79 Students Taken Hostage in Unrest-Affected Area of Cameroon

A government official stated that on Monday, 79 students were taken hostage in an English-speaking region of Cameroon where armed separatists are fighting for independence. The source added that the students were kidnapped along with the school principal, a teacher, and a driver. One of the school officials also confirmed the kidnapping. According to AFP, the hostages are students of a secondary school affiliated with the Protestant church in the city of Bamenda, which is the center of the Northwest region of Cameroon and the scene of armed conflicts between English-speaking militants and Cameroonian government forces. A government official said after an emergency cabinet meeting, 'The search for the hostages has begun, and all available forces have been called to participate in this operation.' This kidnapping, the most serious incident in a year of unrest in the region, coincides with escalating political tensions in Cameroon, which is predominantly French-speaking. In the elections on October 7, Paul Biya, 85, who has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist for about 35 years, was elected for a seventh term as president. The government announced that Biya received about 70 percent of the votes, but numerous claims of widespread fraud have been made, and voter turnout was very low. He will be sworn in on Tuesday. AFP adds that about one-fifth of Cameroon’s 22 million population is English-speaking, a linguistic diversity that dates back to the colonial era when European powers ruled the country. Cameroon, which was once a German colony, was divided between Britain and France after World War I. The part that was a French colony gained independence in 1960, thus establishing the country of Cameroon. A year later, Southern Cameroon, which was under British control, was integrated into it, resulting in the formation of the two English-speaking regions of Southwest and Northwest in this new country. In recent decades, dissatisfaction with discrimination by the French-speaking majority, particularly in education and the judiciary, has increased. In 2016, demands for greater autonomy for these regions peaked, but the central government suppressed it. With the rise of radical movements in these areas, they declared the establishment of the 'Ambazonia Republic' in Northwest and Southwest Cameroon on October 1, 2017. No country has recognized this 'self-proclaimed' state so far. Armed separatists have attacked government forces, boycotted or burned schools, and attacked symbols of the central Cameroonian government. In response, the central government has severely repressed the separatists with the army and police. According to statistics collected by civil society organizations, at least 400 military personnel and over 175 government forces have been killed this year. According to United Nations statistics, more than 240,000 residents of the Southwest region have fled, with about 25,000 of them seeking refuge in neighboring Nigeria, living without any facilities in the forests. There are no statistics on the number of refugees in the Northwest region.