(Yaoundé) Thirty women kidnapped on May 20 by rebels in western Cameroon, in the grip of a deadly conflict between separatists of the English-speaking minority and the police, have been released, a government official announced on Saturday. at AFP.
They were released by their captors on the evening of May 23, after three days of confinement, said Denis Omgba, director of the Media Observatory of the Ministry of Communication.
These “elderly” women had been kidnapped on May 20 “by armed terrorists” in the village of Kedjom Keku, in the North-West region, after having participated the day before in a demonstration during which they protested against taxes demanded each month for every man and every woman by separatist rebels, the local prefecture had then assured.
The authorities still use the word “terrorists” to refer to armed rebels who are demanding the independence of the North West and South West regions, populated mainly by the English-speaking minority of this predominantly French-speaking Central African country.