Addressing a thick crowd of protesting women at the esplanade of his office Wednesday, Okalia Bilai said the more the population continues to cover the armed men, the more there will be the spread of terror.

“I want us to take our destiny in our hands. We have played a lot. We have covered the killers a lot. And after Hon. Emilia Lifaka’s intervention, you cannot say that you don’t know the killers. So, repeat after me, who are the killers?”

In response to the Governor, the women chorused: “we don’t know”.

“You don’t know?” the Governor asked. ‘Yes, Sir,” the women replied.

“Even after what Honourable Lifaka said, you still say you don’t know who the killers are? The killers are your brothers. The killers are your children. The killers are people who are living amongst you and you do not want to denounce them,” Okalia thundered. “So, you must denounce the killers, the separatists who are carrying guns. That day in Kumba, people saw them moving up and down with guns.”

The Governor warns that the armed men will continue to spread terror if the population does not denounce them. He recalls that when Comfort Tumasang was tortured and slain in broad daylight in August in Muyuka, neighbors were in their houses but refused to call and alert the security forces.

Okalia regretted that two months after the horrific scene in Muyuka, it is innocent children who have been killed in Kumba.

Speaking before the Governor, Hon. Emilia Lifaka begged the women to see to it that their children leave the bushes for peace to return.

The deputy speaker of the National Assembly said, “We want to appeal to you to beg our children in the bushes to come out. They have called me several times asking me to send them food. I responded that a mother does not feed her children in the bush. Children are fed at home. If a child is in the bush, food cannot be taken to them. If you want me to give you food as a mother, leave the bushes and come home.”

Hon. Lifaka reminded the women that when someone in the neighborhood is known to be a thief, they become the first suspect when something goes missing. As such, those who are abroad, sending their children to school and asking that children in the North West and South West regions should be maimed for going to school, are to blame for the Kumba killings.

Hear Hon. Lifaka: “Those our children, brothers and sisters who are abroad, sending their own children to school, and denying us from sending our own children to school. They even hold meetings raising money to buy arms. What are the arms meant for? Are the arms not meant to be used in killing us? The ones who said they should chop off the fingers and limbs of schoolchildren. You cannot claim to be protecting someone and at the same time killing them. Today, our sisters and mothers are scared of going to the farms coz they can either be raped, kidnapped, or killed.

“Our children are scared of wearing school uniforms in school. We must tell our children in the bushes that enough is enough. They should leave the bushes and come back home. If there is a problem, let us discuss it. Although these children are said to be living in the bushes, I think that is not the case given the heavy rains and scorching sun. They are among us. If you see them, call the police.”

The women said they are tired of burying their children, calling on the government to end the crisis in the North West and South West regions.

Around noon on Saturday, gunmen attacked Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy Fiango, Kumba. State authorities say they opened fire on no fewer than 19 students, killed at least six (five girls and a boy), and badly wounded about 13 others – ten girls and three boys.

The students killed include 11-year-old Victory Camibon Ngameni, 12-year-old Anamgim Jenifer, 12-year-old Ngemone Princess, Che Telma Nchangnwi, 9-year-old Zakame Rema, Chema Syndi, and 12-year-old Renny Ngwane who died in hospital Sunday morning.

The Divisional Officer for Kumba I, Ali Anougu, the Senior Divisional Officer for Meme Division, Chamberlain Ntou’ou Ndong, and the Minister of Communication, Emmanuel Rene Sadi blame armed separatists for the attack.

On Monday evening, President Paul Biya addressed his solidarity and sincere condolences to the bereaved families as well as the educational community. He joined his wishes and the deepest empathy of his wife for the prompt recovery of the injured.

The same wishes were extended to the victims, their families, and the population by Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji who was at the head of an inter-ministerial delegation dispatched to Kumba by President Biya.

Saturday, October 31, 2020, was decreed a day of national mourning.

State forces have been battling to dislodge armed separatists who pitched their tents in the North West and South West Regions since the current crisis transformed into an armed conflict in 2017.

Corporate demands by Common Law Lawyers and Anglophone Teachers led to protests in November 2016. The street demonstrations later morphed into ongoing running gun battles between state forces and armed separatist fighters in the predominantly English-speaking regions, leading to untold destruction of human lives, their habitats, and livelihoods.

Tit-for-tat killings have become part of daily lives in some parts of the English-speaking regions.