A magistrate kidnapped in Cameroon’s English-speaking north hit by nearly a decade of separatist violence has been released, a rights group said Tuesday.Nchang Augustin Amongwa was taken by unknown armed men from his home in the city of Bamenda on December 29, Cameroon-based charity Conscience Africaine said.The NGO’s head Amadu Tarnteh, who announced the release on Facebook, told AFP that he had been in contact with the judge.According to Tarnteh, Amongwa wrote: “I will be taking a short vacation of two weeks to recover from the trauma I went through. Thereafter, I will be available for more information on what transpired.”A government official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the magistrate was reunited with his family late on Saturday.”The happiness of my release was welcomed by all and sundry and I want to spread that happiness instead of poisoning people’s minds about the evil people who orchestrated it,” Amongwa wrote in a Facebook statement.Conscience Africaine last week denounced the abduction of Amongwa and others. “Many other civilians were kidnapped on the same day… and taken to unknown destinations by armed men, whom we presume are separatists,” it said in a statement.The NGO added that three people were kidnapped and killed last month because their families were unable to pay a ransom.In October, the deputy mayor of Bamenda, the capital of the anglophone Northwest Region, was killed after being abducted by armed assailants.A few days later, a journalist was also abducted in the same city before being released.Bamenda and the wider, primarily English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions have seen a slew of kidnappings and killings since the outbreak of separatist violence. Separatists have repeatedly killed or kidnapped civil servants, including teachers, or elected officials, whom they accuse of “collaborating” with the central government of predominantly French-speaking Cameroon.The conflict erupted in late 2016 after President Paul Biya, who has ruled Cameroon for 42 years, violently put down peaceful protests in its two anglophone regions.At least 6,000 civilians have been killed by government forces and separatist fighters since the beginning of the conflict, according to Human Rights Watch.
Tue, 07 Jan 2025 17:12:23 GMT
