Paul Biya declares October 31 as a day of meditation in memory of children killed in Kumba

In memory of the children killed last Saturday in Kumba, a town in the English-speaking region of southwest Cameroon, President Paul Biya has declared a day of meditation on October 31, according to a news report by Cameroononline.org.

Seven days after the drama of Kumba, the Cameroonian nation will mark the moment, with the flags which will be half-masted throughout the national territory.

Last Saturday, assailants attacked the sixth-grade class at the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy school complex in Fiango, killing seven students aged 9 to 12, according to the government, which accuses the separatist fighters. For the UN, the death toll stands at eight.

In addition, eleven other children were injured in the attack. "Their condition is relatively stable. We operated on some of them. Others will lose the use of their lower limbs ", explained to the World Africa Chamberlin Ntou'ou Ndong, prefect of the department of Mémé of which Kumba is the capital.

A ministerial delegation, led by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Atanga Nji Paul, visited the area on Tuesday. She was greeted at the regional hospital in Buea with cries of pain from a teenage girl who received two bullets on her back and arm. During the attack, the perpetrators also used machetes, according to information released in a statement from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).