- Title: Kidnapped child released in Cameroon says captors wanted to close all schools
- Date: 8th November 2018
- Summary: BAMENDA, CAMEROON (NOVEMBER 8, 2018) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TAXI DRIVING ON ROAD CARRYING CHILD WHO WAS RELEASED FROM SCHOOL KIDNAPPING AND HIS MOTHER EXTERIOR OF PSS NKWEN SCHOOL WHERE ARMED MEN SEIZED CHILDREN, LINE OF PEOPLE TAKING BELONGINGS AND PACKING THEM INTO CARS (VIEW FROM INSIDE CAR) (SOUNDBITE) (English) 13-YEAR-OLD BOY WHO WAS TAKEN HOSTAGE ON NOV. 5 AND RELEASED ON NOV. 7, IDENTITY WITHHELD, SAYING "It was around 3 a.m. in the morning. We were still sleeping by that time, then we heard people shouting, some other people, some men, came and broke our door, they told us 'come out'. So when I sat at the school, in front of the classes, they started selecting, they told the other people to stand this way, told the people they selected to go the other way. They then told us to take all our slippers and keep them. We trekked barefoot from here. We went to one camp, just beside the school. We stayed there for some few hours then they took us to the bush. The very day, around 12 o'clock in the morning." 13-YEAR OLD BOY AND HIS MOTHER LOOKING OUT AT HILLS (SOUNDBITE) (English) 13-YEAR-OLD BOY WHO WAS TAKEN HOSTAGE ON NOV. 5 AND RELEASED ON NOV. 7, IDENTITY WITHHELD, SAYING "They (were) all dressed in black and the reason (they took us) was that they don't want us to go to school, that if something wanted to happen (if there was a rescue attempt) they can kill all of us, they might kill all of us. So they told us, when they set us free, (they said) let’s tell the other schools that they should stop, so no-one goes to school." 13-YEAR OLD BOY AND HIS MOTHER LOOKING OUT AT HILLS 13-YEAR OLD BOY AND HIS MOTHER HOLDING HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MOTHER OF CHILD WHO WAS KIDNAPPED AT HIS SCHOOL, IDENTITY WITHHELD, SAYING: "I am really, really worried, really worried because it's so difficult to keep a child, especially a boy, in the house. And for now, I know his education is not guaranteed because I was thinking that his education would be guaranteed maybe by the church, that is why we took him there, the security. So for now, no education for him, no school for him because I am not sure for his safety." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AND VEHICLES ON STREET
- Embargoed: 22nd November 2018 17:20
- Keywords: PSS Nkwen school in Bamenda school children kidnapped armed men Cameroon's restive English-speaking region
- Location: BAMENDA, CAMEROON
- City: BAMENDA, CAMEROON
- Country: Cameroon
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA00195NCD3B
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Parents and children of the Cameroon school where up to 78 children were taken hostage on Monday (November 5) are leaving the school fearing for their lives on Thursday (November 8). Authorities say the kidnappers were separatists.
After seeing the released children at the PSS Nkwen School in Bamenda, northwest region of Cameroon, on Wednesday (November 7), parents were finally allowed to take their children out of the school the next day.
The school has effectively closed as all the children have left, the staff at PSS Nkwen said.
One family, a mother with her 13-year old boy, said they had come to the Presbyterian establishment for security reasons, having fled the violence from another part of the region.
The mother said her son enrolled on Sunday (November 4). On Monday he was kidnapped by armed men in the early hours of the morning.
Both wanted to keep their identities secret fearing reprisals.
The teenager said the captors told them their mission was to free the nation. Most schools in the English-speaking northwest and southwest regions have closed.
The secessionists have imposed curfews and closed schools as part of their protest against Cameroonian President Paul Biya's French-speaking government and its perceived marginalisation of the English-speaking minority. The government has denied discriminating against them.
"When they set us free, (the captors said) let's tell the other schools that they should stop, so no-one goes to school," the boy said the kidnappers told them.
The boy said the captors had beaten three children and separated them from the rest of the students after they found out their parents worked for local government.
"I am really, really worried, really worried because it's so difficult to keep a child, especially a boy, in the house. And for now, I know his education is not guaranteed because I was thinking that his education would be guaranteed maybe by the church, that is why we took him there, the security. So for now, no education for him, no school for him because I am not sure for his safety," said his mother.
The kidnappers freed scores of school children and a driver on Wednesday, but kept hold of a principal and one teacher, officials said.
The scale of the incident - with some 80 children taken - was unprecedented in the country's long-running separatist crisis and a lack of official information fuelled confusion in the wake of their disappearance.
Army spokesperson Didier Badjeck said the kidnappers released the children after the military found out their location. Two other children were still missing, along with the principal and teacher, he said. Reuters was not able to independently verify if children were still missing.
Samuel Fonki, a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon who negotiated to free the 78 children, and the Cameroonian military have accused Anglophone separatists of carrying out the kidnappings, but a separatist spokesman has denied involvement. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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