BY TAC
The 2023- 2024 academic year officially began on Monday, September 4, 2023 all over the national territory.
While reports talk of hitch-free start in most regions of the country, the effervescent that gripped the back-to- school in Meme Division witnessed a pathetic scenario with sporadic gunshots between security operatives and gunmen suspected to be separatist fighters leading to the brutal killing of a 14-year-old girl welcoming the start of 2023-2024 academic year.
Reports say, at about 6am on Monday September 4, 2023, the population of Kumba chief town of Meme Division, South West Region of Cameroon got up unexpectedly from their beds due to sporadic gun shots emanating from Mile I Mbonge road in Kumba I Sub Division at the Kumba 3rd District police station checkpoint.
The sporadic gun shots lasted for about 45 minutes. Elements of the 21 military battalion and the Rapid Intervention Battalion,BIR, rushed to the area to reinforce the security.
The outcome of gunfire exchange between security operatives and the gunmen suspected to be separatist fighters, resulted in the brutal killing of the 14-year-old Form 4 student of Government High School,GHS Kake I Ajeck Hilda by a “stray bullet” according to reports.
The intelligent little girl who according to school sources had 16.1 average emerging 3rd in the position died shortly after she was rushed to the emergency unit of the Kumba Regional Hospital Annex.
TheSenior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Meme, Ntou’ou Ndong Chamberlain, and his etat-major immediately rushed to the hospital to get first-hand information of the situation. He did all his best to comfort the bereaved family.
Meanwhile, the Commander of the 21st military battalion in Mile 1, Kumba rallied the entire population in an emergency meeting and sent a warning signal to the denizens who he accused of hiding the “amba boys”.The population vowed to expose the hide out of separatist fighters to the military any moment they suspect any for the pains the amba boys have subjected them to is unbearable.
It should be recalled that separatist fighters in a video that went viral had issued through their ” spokesman”, a certain Commander Bitter Kola, declared a two-week lockdown from Monday, September 4 to 18, 2023 aimed at frustrating the smooth start of the 2023/2024 academy year in the restive North West and South West Regions.
As we went to press, the entire Kumba Urban made up of the three sub divisions is seriously ghosted as even farmers were stopped from going to farm Monday morning by the military.
In a related development, elements of BIR on Friday, September 1, 2023 raided an Amba camp in Ilee, a locality in Konye Sub Division, Meme Division and “neutralized” aboutfive separatist fighters while 10 others were arrested.