Kumba school killing: DO vows to avenge death of students as consortium blames military

The Divisional Officer of Kumba 1, has vowed to take his gun and come out, telling the population “this is total nonsense”. This follows the brutal massacre of six students at Mother Francisca school on Saturday.

“I will take my gun and come out. Please everybody must come out today… Please everybody, come out and defend your children. This is total nonsense,” the DO said in tears.

At least six school children were killed on Saturday, October 4, during a gunmen attack on a Kumba private school, Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy.

In a release signed on October 24, the Southern Cameroons Civil Society Consortium, SCACSC, has said this Saturday’s “massacre” of school children at in Kumba is “unacceptable” and “inhumane”.

According to the body, at least 10 school children have died after gunmen attacked the Kumba, Fiango-based school earlier on Saturday, leaving several other children severely injured.

Reports say the gunmen entered into classes and while others were being shot, some of the children tried to escape, many of them sustaining injuries.

“The inhuman act perpetrated on school children is one too many coordinated by the Cameroon Government apparatchiks for political ad nefarious ends. The Consortium unequivocally condemns these acts and implores whoever the authors are to put an end to such forthwith,” stated the Consortium in a release.

The killing of school children in Fiango has been widely condemned by several Cameroonian civil society members, among them renowned lawyer, Barrister Felix Agbor Balla, who says the act deprives children of their right to life.

Authorities of Meme Division where the killing occurred have blamed separatist fighters for the attack but separatists are yet to take responsibility.
Meme Senior Divisional Officer ordered for the arrest of all persons living around the school milieu saying they failed to alert authorities during the attack.

Rather, separatist activist Mark Barata has denounced accusations that separatist fighters are responsible, saying the military perpetrated the act in guise of the Amba boys.

According to the Southern Cameroons Civil Society Consortium, Cameroonian soldiers have brutalized teachers and clergy in private schools in Ngoketunjia, Bui, Meme and Manyu divisions, where school children have often been carried in military trucks to places where they are forced to sing the Cameroon National Anthem.

“We are urging on the United Nations Security Council to invoke the responsibility to protect , and dispatch an immediate humanitarian intervention to protect the lives of civilians…” stated the SCACSC release.