Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) A New Paradigm in the Resolution of the Ongoing Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon: Myth or Reality

Postcolonial conflict and wars in African countries are still on the rise, despite numerous efforts to put an end to them. Since then, some African states have made advances in post conflict peace building and intergroup reconciliation. The attacks by terrorists in the Far North Region for over five years now, and the violence propagated by armed separatist groups in the North West and South West Regions since 2016 have left a crushing impact on the socio economic and political life of Cameroon. The crisis that started as a corporatist claim in the predominantly two English-speaking regions of the country and to which no appropriate solutions were provided, was hijacked by the secessionist movement. It was from this backdrop that the President of the Republic of Cameroon signed a Decree in November 2018 to establish the National DDR committee as an attempt to solve the ongoing Anglophone crisis. This paper examines the relevance of DDR in reforming the security and political sector in the Anglophone Regions. This paper utilizes mixed-methods to ascertain this objective. Amongst the several results we found out that the DDR in these Regions can significantly contribute to peace building despite the numerous challenges it faces.