“We Must Work Together, Stand Firm And Denounce Them”

The morning of September 7, 2023 was very hot with gunshots heard in Muea, a peripheral area of Buea. What exactly happened?
Gunmen called terrorists came to disturb activities in Muea. They were targeting some public offices like the Police Station, but the forces of law and order were well organised and vigilant, so the attackers could not succeed. In their panic, while running back, the terrorists burnt a car and killed some people and ran away. As it was early in the morning, the population was afraid but thank God that they did not panic. This is something that happened in less than ten minutes and after that the population realised that it was just an attack to create panic. The forces of law and order, administrative and political leaders showed up at the scene to condole with the families and reassure the population. I just want to reassure the population that we have been used to this situation. Every back-to-school period, those people come around to disturb despite what we are doing to sensitise them for a return to normalcy. Some of those people are among the population, collaborating with their mentors abroad who continue to stand against education. They continue to fight against progress because, education is a factor of progress and growth of a nation. And when people organise themselves to fight the good functioning of a school, you can realise that they are public enemies. So, it has become the habit that every September, they want to disturb and create fear against school reopening. The population has already realised that for some years now, those terrorists are determined to frustrate the young ones and to jeopardise the future of this country. We must work together, stand firm and denounce them. I want to reassure the people of the South West and particularly the city of Buea that despite the images they saw on social media, everything is under control. And this is not just a mere slogan. It is a reality because the terrorists did it in less than 10 minutes and ran away. If they could parade there with their guns for an hour, then the population could panic and say the situation is not under control. They did it in less than ten minutes and disappeared, because they cannot confront the forces of law and order. That is a reality. So, we advise the population to continue to stand firm behind the forces of law and order. Those agents of darkness will never succeed to do what they want to do. They have failed. They wanted to kill the schools but the entire nation has stood against them. For us to continue in the fight against those agents of darkness, we must remain vigilant and denounce them because they are living in our midst. 

One of the worries is that traditional rulers of the areas under attack are absent and not with their population who may want to organize themselves with vigilante groups for local safety activiti...