Conflict in NOSO:

Japan Promises Support to Reconstruction Effort

Ambassador Osawa Tsutomu made the assurance in Buea on March 5 on mission to evaluate funding to UNDP on the ground

By Boris Esono in Buea

SW Governor & his collaborators pose with Japanese Ambassador in Buea

Japan’s Ambassador to Cameroon, His Excellency Tsutomu Osawa, was at the South West Regional Governor’s Office 5 March, 2020. He exchanged civilities with Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai before going to meet the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) officials in Buea to evaluate a sponsorship programme begun last June, 2019. The Diplomat assessed on-the-ground recovery funding following the devastating separatist government war in the area.  

                While at the Governor’s Office, the Japanese’s Diplomat explained that Japan was available to support the efforts of Government in the recovery and reconstruction of Cameroon following the upsetting effects of the Boko Haram incursions as well as the blistering and bloody separatist fighting in the North West and South West Regions.

                Ambassador Osawa said it was his first time of visiting the South West Region since becoming Japan’s number one representative in Cameroon. He expressed that he would report to his country what he has seen in the South West Region. Ambassador Osawa promised that they would continue their humanitarian assistance to the people especially that they were discussing the funding-budget with the Prime Minister’s Office for recovery and reconstruction in the distressed Regions of Cameroon.

                Dr. Emini, the Assistant Resident for UNDP, told the press that Japan financed eight Non-Governmental organizations in Cameroon to the tune of CFA 90 million to offer humanitarian assistance on the ground. Japan’s Ambassador to Cameroon was certainly on a follow-up trip to Buea where he met their UNDP partners to assess the ground covered and to chart the way forward. Ambassador Osawa presented his credentials to President Paul Biya on 14 December, 2018, that is in the heat of the Anglophone crisis and his country has had occasion to have clear information about the conflict.