National Assembly: Two bills on insecurity adopted

The National Assembly has this Monday 24th November 2014 adopted two more bills to prevent and fight terrorism in the country.

Of the four bills tabled, two on insecurity were examined and adopted under the chairmanship of the House Speaker, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril.

The first of these two bills authorises the President of the Republic to ratify the Organisation of African Unity, OAU, Convention on the Prevention and combating of Terrorism. The agreement was adopted in Algiers, Algeria, on 14 July 1999.

The bill that was defended by the Minister of State, Minister of Justice and Keeper of Seals, Laurent Esso seeks to harmonise efforts in combating cohesions amongst terrorist groups in order to protect the populations against acts of terrorism in Africa.

The bill has been adopted at a time when the government has opened a united front in the Northern parts of Cameroon to check the recurrent incursions of Boko Haram.

The second bill allows the President of the Republic to ratify the Protocol of the OAU Convention on the Prevention and combating of Terrorism adopted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 8th July 2004.

The agreement was initiated to strengthen the Peace and Security Council of the African Union.

This second bill has been adopted at a time when the Cameroon-Central African Republic border has witnessed a number of threats perpetrated by armed groups that get into Cameroon through the East Region.

After adopting the two bills, Parliament started discussing the 2009 Kampala, Uganda Convention on the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons.

The bill is being defended by the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Rene Emmanuel Sadi. During the session, he disclosed that a total of 12000 people have been displaced because of the activities of the Boko Haram group.

The Minister further explained that the bill guarantees efficient deployment of refugees and shall enhance effective social and economic assistance.

Other worries voiced by members of the National Assembly were on cultural imperialism in Africa by the West, taxes on petroleum products and issues related to the lake Chad Basin Water Charter adopted in N`Djamena in April 2014.

To respond to these worries were the Ministers of Culture and the Economy, the Minister Delegate in the Ministry of External Relations with the Islamic World.