The Humanitarian Coordinator in Cameroon, Mr. Matthias Z. Naab is deeply concerned by two more attacks against schools in the South-West region.

On 8 and 11 February 2022, armed men from non-State armed groups burned down two schools, respectively the public primary school of Molyko in Buea, and Queen of Rosary Catholic College in Mamfe, both in the South-West region of Cameroon. These two incidents are the latest of several attacks on students, education staff and premises, depriving more than 700,000 students from their right to proper and safe education in the North-West and South-West regions.

“Education is a fundamental right to all children, yet many have not been allowed to enjoy this right. Children are traumatized, parents are scared, teachers and school administrators are afraid. With education under attack, the future of thousands of young Cameroonians is at risk. This is unacceptable,” said Mr. Naab. “Education establishments should be safe spaces for all students and teachers. Therefore, I call upon all perpetrators to refrain from actions that impede access to education, in accordance to Security Council Resolution 2601 (2021),” he added.

The United Nations and humanitarian partners in Cameroon condemn in the strongest terms all actions targeting education.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

There are no students in the playground of the high school in the Bomaka district of Buea — just the odd goat grazing on overgrown grass.

Buea is the capital of Cameroon’s Southwest Region — one of two regions gripped by violence after anglophones launched a campaign to break away from the country’s French-speaking majority.

In Bomaka, almost all the schools have been closed since 2016. It has just one junior school that remains open, but whose rollcall has slumped from around 600 to just 69 today.

“The crisis has killed the schools,” said Isaac Bissong, its headmaster. “Many pupils have left this neighbourhood to study elsewhere because they are afraid.”

In one classroom, only eight students were present when AFP visited. The silence in the once-bustling corridors was heavy.

Unlike other schools in the country, the green, red and yellow flag of Cameroon was nowhere to be seen — “that could get us into trouble,” said Bissong.

The school is located less than three kilometres (two miles) from Muea, one of the separatists’ strongholds and the scene of many clashes.

Bissong provides whatever security he can for the school, although he is not armed.

He sits on a chair at the school entrance, on the lookout for potential trouble.

– Deaths and threats –

Anglophone separatists in the Southwest and neighbouring Northwest Region regularly attack schools that they accuse of teaching in French.

Teachers and other civil servants have been killed after being accused of “collaborating” with the central government in Yaounde.

The predominantly French-speaking country is ruled with an iron fist by President Paul Biya, 88, who has been in power for 39 years.

Years-long grievances among the anglophone minority brewed for years, overflowing into a declaration of independence on October 1, 2017.

Armed separatists launched attacks on the security forces, triggering a violent crackdown.

The spiral of bloodshed has claimed more than 3,500 lives and forced around 700,000 people to flee their homes, according to monitors.

NGOs say that killings of civilians and abuses have been committed by both sides.

According to UNICEF, in 2019, some 850,000 children were not in school in the English-speaking regions.

In October 2020, a dozen men stormed the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba, in the Southwest Region, opening fire on pupils.

They killed seven children aged between nine and 12. A dozen others were shot or macheted.

On November 24 this year, four students and a teacher were killed by gunmen in the Southwest.

– ‘Children are dying’ –

“Children are dying, and teachers too, for providing an education that these armed people do not want, believing it is not good for their region,” Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told AFP during a visit to Buea.

“There’s a generation of children who are on the verge of becoming illiterate because they have not been to school.”

In the streets of downtown Buea, armed soldiers were on patrol.

Blaise Chamango, a parent, said she was constantly worried for the children’s safety.

“Before leaving them at school in the morning, I pray”.

“When we send our children to school, we can receive threats,” said another parent, Manu Dao. “I am sad because their future is at stake.”

Many families have fled.

In the Southwest’s coastal area of Souza, one school is hosting 596 displaced English-speaking children this year, out of a total of 1,087 pupils.

The pupils are sometimes crammed 90 to a class.

“Many of them are in a state of shock,” said school official Joseph Mencheng.

“Many have seen people killed, their parents in some cases. Sometimes, in the middle of a lesson, they bring up some horror they have experienced.”

Stephanie, aged 12, is in a class with children years younger than her.

“I left my village because there was a war and I couldn’t go to school for three years,” she explained.

Nine-year-old Dipanda is talking with three classmates in another crowded classroom.

She comes from a small village in the Northwest Region. She says she is delighted to be back in school after classes were stopped “because of the war.”

Source: AFP

Cameroon’s English-speaking bishops have condemned attacks on schools in the country’s conflict-ridden North West and South West Regions.

Their latest statement comes after four students and a teacher were killed on Nov. 24 at Government Bilingual High School Ekondo-Titi in the South West region.

Schools have become a battleground as Anglophone separatists fight the majority French-speaking government in the African country. For many years, the separatists imposed a schools’ boycott, which they enforced with violence.

“Our hearts have been pierced again!” said Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamemda, in a statement he signed on behalf of all the bishops of his ecclesiastical province, which overs the Anglophone regions of Cameroon.

“In recent times, we have painfully witnessed an agonizing drama involving, among other evils, the targeting and killing of pupils, students and teachers … We have hardly recovered from the cruel killing of Enondiale Tchuengia Carolaisse, killed in Molyko-Buea on Thursday, October 14, 2021, and the brutal killing of another pupil, Brandy Tataw, on Friday, November 1, 2021, in Nkwen-Bamenda, then we are confronted again with the killing of four more innocent Cameroonians within the protected area of a school,” said the archbishop.

“These innocent victims are not the cause of the socio-political crisis, and their deaths cannot be the solution. Their murder is totally senseless and unacceptable,” Nkea said.

A local government administrator confirmed the attack, telling Crux that “separatist fighters laid ambush in the school before students arrived. They were dressed like soldiers to give students the feeling that they were actual soldiers guarding the school.”

Timothee Aboloa identified the students as Emmanuel Orume 12, Joyceline Iken 16, and Kum Emmanuel, 17. The teacher, Celestine Song was 58 years old and a mother of four.

“It was quite a frightening scene,” said Henry Agbor, a local resident.

“I heard a loud explosive. I was standing around the Okada beach park ready to take a bike to the beach before the mayhem broke out. Besides the teacher and students who have died, many students are also wounded,” he told Crux.

“We never expected this,” said Father Gaetan Ndongo.

“The attacks are creating fear around the place and the education of our children has been systematically sacrificed,” he told Crux.

The recent attacks are a grim reminder of the price education has had to pay in the separatist war in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, now in its 5th year.

The darkest date was probably Oct. 24, 2020, when six children were killed by suspected separatists at the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba.

Several other schools were attacked the following month, leading to the deaths of at least three other students.

Earlier this year, on Oct. 14, a soldier killed Enondiale Carolise, a student on her way to school in Buea. Another girl, Tataw Brandy, was killed by a soldier in Bamenda on Nov. 10.

The United Nations says more than 700,000 children have been forced out of school during the conflict, with 2 out of 3 schools being shut.

Yasmine Sherif, the director of Education Cannot Wait, said the Cameroon crisis is among “the most complex humanitarian crises in the world today.”

“Children and youth are having to flee their homes and schools, are threatened with violence and kidnapping, and being forced into early childhood marriage and recruited into armed groups,” said Sherif.

“We call for urgent support from donors to respond to this forgotten crisis. We call for the respect of human rights and adherence to the principles of international humanitarian law and the Safe Schools Declaration, and for partners to redouble efforts so all children and adolescents can get back to the safety, protection and hope that quality learning environments provide,” she said.

The bishops have condemned violence as a means of problem solving, insisting that life must be protected.

“We, the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda, condemn these barbaric acts, which violate all International Laws and Conventions safeguarding the inviolability of schools and the protection of learners (pupils and students), and teachers, offend against the fundamental right to education, and breaks the Fifth Commandment of God,” the statement reads.

“We have been persistent in our call for the respect and defence of human rights, especially the right to life, openness to dialogue, an option for the truth and recourse to peaceful means as the best way to a durable solution,” it continues.

While calling on the government to ensure the security of schools, we make a special appeal, once more, to all perpetrators of violence to allow the genuinely human feelings of love, pardon and benevolence to flow into their hearts so that the safety and security of all may be guaranteed, alongside the right of all young people to life and to an education and a future,” the statement added.

