The United Nations has now said around 4 million Southern Cameroonians, mostly women and children, are now in dire need of lifesaving assistance. The statement was announced by the UN on Thursday, 24th January, 2019 in Geneva at the event presenting it’s 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan for the Cameroons

BaretaNews has now learned that the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Cameroun, Ms. Allegra Baiocchi, and Cameroon’s Civil Protection Director, Ms. Yap Mariatou were at the launch in Geneva where they warned that there was a drastic increase in humanitarian need across Southern Cameroons.

 Cameroon today can no longer be a forgotten crisis; it needs to be high on our agenda – UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Allegra Baiocchi

“Hundreds of thousands of people on Cameroon’s territory need urgent assistance and protection,” Ms. Baiocchi said, adding that “attacks against civilians have increased and many conflict-affected people are surviving in harsh conditions without humanitarian assistance due to the dramatic underfunding of the response. Cameroon today can no longer be a forgotten crisis; it needs to be high on our agenda.”

The UN went on to estimates that with needs rising by 31 per cent in a year, around 4.3 million people in the Cameroons – one in six people and mostly women and children – require lifesaving assistance.

The joint Humanitarian Response Plan 2019 seeks $299 million to assist 2.3 million vulnerable people, more than half of those in need. Last year, a $320 million response plan for Cameroon was only 40 per cent funded.

The United Nations went to stipulates that the aggravation of the conflict in Southern Cameroons is the main driver behind the said increase. Insecurity and violence in Southern Cameroons have uprooted 437,000 people from their homes and forced over 32,000 to seek refuge in neighbouring Nigeria. Four million people are now generally affected by the conflict in Southern Cameroons, the UN concluded.

“Humanitarian needs are likely to increase in coming years,” said Ms. Baiocchi, adding that budgets had failed in increase adequately in recent years. “Underfunding means we cannot do all we can to make a difference in the life of most vulnerable people across Cameroon, whether it is the girl who is missing school due to violence, the displaced mother struggling to feed her children, or the father who has lost his entire family.”
Ms. Baiocchi confirmed.

The situation in Southern Cameroons remain dire. It is still to be seen what actions the United Nations can actually do to finally end the war in Southern Cameroons

By Mark Bareta