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UN Rights Office Condemns 'Merciless' Attack on Cameroon School

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - The U.N. human rights office has joined a chorus of voices in
   strongly condemning what it calls the vile, merciless attack on a
   private school Saturday in southwestern Cameroon. The attack killed at
   least six children and injured another 13.

   No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on Mother Francisca
   International Bilingual Academy in Kumba, in the southwestern region of
   Cameroon.

   U.N. human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani tells VOA her
   office has not been able to verify the identity of the perpetrators.

   "But we have been able to get information corroborated by various
   sources that it was perpetrated by a group of men armed with guns and
   machetes, who broke into the school and they shot indiscriminately
   while the students were studying,"Shamdasani said.

   Cameroonian authorities blame the attack on Ambazonian separatists. The
   English-speaking militants, who want independence from Cameroon and its
   French-speaking majority, accuse the government of being behind the
   assault.

   Shamdasani says the killing and maiming of children as well as attacks
   on educational facilities constitute serious violations of
   international law and says the perpetrators must be held accountable.

   She says governments have a duty to protect children's access to
   education.

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