North West: Amba Separatists burn schools, attack Fon’s palace

Uncertainty looms in Zhoa, a town in Menchum Division in the restive North West Region, after Ambazonia separatists reportedly attacked and burned down school buildings in the area.

Reports say the armed separatists attacked and set ablaze some school buildings alongside some shops early Tuesday, September 19, as schools struggled to reopen in the English-speaking Regions after a two-week separatist lockdown.

The Amba Boys are also reported to have molested a woman, after mistaking her for a teacher at one of the schools they set ablaze.

“The mother of a teacher was seriously beaten by the attackers, thinking she was the teacher,” a local source told MMI.

Streetlights were also destroyed during the separatist attack, according to the source, adding that they also attacked the palace.

“They also attacked the Fon’s palace, but luckily the Fon and other notables survived,” our source added.

He said villagers are still confused as to why the separatists staged the attack, which comes after some separatist groups permitted schools to resume in the crisis-hit North West and South West Regions.

Ambazonia separatists have been waging a fight against education in the Anglophone Regions of Cameroon since 2017, and hundreds of school buildings have been destroyed and thousands of students have missed school as a result.

Earlier this month, separatist fighters killed two head teachers in the Boyo Division of the North West, for promoting school resumption.

At a time when schools were resuming for the 2023–2024 school year, they called for a two-week lockdown in the two Regions, which grounded schools in most towns and villages.

Most schools only resumed in the Anglophone Regions this Tuesday, September 19, that is, 15 days after schools kicked off in eight other Regions of the country.

Religious leaders and civil society organisations have repeatedly called for separatists to let children go to school, which is a fundamental right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.