ความขัดแย้งในแคเมอรูนทำให้โรงเรียนปิด

ความขัดแย้งในแคเมอรูนทำให้การทำงานล่วงเวลานำไปสู่การบังคับใช้การล็อกดาวน์ในเมืองต่างๆ, เมืองและหมู่บ้านต่างๆ ในภูมิภาคตะวันตกเฉียงเหนือและตะวันตกเฉียงใต้เพื่อให้แน่ใจว่าโรงเรียนยังคงปิดต่อเนื่องเป็นปีการศึกษาที่สี่.

ภูมิภาคต่าง ๆ มีความเข้มแข็งทางทหาร, with troops battling insurgents who use hit-and-run tactics.

Schools were due to open on 2 กันยายน – instead parents and children have been fleeing their homes in their thousands as they fear an escalation of the conflict.

Children abducted

Most schools in the two regions – including in villages – have been empty for three years, with buildings covered by long grass.

ในบางพื้นที่, the government deployed troops to guard classrooms but with the army being the main enemy of the separatists, this increased the risk of attacks by separatist gunmen.

The United Nations Children’s Fund, Unicef, พูดว่า the ban on education has affected about 600,000 เด็ก, ที่มีมากกว่า 80% of schools shut และอย่างน้อย 74 schools destroyed in the troubled regions.

In one incident, 80 pupils, their principal and a teacher – who defied the lockdown – were kidnapped last year, before being released about a week later.

Separatist fighters denied involvement, but the government blamed them for the abductions.

The conflict has its roots in the government’s decision to increase the use of French in schools and courts in the mainly English-speaking regions in 2016.

It triggered mass protests and morphed into a rebellion the following year as some civilians – angry that the government deployed troops to crush the protests – took up arms.

Thousands of people – civilians, separatists and soldiers – have been killed and more than 500,000 displaced.

The economy is also in ruins, with businesses going bankrupt and workers not being paid.

Child soldiers

Worst of all, children have been orphaned and some of them have gone into the bush to join one of the many armed groups that have emerged to fight for what they call the independent state of Ambazonia.

What was once unthinkable has become a reality: แคเมอรูน – like some other African states – now has child soldiers.

They blame government troops for the deaths of their parents and have vowed to take revenge.

The separatists have targeted schools, more than anything else, because they are the softest of targets, and because they want to thwart the government’s efforts to make children – the next generation of English-speaking Cameroonians – fall under greater French influence.

เครดิต: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa