UN Expresses Concern over Repeated Attacks on School Children in Cameroon’s Anglophone Region

Armed men are launching repeated attacks on children, teachers and schools in Cameroon’s restive Anglophone region, the UN said on Thursday.

The gunmen launched five of such assaults in less than two weeks in the country’s North-West and South-West regions, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Cameroon, Matthias Naab, said in a statement.

On Wednesday, armed men attacked a college in the town of Limbe, torturing teachers and children. On the same day, nine children were kidnapped on their way to school in Fundong but later released, according to Naab.

On Tuesday, unidentified armed men kidnapped 11 teachers and school staff from a primary and secondary school in the town of Kumbo.

Another 15 school children from Bamenda were abducted on their way back from school on October 23, six of them were released the following day, several of whom had been subjected to torture and had to be hospitalised.

A day later, gunmen killed eight school children in the town of Kumba.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks.

“These incidents are part of a pattern of violence by non-state armed groups who are calling on residents to boycott schools in the two regions,’’ said Mr Naab.

Cameroon has been troubled by unrest and attacks on civilians since its two main English-speaking areas, the North-West and South-West regions, announced in late 2016 that they wished to secede and form a new country called Ambazonia.

English speakers have long complained of being treated like second-class citizens and receiving less government funding in Cameroon, which is mostly French-speaking.

 

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