CAPED-International Organizes Peace & Dialogue Conference
On July 4, 2007, the Campus for Peace & Dialogue (CAPED) International organized a conference in Yaoundé on the theme “Building a Culture of Peace & Dialogue in African Higher Institutions of Learning”, with special focus on best practices, models and strategies. This Conference was a follow-up of an earlier one commenced on 28 May 2007, but was suspended due to unexpected circumstances. Given that international participants had already presented their papers during the May conference, this extended conference was devoted to national participants. Considering the context that has prevailed within the past two decades, in which most African universities have become hot beds for violence, it was hoped that through open debate, this conference would foster understanding and tolerance among members of the university community. Hence, the principal objective of the conference was to bring together scholars and professionals from various backgrounds and disciplines as well as student leaders to reflect on and scientifically try to understand the dynamics of conflict and violence in tertiary education.

During the opening ceremony, the Chair of the Organizing Committee, Dr Walters Samah, after acknowledging the presence of participants and thanking them for their great interest in the conference, declared that to put an end to the ugly trend of conflict on campuses there must be changes in practices and not principles. He also stated that because peace is expensive, its pursuit should not be a dramatic event but a gradual process, which calls for the participation of all. His address was followed by a report on the May Conference that ended prematurely presented by the Rapportuer, Charles Linjap. After the opening ceremony, guest speaker after guest speaker took their turns on the panel to present papers. Notable amongst them were Prof Bopda Athanase, Drs ESD Fomin, Ebale M. Chandel, Jean Koufan, Commissaire Clifford Mbaku Alawadi Zelao, Mboe Georges and student leaders, Walter Onekon, François Desire Mbesse and Awal Mohamadou. Some of the striking issues addressed included: the concept of peace, environment and peace on campus, the sexually-transmissible marks syndrome, student unionism, peacekeeping operations on campus, religion and cultism on campuses and crisis management in state universities.

The first panel comprising Prof. Bopda, Dr Fomin and Alawadi provided a comprehensive outline of peace, emphasising the need to always use and consider its extended concept which transcends the mere absence of open violence to include conditions of justice and needs fulfillment. One of the papers that drew much attention was that of the Commissaire Mbaku, titled: ‘Effects and unintended consequences of peacekeeping and peace enforcement on university campuses”. The speaker was highly appreciated for its openness and frankness” It was a remarkable paper which contributed quite strongly in sensitising conference participants about the role the security forces are expected to play during peace operations on campus The paper demonstrated that previous peace operations on campuses have been poorly carried out, leading to unwanted outcomes. As a remedy, the Speaker recommended the use of ‘community policing’, a modern that warrants that the police should work in partnership with students and the university administration to defuse tension and prevent conflict from erupting. The conference was concluded with the reading of the conference report and recommendations. A major recommendation was a call for university authorities to prioritise and mainstream peace on their agenda. It is left for the decisions makers to make use of the recommendations towards a more peaceful university environment.