Four of ten persons, including workers of the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, and non-CDC workers, recently kidnapped by suspected separatist fighters, have succeeded to escape from their abductors.
The workers were kidnapped at about 9 p.m on Friday June 23. This was after separatist fighters attacked two CDC camps, Rechtsfuss and Scipio, and took ten workers of the corporation, including children and non-workers.
In a telephone interview with the Divisional Officer, DO of West Coast Subdivision, in Limbe, Fako Division, Ngong Stephen, he confirmed that four of the victims were able to escape, while six others are still with their abductors.
The administrative authority insisted that they are doing everything possible to track and rescue the workers. He also added that he had dispatched a contingent of the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR, soldiers to track and free the denizens.
Kidnapping for ransom has become one of the modus operandi used by the separatist fighters to probably raise money for their waning struggle. Some victims of kidnapping across the two English-speaking Regions have lost their lives, some rescued by the defense and security forces and others released after relatives have paid heavy ransoms.
The government, on its part, has engaged in defeating separatist fighters as well as providing a pathway to freedom for those ready to surrender.
While some parts of the Regions are relatively safe because of government’s efforts to build peace, others remain volatile, with sporadic separatist activities to cause fear.
On the night of May 16, 2022, some 19 workers of the CDC were kidnapped by separatist fighters from the same camps still in the West Coast Subdivision in Fako Division. The workers were asked to pay a ransom of five million FCFA to secure their release.
They were in captivity for some days before BIR mounted a search in the bushes, freeing the denizens. The molested workers were released on the third day when their kidnappers had escaped after noticing BIR soldiers were closing in on them.
The 19 were rescued and ferried back safely to the BIR camp at Idenau after spending some 72 hours in captivity. They were later ferried to the CDC Cottage Hospital in Tiko by the management of CDC, where they were all medically assessed and treated.
#Guardian post