Source: Crux

Over 700,000 children have been impacted by school closures due to often brutal violence in Cameroon, according to an analysis released by the UN humanitarian arm, OCHA, on Thursday.

Two out of three schools are closed in the North-West and South-West regions of the country. On 24 November, four children and one teacher were killed in an attack in Ekondo Titi, in the South-West.

Lockdown

A recent lockdown imposed by a non-State armed group, from 15 September to 2 October, limited access to basic services including health and education.

Over 700,000 children have been impacted by school closures due to violence in northwest and southwest Cameroon.

During the period, OCHA reported a series of attacks in the North-West.

Eight students were kidnapped, and a girl’s fingers were chopped off after she tried to attend school. Five public school principals were also kidnapped, including one who was then killed.

All schools and community learning spaces were closed, except for some schools in a few urban areas which operated at less than 60 per cent capacity.

The lockdown and insecurity also forced UN agencies and aid organisations to temporarily suspend the delivery of aid. During that time, about 200,000 people did not receive food. 

Multiple crisis

Nine out of ten regions of the country continue to be impacted by one of three humanitarian crises: the crisis in the North-West and South-West, conflict in the Far North, and a refugee crisis, with people fleeing the Central African Republic. 

Because of these combined crises, over one million children need urgent education support. 

To answer some of these needs, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the UN global fund for education in emergencies and crises, is working closely with UN agencies, the Norwegian Refugee Council and other civil society partners.

ECW is contributing $25 million over three years and calling for other donors to fill the gap, which is estimated at $50 million.

When fully funded, the programme will provide approximately 250,000 children and adolescents with access to safe and protective learning environments in the most-affected areas.

Just this week, the Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, and the Director of Education Cannot Wait, Yasmine Sherif, had a joint visit to the country.

In a statement, Ms. Sherif said the situation “is among the most complex humanitarian crises in the world today.”

“Children and youth are having to flee their homes and schools, are threatened with violence and kidnapping, and being forced into early childhood marriage and recruited into armed groups,” Ms. Sherif recalled.

Jan Egeland argued that “putting a schoolbag on your back shouldn’t make you a target”, but unfortunately children in Cameroon “risk their lives every day just showing up for school.”

“Cameroon’s education mega-emergency needs international attention, not deadly silence by the outside world,” Mr. Egeland declared. 

Source: News@UN.org

Two teachers were reportedly killed and several  students injured in Ekondo Titi, the commercial capital of Ndian Division in the South West region today.

The unidentified armed men attacked Government Bilingual High School Ekondo Titi during lectures. Cameroon Concord News gathered that other academic establishments in Ndian Division were also targeted.

Today’s incident in Ekondo Titi in the Southwest region of Cameroon must be condemned by all. Placing bombs in schools will never lead to the independence many think is close-by.

Two teachers and three students of Government Secondary School Ekondo Titi were confirmed dead at press time. They were killed by people who claim to be liberators.

Reacting to the news Cameroon Concord’s Dr Joachim Arrey opined that “You don’t liberate your people by killing them. You don’t liberate children by robbing them of education that can guarantee them a bright future.”

Dr. Arrey furthered that “This version of independence, which unfortunately targets those who are not responsible for anything that has gone wrong in Cameroon, is without a doubt, the worst form of independence.”

“The government should seek ways to step up security in the war-torn regions. It should also take appropriate measures for talks to start in earnest. Children deserve to be in school. That is where they belong”  Dr. Jaochim Arrey added.

By Rita Akana

Dr. Joachim Arrey, the executive director of the Global Think Tank for Africa, a not-for-profit public relations firm has reacted to the current situation affecting schools in English speaking Cameroon. 

