By NewsWatch Staff Writer
On Christmas, children wear new clothes, shoes and get toys from their parents. It is essentially a children’s feasts. Sometimes December 24th [eve] seems like the longest night as children cannot sleep because they are anxious to wear their new clothes and shoes; go to church and later eat a delicious meal. And, eventually visit the parks and friends. Parents sometimes stretch their hands more than the bones in them to provide for thier kids- to see them happy.
But, parents of the seven children murdered by gunmen in Kumba on October 24, 2020, in the midst of the ongoing crisis have been eternally robbed of this pleasure to provide for their children on Christmas and see them happy.
This provoked the Queen Mothers under the patronage of their peer , Judith Yah Sunday Achidi, also General Manager of CAMTEL, to demand an end to the killlings at a mourning ceremony on the eve of Christmas, Thursday December 24, 2020 at the Commercial Avenue in Bamenda, headquaters of the Northwest Region.
“We the Mafors of the North West region are gathered here today to mourn and express our indignation and deep pain and to say never again,” the General Manager of CAMTEL said in a statement, which she read during the event, at the granstand in Commercial Avenue, Bamenda.
She added: “We yearn for peace. Drop the guns and stop the violence.
As queen mothers we don’t know discrimination. We are mothers and are bound to protect the lives of our offspring.
Our offspring have been dying in their numbers because of this violence and we come to cry that the killings should stop.”
The Women did not only mourn for the souls of children. The murder of men and fellow women made them tear-up. The chain of killings revolted the Queen Mothers.
“We need pens not bullets! Stop the killings!We are tired of mourning, we want peace!” the Women passed their message on placards, on one of the busiest streets in Bamenda.
“Last December 13, 2020 Chief Ngale Ikome of Dibanda village in Fako Division of the South West was gruesomely murdered in captivity. Months ago, it was Ngarbuh before we could wipe off our tears Comfort Tumasang was chopped into pieces in Muyuka while Florence Ayafor was reserved the same fate in Santa. And most recently,” the women lamented.
In 2017, an all-out strike of Anglophone teachers and Lawyers asking for a better consideration of the Anglo-saxon sub-system and preservation of the Common Law quickly shifted to an armed conflict.
More than 3000, according to the United Nations have died in the last three years of the conflict in the two English-speaking regions. Over 700,000 persons have been displaced , says the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
These figures continue to jump as the crisis draws out.
Queen Mothers want the warring parties to stop the conflict, prevent the fallouts, and preserve lives.
“We plead sincerely with the belligerents to render our two Anglophone regions peaceful as they used to be. Drop the guns and stop the violence,” Judith Yah Sunday Achidi said on behalf of the Queen Mothers.
Last November 24, 2020, these women, during a same-face event, begged for peace and called for an end to violent crimes. It seems that the women are determined to keep pushing untill the last gun smokes.
While hoping that their cry from the heart touches hearts of warmongers, the General Manager assisted victims of the conflict.
Mafor Yah Sunday Achidi offered a load of groceries to intenally displaced persons at the office of Bamenda II Divisional Officer.
