Armed rebels kidnap 78 school pupils in Cameroon
Presbyterian schoolboys abducted by separatists seeking to create an English-speaking state
GUNMEN abducted scores of pupils from a Presbyterian school in Cameroon yesterday, marking an alarming escalation of the country’s separatist war between English-speaking rebels and the francophone government.
Footage of several children, visibly scared, was broadcast on social media, raising tensions ahead of the inauguration of Paul Biya, the country’s 85-yearold president, who will be sworn for a seventh term today.
At least 78 pupils and their headmaster were taken from their hilltop school in Nkwen village, according to Deben Tchoffo, the pro-biya governor of the north-west province, one of two English-speaking regions in Cameroon. Mr Tchoffo blamed the kidnappings on the Ambazonian Defence Forces, known locally as the Amba Boys, a rebel outfit fighting to create an English-speaking state in the parts of Cameroon once administered by Britain.
Social media footage appeared to back up Mr Tchoffo’s claims, with many of the kidnapped boys repeating the same phrase as their masked captors looked on: “I was taken from school last night by the Amba Boys and I don’t know where I am.”
Some residents in anglophone areas questioned the identity of the kidnappers, saying that they spoke the local English pidgin very badly and suggested they could be government forces masquerading as rebels.
The present struggle has its roots partly in education, with protests erupting two years ago in the would-be Ambazonian state over government attempts to replace English-speaking teachers with French ones and minimise the use of English in schools.
When protests erupted, Mr Biya’s government responded ruthlessly, shutting down the internet and appearing to allow the security forces to kill demonstrators. As protest turned to rebellion, the rebels mounted deadly attacks on soldiers, who were accused of responding by killing both the rebels and suspected civilian sympathisers.
It is unclear why the rebels would target a school run by the Presbyterian church, the most popular Christian denomination for English speakers, with one million adherents, but some rebels have previously issued demands for the closure of all schools in English-speaking regions in order to paralyse the workings of the central government.
While marginalisation and traditions may have caused the genuine resentment of Cameroon’s English speakers – who make up less than a fifth of the country’s 23million people and inhabit a sixth of its territory – financial gain has also become a motivation. Much of Cameroon’s oil and industry lies in anglophone areas, which are estimated to account for 60 per cent of the economy, although locals say they have long been denied a fair share of those revenues.