In his bid to ensure that Southern Cameroonian children return to school,  Dr. Joachim Arrey, the son of a headmaster, has been calling for children to return to school so that the future of both French and English speaking Cameroon can be guaranteed. Our chief political man, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai talked to him and he regretted what was happening to rural kids in Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Concord News: You seem to make education a key component of life. Why?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: My father, Mr. Michael Arrey, was a teacher who always underscored the importance of education and he told my siblings and me that only education could enable us walk away from poverty and fear and he has never been wrong. That is why throughout the crisis in Southern Cameroons, I have been urging the factions involved to let our children go back to school. It is already more than five years since the conflict began and the rural child is not yet back to school. That is a long time and it is, indeed, inhuman. This is breaking my heart. My father of blessed memory instilled the love of education in me and he always encouraged me to support educational endeavors which could help other children face the future with confidence and happiness. When we rob our kids of education, we rob them of their confidence and future. We must learn to decouple our children’s education from the struggle. Those who control the fighters on the ground should push for school resumption and teachers and students should be protected by the fighters. It is time for our children to go back to school. No nation ever develops without a soundly educated population.

Cameroon Concord News: You seem to have good information on things in rural Southern Cameroons, what is your source of information?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: While my body is out of Cameroon, my soul is in Cameroon. I am in touch with my family members in Mamfe and the picture they paint to me regarding the daily struggles of our people and children’s struggle for education has shattered my mind and heart. Children in rural Mamfe are out of school and those whose parents have relatives in Mamfe town have sent their children there for them to have whatever education they can have. Many government primary schools in Mamfe town are not yet open and some unregulated community schools have emerged with no defined curriculum. Those teaching in these schools have no training  and the class sizes are unfortunately not the best. A family member whom I had sent to study the situation of things in those community schools has intimidated that there could be as many as 90 students in each class in those make-shift structures which are unfortunately bereft of good sanitation and ventilation. It breaks my heart that so many years are going by and the children in rural areas of Southern Cameroons are not being given the education  that can enable them walk away from ‘perpetual darkness’. It is painful to see six-year-old kids being separated from their parents just because they have to go to school in town. These parents do not even have the means to support themselves because of the war, how can they support their children in town?

I think those living abroad are not aware of the magnitude of the issues facing these rural children. Even those who go to towns to school have to deal with sexual and physical violence. There is nobody to actually supervise and protect these children and unwanted pregnancies are popping up all over the two English-speaking regions of the country, as girls become both financially and physically helpless. Something needs to be done to save the rural child in Southern Cameroons. If violence is on the rise today in that part of the country just after five years, what will it be after ten years? Keeping our children at home is one mistake that will come back to haunt all of us. Those who thought that using children as a bargain chip in the dispute against the government never new they were manufacturing a bomb which will hurt so many people once it goes off. There is a need for a rethink of strategy. What is happening in rural Mamfe is exactly what obtains in the entire Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Concord News: So what needs to be done?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: Like I have said above, there is a need for a rethink of the  war strategy. The government like the fighters have to take a look at their strategies to ensure that those children do not get left in  the darkness of ignorance because of a conflict they know nothing about. Our children’s education should be decoupled from the struggle to enable our children return to school. Keeping these children at home for a long time only robs them of their future and confidence. I am also urging people of good will to send as much material support as possible to those community schools which are seeking to impart some knowledge to our children. Those schools are not properly equipped to deal with many educational challenges. They need financial support to help the students. Any assistance in this regard will be appreciated. For my part, I am in touch with some education  authorities in Mamfe, and my organization, the Global Think Tank for Africa, will be offering books and other supplies worth CFAF 500,000 over the next three months to students in various schools in Mamfe town. My organization will also be granting scholarships to young girls in Manyu Division to enable them get an education. The modalities for the scholarships will be released in the days ahead. We need to do things differently if the future has to be bright for many of our children. It is education that opened many huge doors for me and I want other children to enjoy the fruits of a sound education.

Cameroon Concord News: Do you think your plea will be heard by the government and the fighters?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: I don’t think the government and the fighters will forever be deaf and dumb. The government is aware of the storm that is building as a result of millions of children sitting at home instead of being in school. The fighters, for their part, understand that keeping children at home is not  a genuine bargaining chip. After five years, they should understand that the children should be in school and not at home. Some of the fighters have children. What will become of those children if the school boycott remains in place. While I agree that the government has allowed a small disagreement to snowball, I would also like to point out that those who engineered the revolution did not have a long term view of things. It is preposterous to shoot yourself in the foot. Keeping our children at home is like shooting ourselves in the foot.

