military paid the ultimate price with their lives in trying to defend us and restore peace in our regions.” “All of us are stakeholders in peace. I dare say that even those unfortunate young people in the bushes. Many are not even in the bushes anymore. They are with us living in our towns, cities a...