Comprehensive Amnesty Programmes as a Component of Inclusive Dialogue

By Mwalimu George Ngwane* [Originally published in The Guardian Post No. 1499, September 25, 2018]

An amnesty programme is cost-effective but not a substitute for a substantive discussion on the root and/or proximate causes of the conflict... fighters are often willing to surrender their weapons only when there is a clear and concrete agenda for addressing the issues that led them to take up arms in the first place.

The Guardian Post of Monday, September 17, 2018, carried a front page caption titled “Ambazonia fighters promised huge compensation to surrender weapons”. The full story on Page 5 further quotes the North West Governor, Adolphe Lele L’Afrique said inter alia:

“Our children, brothers, sisters and loved ones who have been misled and misguided to take up arms against the fatherland are called upon to surrender their weapons to the nearest administrative, traditional, municipal and regional authority and as a follow up they will be entitled to psychological and logistical support for their eventual rehabilitation and reintegration into society”.

This is definitely an innovative twist in what is referred to as an amnesty programme, but which has not been given the visibility and potency it deserves in the current Anglophone crisis. Granted that there have been calls for blanket amnesty for especially the jailed, the Diasporans and the spoilers connected to the conflict, but little attention has been paid, except for military offensive, to the ”Ambazonian”  combatants, militants or fighters on the ground who wield deadly  weapons.