Kidnapped Cameroonian students freed
News & Trends •
the attack targeted pupils and staff at the presbyterian secondary school in the northwest region one of two areas where surging anglophone separatist militancy has been met with a brutal crackdown by authorities1 ninety cameroonian students kidnapped from presbyterian secondary school nkwen bamenda in the countrys anglophone region have been freed after a military operation the defence ministry said wednesday1 when the group was freed on wednesday it turned out there were another 11 pupils with them who had been abducted from the same school five days earlier1 the presbyterian church which runs the school said the 11 had been taken on october 31 but the news was kept secret to enable negotiations with the kidnappers1 it was the first mass kidnapping to hit cameroon and one of the gravest incidents in 13 months of pro-independence violence1 the students and three adults were freed in a military operation which began in the early hours of the morning on wednesday defence minister joseph beti assomo said in a statement1 when they have been checked by the militarys psychological unit and have undergone a thorough medical check the freed pupils will be soon sent back to their families he added1 a six-minute video seen by afp on monday showed 11 boys aged about 15 identifying their school and saying they were abducted by the amba boys a name for anglophone separatists1 a source close to the establishment said wednesday these were the 11 who had been snatched on october 311 armed separatist militants on monday stormed the school in the capital of the northwest region seizing 79 schoolboys and three adults prompting urgent calls for their release1 the chain of events leading up to their release was not immediately clear nor was the identity of the kidnappers1 communications minister issa bakary tchiroma said all 79 students had been released while the presbyterian church separately announced news about the other 111 it said the school would remain closed until further notice1 on tuesday reverend foki samuel forba a leading member of the church said he had been negotiating with the kidnappers who were not demanding a ransom but the closure of the school1 the kidnappings took place a day before cameroons 85-year-old president paul biya was sworn in for a seventh term in office and coincided with an upsurge of tension in the majority french-speaking country1 such mass kidnappings were previously unknown in cameroon although they are notorious in neighbouring nigeria where islamist boko haram militants snatched more than 200 nigerian schoolgirls from chibok in april 20141 so far 107 have been found or released but the jihadists abducted scores more from neighbouring yobe state in february this year1 the students release comes a day after cameroons 85-year-old president paul biya was sworn in for a seventh term in office cameroons biya on tuesday promised to address frustrations and aspirations in english-speaking regions in his first public acknowledgement of resentments in the northwest and southwest regions.1 in 2016 anger at perceived discrimination in education the judiciary and the economy fanned demands for autonomy there1