Cameroon: Abducted children freed

Campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the abduction of more than 160 schoolchildren in mainly English-speaking Cameroon by suspected armed separatists. About 20 gunmen seized the children from a Catholic school on Saturday, before freeing them the next day, the government said. The abductions highlighted “the despicable lengths to which armed separatists groups […]

Campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the abduction of more than 160 schoolchildren in mainly English-speaking Cameroon by suspected armed separatists.

About 20 gunmen seized the children from a Catholic school on Saturday, before freeing them the next day, the government said.

The abductions highlighted “the despicable lengths to which armed separatists groups will go to try to enforce a school boycott on children who have the right to attend class if they want to”, the deputy director of HRW’s Africa division, Ida Sawyer, said.