However, all is not lost. Now that some of the factions have begun talking to each other, we can assume that there is hope in the offing. The Toronto Retreat, which will be followed by many others, holds out a lot of hope. Talking is a very important first step and I am urging the secessionists, the federalists, and the government to walk away from their positions so that a middle ground can be established. While the talks may be holding, the various factions should come out forcefully to underscore their commitment to the education of our children. The government can start putting in place confidence-building measures like granting a general amnesty to all those who have been directly or indirectly involved in the struggle. It can also use diplomatic channels to engage the various factions as a means of facilitating the talks and negotiations. There is a lot to be done, but we have to start somewhere. No war has ever ended without the various factions talking to each other. That is, of course, the best way to ensure that errors of the past do not rear their ugly heads in the future.

Cameroon Concord News: Thank you, Dr. Joachim Arrey, for your insightful thoughts.

Dr. Joachim Arrey: It is always a pleasure to share my thoughts with your readers

Many people thought the sex-for-marks scandal that shook the University of Buea to its core a few months ago was the only scar on the University’s face. But it is emerging that the sex scandal, engineered by Prof. Agborbechem and Prof. Molua, is simply the tip of a massive iceberg that is gradually melting and will certainly drown the university if higher education authorities do not step in to hem in the forces of evil that are determined to undermine efforts at making the University of Buea a real citadel of learning.

While Agborbechem and Ernest Molua are keeping a low profile, it must be pointed out that these dangerous elements will continue to spread pain and suffering among female students if they are allowed to operate within the same environment when the rules are still the same.

Agborbechem, in particular, is a satyr who sees casual sex as a ritual and last week he was caught looking at a young female student lustfully not far from the University. Agborbechem is still in the business of women and it is clear that he will not be retiring anytime soon from this nasty trade. He may be a dormant vulcano for now, but it will not be long for him to erupt, and  when he erupts, the young girls will feel his wrath and frustration resulting from months of abstinence.

If the fear of being caught in a hotel or in his office is still stalking him like a stubborn shadow, the learned professor is not relenting and is still having visual sex. It will not be long before he returns to his old ways. Old habits diehard. His sex syndicate is still active and it will stop at nothing to give the university a bad name.

But today, the enemies of the University of Buea are not Ernest Molua and Peter Agborbechem. The University of Buea is facing a new challenge and this seems to be receiving the blessing of some university dons who are putting their parochial interest above the university’s best interest.

The political science department has decided to organize a closed-door master’s degree defense for some student fradulently admitted into the department’s Ph.D programme without a master’s degree.

This appears to be a face-saving measure given that the department of political science has come under massive pressure from the university’s senate.

The Dean of the Faculty of Laws and Political Science had been instructed to regularize the situation of 13 students admitted into the Ph.D. program under the Department of Political Science and Comparative Politics without meeting the requirements.

The Dean had reportedly asked the Head of the political science  department to dismiss  students admitted into the Ph.D. without a master’s degree in line with the university’s policies.

But Dr. Abangma, who seems to have a vested interest in the fake defense and who also doubles as the  president of SYNES-UB, has stood his ground, opting instead to organize illegal  defenses for the students.

The University of Buea is really facing major challenges. Under the new vice chancellor, things are really falling apart. His best efforts are not delivering the best results. There are many crime syndicates within the system and this is posing a huge challenge to university authorities.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files

Tanzanian writer Abdul Razak Gruna won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his work exploring the heritage of uprooted individual imperialism.

Born in Zanzibar in 1948 and based in the United Kingdom, Gruna is the author of 10 novels, including Paradise, which was selected as the finalist for the Booker Prize in 1994.

Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel Prize in Literature, called him “one of the most prominent postcolonial writers in the world.”

According to the Swedish Academy, the award includes a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (£ 837,000), “an uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the influence of colonialism and the fate of refugees in the Gulf between culture and continents.” Was recognized. “.

Native to Swahili, Gruna began writing English asylum seekers at the age of 21, and the theme of refugee turmoil is pervaded in his work.

In a statement, the organization said: “His novels recoil from stereotyped depictions and open our eyes to culturally diversified East Africa, unfamiliar to many in other parts of the world.”

The Nobel Prize, which has been awarded since 1901, recognizes achievements in literature, science, peace and economics.

Source: Eminetra