Authorities Deny Six Children Kidnapped From Cameroon School

Douala, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Oct, 2018 ) :Authorities in Cameroon's northwestern anglophone region on Sunday denied that six children were kidnapped from a school there two days ago, saying an attempt was made but that it was unsuccessful.

The region's governor "wants to inform the public that the activists have indeed tried but, thanks to the spontaneous collaboration between the local community and the timely intervention of our security forces no student was kidnapped," a statement issued by the chief administrator said.

On Friday a teacher told AFP that gunmen abducted the six children from a school in the region's capital Bamenda. The information was confirmed to AFP on Saturday by a source close to the Bamenda security services.

Local media reports said one of the six had managed to escape, but that information was not independently confirmed.

Cameroon's two anglophone regions in the west of the country are the site of an uprising by armed separatists, who have called for a boycott of the schools. They argue the French-language education system penalises English-speaking students.

Already, since the start of the new term in September, insurgents have killed one school director, mutilated a teacher and attacked several high schools.

The results of the country's presidential election, which took place on October 7, are still to be announced, but the incumbent, Paul Biya, ran for a seventh term in office.

Biya, 75, has refused to enter into dialogue with the separatists and at the beginning of the year launched a military crackdown in the regions.