Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Mimi Mefo Info (Editor)
Published on 2024-02-16 13:06:14
The 15-year-old girl who died in the explosion that occurred in Nkambe on February 11, 2024, was an internally displaced person from Bui, who had been forced by armed conflict to pursue education in Nkambe. Cherish Lemnyuy Bonge, the lone casualty of the separatist bomb attack, had been living in Nkambe since 2022 in pursuit of education. She was admitted into Form Three at Government High School Nyanji, Nkambe, in 2022 and advanced to Form Four last year. Due to intense conflict and a separatist ban on education in her place of origin, her parents relocated her from Bui to Douala to acquire education. In 2022, they decided to move her to Nkambe, where there was relative calm and it was closer to home.
Tragically, the explosion disrupted Youth Day celebrations in Nkambe and shattered Cherish’s dreams, bringing her young life to an abrupt end. She died on the spot when an improvised explosive device went off at a crowded spot near the Nkambe grandstand on Youth Day. Hon Ngala Gerard, the Member of Parliament for Nkambe Central, expressed his sympathy for Cherish’s family and criticized the senseless war against education that has affected the English-speaking Regions since 2016. Separatists have been accused of disrupting education, burning down schools, and using brute force in the anti-school campaign.
The armed conflict has resulted in the disruption of education for more than 700,000 school children in the two English-speaking Regions, according to the UN. About 2,245 schools in the North West and South West regions are still not functioning in 2024, according to the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The ongoing war against education has forced thousands of school children to seek education in other areas of the English-speaking Regions that are considered safer. However, as seen with the case of Nkambe, nowhere is truly safe.
Cherish Lemnyuy’s death is the latest victim of this ongoing war against education, which has led to the harrowing reality faced by most English-speaking Cameroonians since 2016. Her funeral in Nkambe was an emotional event that highlighted the impact of the conflict on the lives of individuals in the region. The tragic loss of Cherish has sparked outrage and condemnation from national and international bodies, but the war against education in the English-speaking Regions persists.
Read the original article(French) on Mimi Mefo Info
