By Doh Bertrand Nua
Some ex-separatist fighters at the South West Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) centre earlier this week burst out in anger and confronted the national coordinator of the centre, demanding answers as to when they will be reintegrated into te society to reconnect with their families.
Separatist Ex-combatants at the Southwest DDR Centre in Buea
The furious ex-fighters confronted Fai Yengo Francis during a visit to the centre in Buea. They told Fai Yengo that they have over stayed at the centre and government has been silent on their reintegration into the society.
Most of the fighters criticised the delay in the reintegration process and staged walk out from the hall where they were gathered to discuss with the coordinator.
Many burst out in tears, went on the floor, begging to be set free while expressing their dissatisfaction.
Outside view of DDR centre
Most of the annoyed ex-fighters disclosed that they are married and have their families to take care of, adding that their wives are being chased from homes they live in over unpaid rents. Some revealed that their families are unable to feed themselves due to their absence.
Ex-fighters
Addressing the angry ex-combatants, Fai Yengo, called on them to be patient and to carefully undergo the process for their own good.
“…the reintegration process anywhere is a long process. We have seen what has happened here today. We don’t want to take the risk to send these guys to the streets because people are angry. They are people who have lost their lives,” he explained adding that it is important for the ex-fighters to exercise patience as government plans to erect a huge centre to upgrade their training.
“We should not take a few francs and give these boys, they will not do anything. It is better to train them so that tomorrow they can be useful to their families and the country,” Fai explained.
He added that the training is to ensure the ex-combatants become useful to both themeselves and families once they are integrated into the society.
“With the vocational training centre they will be endowed with skills that would facilitate them to provide for themselves and also care of their families,” Fai said, while appealing on all and sundry to shun intoxication of the minds of the fighters and try to see the positive side of what government is doing for the repentant fighters.
He used the visit to donate food items the ex-fighters comprising ten cartons of fish, 55 bags of 20kg rice, 45 bags of 50kg rice, ten containers of vegetable oil, ten cartons of spaghetti, 12 bags of 100kg groundnut and the sum of FCFA 500 000.
He also made a tour to different sections of the centre including the sewing workshops, piggery, poultry farms, etc in the company of the SWR DDR coordinator, Bernard Messape Ndode. The centre has a total of 120 ex-fighters.
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