Cameroon’s ruling party, Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), said on Friday the country needs over 5 billion U.S. dollars to reconstruct and develop troubled English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest.

Party spokesperson, Jacques Fame Ndongo, who is also Cameroon’s Minister of Higher Education, told reporters the money will be used to rehabilitate infrastructure destroyed by separatists.

“The state means is not extendable to reconstruct all the infrastructures that have been destroyed, but the head of state has taken the commitment to rehabilitate (the regions) and he will respect his commitment,” Ndongo told reporters.

On Thursday, the Party said in a press statement, President Paul Biya was resolute to find “lasting solutions to the security crisis” in the regions, stressing that a national dialogue held in early October to end the conflict was a “historic moment of national fraternisation” for the country.

“The recommendations (of the national dialogue) will not be thrown in the gutter. Not at all.” Ndongo added.

According to the United Nations, more than 530,000 people have been displaced internally in the regions since armed separatists started clashing with government forces in 2017. One point three million people in the regions are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Armed separatists want to secede from the largely French-speaking Cameroon and create an independent nation in the English-speaking regions.

Source: Xinhuanet