The attack took place in broad daylight. A real barbarism, targeting children barely nine to twelve years old. Eight of them were killed and a dozen others injured – according to a provisional report – this Saturday, October 24, in the attack on their classroom in a school in English-speaking Cameroon, in conflict for nearly three years. . A “horrible” crime strongly condemned by the inhabitants, the Cameroonian political class and the African Union.
The attack has not yet been claimed, but the government attributes it to secessionist rebels. For nearly three years, separatist groups and the army have been clashing in Cameroon’s two North-West and South-West regions, where most of the English-speaking minority live, some of whom consider themselves marginalized by the French-speaking majority of the country.
Schools had been a target in the recent past, but had never experienced a massacre of such magnitude. An investigation has been opened.
The Humanitarian Coordinator in #Cameroon, @mznaab strongly condemns the attack against Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba, in the South West region of Cameroon in which it is reported that at least eight children were killed and another twelve wounded. pic.twitter.com/vJfLOrlmw0
— OCHA Cameroon (@OchaCameroon) October 24, 2020
What we know
The attack took place in Kumba, in the South West region, where “at least eight children were killed by gunfire and machete attacks. Twelve others were injured and taken to local hospitals, ”the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Cameroon said in a statement.
At around 11 a.m. local time, “a group of nine terrorist attackers” broke into the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy college, before opening fire on the students in the classroom, aged 9 to 12, according to a report. source close to the police.
Reactions in Cameroon and on the continent
Maurice Kamto, leader of the opposition, spoke of “absolute horror”. “How many deaths do it take for a political solution to bring peace to the NOSO (North-West and South-West, the two English-speaking regions)? »He reacted, while the Cameroonian Prime Minister organized an emergency meeting after the attack.
“There are no words for grief and no condemnation strong enough to express all my horror at the brutal attack which targeted primary school children (…) while they were sitting, eating. learn, in their classroom, ”tweeted Moussa Faki Mahamat, President of the African Union.
There are no words of grief nor condemnation strong enough to articulate my full horror at the brutal attack targeting primary schoolchildren,killing at least 6 of them and seriously injuring 13 more, as they sat learning in their classroom in #Kumba, southwest #Cameroon.
Moussa Faki Mahamat (@AUC_MoussaFaki) October 24, 2020
“I unreservedly condemn the acts of barbarism committed today in Kumba. Murdering children who are going to learn is to attack the very foundations of our nation ”, for his part reacted the Minister of Public Health of Cameroon, Malachie Manaouda.
“Boycotting schools has been a strategy of the separatists in recent years. Around 700,000 young people were outside the school system because of the conflict, ”Arrey Elvis Ntui, senior analyst for the International Crisis group in Cameroon, told AFP.
“The government and English-speaking civil society have put a lot of pressure on separatist groups to return their children to school, and schools that had been closed for years have started to reopen,” he continued.
1 / Unimaginable and unacceptable! What happened in Kumba should wake us all up. What barbaric instinct can drive anyone to go to a school and shoot children at random, killing some? Is this what we have become? Numb with savagery and … pic.twitter.com/2TaaAjBheL
– Akere Muna (@AkereMuna) October 24, 2020
In mid-May, a teacher at the University of Bamenda (North West) was notably shot dead by separatists because he refused to stop teaching, according to the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW).
“These people (the aggressors, editor’s note) will be caught by all means. I say by all means, ”nevertheless warned Chamberlin Ntou’ou Ndong, prefect of the department of Mémé, affected by the attack.
He also insisted that the school was “undeclared” and that he was going to give instructions that “all schools in the department of Granny be declared” for security reasons.
“As soon as I entered the house, I learned of the death of my neighbor’s sister who lost these 4 children in this massacre! She constantly came to Dla to buy the goods and come back to sell there in Kumba! She died on the spot after hearing the news! »Tells dejected a surfer on Twitter.
“They were only children! ! Innocent children with just notebooks and pens. Whoever you are, you had no right, ”another indignantly.
Convictions
Beyond the emotion, many demand accountability. “Why not send the soldiers sent to watch Maurice Kamto in Kumba, protect his innocent children who only asked to be educated? I think there is a head of state in this country, so now is the time to prove to us that he is responsible and go to Kumba. “
The fighting in English-speaking Cameroon, but also the atrocities and killings of civilians by the two camps, according to numerous NGOs, have left more than 3,000 dead and forced more than 700,000 people to flee their homes. “The security forces and armed separatists have each on several occasions attacked hospitals and medical personnel” in recent months, said the NGO HRW in July.
Accusations of abuses by the army have also increased in recent years.
In June, three Cameroonian soldiers were notably charged with the “murder” in February of civilians, including 10 children, in the English-speaking part of Cameroon.

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