At Least 79 School Children Kidnapped in Cameroon

At least 79 students and three others, including the principal have been kidnapped from a boarding school in the west of Cameroon.

A Cameroonian government official made this known to the BBC.

Regional governor, Adolphe Lele L’Afrique blamed separatist militias.

Cameroon’s North-West and South-West regions have been hit by a secessionist rebellion in recent years.

But no single group has said it carried out the kidnapping at Bamenda’s Presbyterian Secondary School, which has pupils aged between 10 and 14.

A video of some of the children, believed to have been filmed by one of the kidnappers, is being shared on social media.

The students, all boys and crammed into a tiny room, all look nervous as the person holding the camera orders them to say their names and where they are from.

They also repeat the phrase: “I was taken from school last night by the Amba boys, I don’t know where I am.”

Amba is short for Ambazonia, the name of the new country that the separatists want to create.

A government official later said a massive search had been launched for the hostages involving the Cameroonian army.

Paul Ayorinde

Written by BoomRadioNG