If countries in the Lake Chad Basin want stability, they will have to work together to put an end to the violent conflicts and persistent attacks by the Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’way Wa’l-Jihād (JAS), more commonly referred to as Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and gangs of bandits.

Participants from Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria who attended the Third Lake Chad Governors’ Forum, which took place in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on October 4 and 5, agreed that the terror caused by extremists had to stop if stabilisation, peacebuilding and sustainable development were to be attained.

But, they said, more financing was needed for the war against the extremists to succeed.

JAS began its reign of terror mostly in the northeast of Nigeria in 2009. But, in 2015, the insurgency spilt into neighbouring countries in the Lake Chad Basin and it has worsened because of escalating vicious attacks not only by JAS but also by members of ISWAP, as well as gangs of bandits.

Since the breakout of the insurgency, the region has struggled to curtail the impact of extremist activities, which ranged from massive internal and cross-border displacement, the destruction of social fabric and property, human rights abuses, disrupted public services and limited capacities of government institutions.

More than 10 million people have been affected and tens of thousands of deaths have been recorded. In terms of internal and cross-border displacement, nearly 2.5 million people have been affected.

Eight governors and about 300 stakeholders spent the two-day forum assessing the efforts made to stabilise the region and analysing the political, civil, security and humanitarian situation in the Lake Chad Basin.

Participants discussed issues of mutual interest, shared experiences, identified key cross-border and regional programmes and policy initiatives, which could stabilise the communities affected by the insurgency crisis.

It gave the participants the opportunity to measure the progress made in implementing stabilisation interventions, including the contribution made by civil society.

The level of participation of civil society and civil-military cooperation was also discussed, as well as the opportunities to meet the challenges of cross-border cooperation.

Getting more funding remains the major challenge, says LCBC executive secretary

Mamman Nuhu, the executive secretary of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), welcomed the advances and progress made in the implementation of programmes and other activities. He put the progress down to the commitment of the governments of the member countries, United Nations agencies, civil society and the media.

But, he said, even more commitment was needed to achieve the goals set.

“It’s about coming together to identify and address the challenges that all governors face. I don’t think there has ever been a forum where all the governors were present. This is, therefore, the central objective of this forum,” he said.

“The first meeting [in May 2018] laid the foundations for the forum. The second meeting [in 2019] put in place the dynamism and the objectives to be achieved. At the end of this governors’ forum, we would like to see more collaboration between the governors. As you know, each governor has produced his territorial action plan based on the nine pillars of the Lake Chad Basin Commission. The major challenge … is that of financing the war against Boko Haram. However, there is a considerable contribution on the humanitarian side, particularly from the European Union, Britain and Germany,” Nuhu said.

Getting Boko Haram and dissident groups further away is the major challenge

Midjiyawa Bakari, the governor of Cameroon’s Far North, said: “We are making sure that Boko Haram moves further away.”

He said he wished that at the end of the forum, the government of Cameroon would “act accordingly in relation to the damage that Boko Haram had caused for eight to 10 years”.

“This damage is enormous and almost everything has to be taken back,” Bakari said.

The Cameroon government plans to allocate FCFA 1810 billion to reconstruct the Far North.

Bakari said stability was gradually returning to his region, but the major concern was to ensure that Boko Haram moved further away.

Joseph Dion Ngute, the Prime Minister of Cameroon, said the country would offer additional funding for activities of the LCBC to help eradicate the Islamist sects.

He said a total amount of US$ 1 million, equivalent to CFAF 564 million, would be given to meet the needs of the affected populations, improve their living conditions, ensure security and implement economic programmes.

Recommendations formulated to further promote the achievement of set objectives

At the end of the third forum, a final communiqué read by Bakari was made public.

Several recommendations and resolutions were made by member countries. They agreed to:

• Remain firmly committed to joint efforts to stabilise, consolidate peace and promote sustainable development throughout the Lake Chad Basin by promoting dialogue and cross-border cooperation;
• Remain firmly committed to strengthening cross-border security cooperation to facilitate cross-border trade, improve economic recovery and strengthen people’s livelihoods;
• Play their role as the main cross-border cooperation mechanism within the framework of the implementation of the Regional Stabilisation, Recovery and Resilience Strategy (RSS) and work in close collaboration with the main actors in the Lake Chad Basin;
• Pursue joint reflection and information sharing, to strengthen cross-border collaboration and mutually benefit from existing good practices in the region;
• Ensure the systematic and effective implementation of the Territorial Action Plans (TAPs), which were launched during the third forum, in accordance with local and national development plans, and periodically monitor the progress made;
• Work with partners to redouble efforts to empower and give more opportunities to women and youth in the region;
• Facilitate the contribution and engagement of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the implementation and monitoring of the TAPs;
• Underline the need to increase the hydraulic capacity of Lake Chad to improve the living conditions of the populations of the region;
• Urge all partners to give priority to the provision of more military equipment and other resources to the Force Multinationale Mixte (MNJTF) to enable it to better accomplish its security mission which was necessary for a more effective implementation of the RSS and the TAPs;
• Expand and deepen partnerships in the Lake Chad Basin region to obtain the necessary resources to scale up interventions without which the RSS and TAPs could not be optimally implemented; and, finally,
• Commit to a set of common regional priorities for stabilisation, recovery and sustainable development, including but not limited to the conduct of community-based disarmament, demobilisation, repatriation, reintegration and resettlement (DDRRR), greater investment in cross-border trade and socioeconomic opportunities, the empowerment of youth and women, good governance and leveraging on the role of civil society for sustaining peace and development in the Lake Chad Basin region.