War Against Terrorism in SW: Beti Assomo Marshals Troops for Full-Scale Offensive

-The Minister led a joint military and security command mission to Buea and Kumba on Monday 9 November.

By Ayukogem Steven Ojong in Buea & K’ba

Mindef addressing defense, security & administrative heads

“This is not the moment for speech making; it is the time for action.” It was with these poignant notes that the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense, Beti Assomo, hammered his point, as he gave instructions to heads of defense and security services in Kumba in the South West region on Monday, 9 November.
    “The defense and security forces will continue to do their job, all their job, and nothing but their job,” Beti Assomo said, in a firm and reassuring tone. He noted that the political will is there and nothing will stand on the road of the army getting the expected result against the terrorists in the SW region.
    The Mindef said the perpetrators of the massacre of school children in Fiango, Kumba must be arrested and made to answer to their heinous crimes.
    Wearing a countenance that spoke volumes of the determination of the government to crackdown on the separatist terrorists, Beti Assomo prescribed a speedy and energetic onslaught on the camps and hideouts of the terrorists.
    “I exhort you to speedily and energetically pursue the terrorists and dismantle their camps in the bushes,” Beti Assomo instructed, noting that as the head of the commission to investigate the Saturday 24 October massacre that took place at the Mother Francisca International Bilingual College in Fiango Kumba, he can state with authority that three (3) of the nine (9) terrorists who orchestrated the horrific crime have already been apprehended or neutralized.
  

Representatives of bereaved families comforted by the Mindef

 The Mindef said the six others must be fished out, wherever they are hiding. He said the manhunt for the ‘hit-and-run amba boys, and the bandits who have infiltrated their ranks, has already been intensified.
    He said more troops would be deployed to protect school campuses, as well as teachers and students. This he said is with the view to rekindle the back-to-school momentum that was already gathering steam, until the separatists hoodlums struck in Fiango.
    Beti Assomo used the occasion to once more present the condolences of the head of state to the families of the slain ‘Angels and Heroes’.
    The personalities that accompanied the defense minister for the joint mission spoke volumes of the importance of the mission. They included among others the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Rene Claude Meka; the Director of Central Coordination at the National Gendarmerie, Brig. Gen. Elokobi Daniel Njock; the Director of Public Security at the National Police Force, Commissioner Ewu Ngeme; the Director General of External Research at the Presidency, Commissioner Maxime Eko’o Eko’o, apart from the administrative and defense and security hierarchy of the SW region.
    The Mindef led the joint mission to Kumba not before he had stopped in Buea where he also had a closed door meeting at the SW Governor’s Office with security and defense chiefs of the SW region.
    It should be noted that the joint mission of the Mindef, the high military command and chiefs of security staffs, was on the instructions of the head of state, commander-in-chief of the armed forces. It had as objective to review the operations to restore peace and security, and protect people and property in the SW region.