Ouagadougou: The secretary general of Mouhoun province, Boureima Ouédraogo, chaired, on Saturday July 27, 2024, a meeting to share the process and the signing of the commitment document between internally displaced persons and host communities of the city of Dédougou under the initiative of the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue.
This signing ceremony, which took place on Saturday July 27, 2024, aims to strengthen dialogue between the displaced and host communities in the commune of Dédougou through the establishment, adoption and signing of commitments which make it possible to prevent and manage tensions between them.
It aims to recall and complete the commitments identified to ease tensions between the displaced and their hosts in the commune of Dédougou, to validate and sign the commitments made in the presence of other key actors and to set up the commitment monitoring committee in order to prevent and manage all conflicts between displaced communities and host communities.
According to the mediation ad
visor of the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, Daouda Sawadogo, this process aims to establish cohesion between populations in the security context that our country is experiencing.
For him, it is the fruit of long isolated actions in favor of peace and social cohesion.
‘It is a joy for the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue to see the outcome of this process. We hope that it will serve as an example and constitute a leitmotif for living it together in the commune of Dédougou and therefore throughout the Boucle du Mouhoun region,’ he said.
In view of the massive displacement of populations who left their localities due to insecurity to find refuge in Dédougou, tensions between communities have crystallized due to restrictions linked to the exercise of certain subsistence activities imposed by the scarcity of certain natural resources.
Faced with this difficult situation, community leaders in the Mouhoun province requested support, in order to re-establish communication between host populations and displaced
populations and thus structure the peaceful exploitation of certain resources.
The diagnosis made by the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue showed that there are sources of tension between internally displaced people and their hosts which threaten social cohesion and peaceful cohabitation.
Given the diversity of the issues, it was wise to limit the mediation in question by the adoption and signing of commitments which make it possible to prevent and manage tensions between them.
The President of the special delegation of the commune of Dédougou, Dieudonné Tougfo, welcomed this initiative which seeks to promote peace, social cohesion and peaceful cohabitation between the displaced populations and those hosts.
‘This commitment is timely in the sense that it submits to each party its rights and duties and also makes recommendations to stakeholders for perfect peace and harmony,’ he stressed.
He expressed his gratitude to the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue for its beneficial initiative and hoped that it woul
d stand alongside the monitoring committee to support them through its technical expertise for the success of their mission.
Likewise, the Massa of Dédougou welcomed the commitment which is materialized in order to deal with any eventuality between host communities and those displaced.
‘The initiative will initially resolve the problem in our canton, in our commune and also in other localities,’ underlined Massa de Dédougou.
He hoped that the commitments monitoring committee would be open to all those who can help it succeed in its mission to the happiness of our different communities.
One of the representatives of the host populations, Mamadou Diallo, hoped that the initiative would be popularized in each locality in order to facilitate peaceful cohabitation between communities for a Burkina of peace and cohesion.
Likewise, the representative of internally displaced populations, Moussa Dao, welcomed the commitments made and finds that this further invites them to cooperate to live better together.
For
the secretary general of the Mouhoun province, Boureima Ouédraogo, the double security and humanitarian crisis that the Mouhoun province is experiencing like the other provinces of the country, Dédougou which constitutes the center and the capital of the region recorded a very large number of internally displaced persons, thus creating problems of cohabitation.
‘It is right that the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue has come to the rescue to alleviate a little these small difficulties which hinder living together between host communities and internally displaced persons. We will support the initiative and we will ensure that the signed commitments are respected and that their implementation does not pose a problem for peaceful cohabitation,’ Mr. Ouédraogo said.
The various stakeholders took turns signing their signatures on the document which is their commitment to social cohesion and peaceful cohabitation.
A commitment monitoring committee made up of seven members has been set up and brings together each s
takeholder.
Source: Burkina Information Agency