Cameroon: Nine hostages safely released

safe at last - Image Fides

Source: Fides

Nine people - five priests, a nun and three laypeople, captured in the raid on a church in southwest Cameroon on 16 September have been set free. Bishop Aloysius Fondong Abangalo of Mamfe, confirmed that the hostages, who were abducted during the attack on the Church of St Mary in the village of Nchang in the Anglophone region of south-west Cameroon, were released on Saturday.

One of the nine victims said: in a video at the time of the release, after one month in capitivity, said: "We want to thank the Freedom Fighters of Ambazonia for having released us without paying any ransom."

Bishop Aloysius thanked the faithful for their prayers asking for a positive outcome. He said: "I take this opportunity to once again condemn in the strongest possible terms the desecration of the Church and to point out the need to protect human dignity. Depriving our brothers and sisters of their freedom to obtain money at any price is inhumane. For those who make statements that fuel such actions, I believe it is time to rethink one's approach and ensure that the dignity of the human person is defended in every possible way."

Bishop Aloysius referred to the devastation of St Mary's Church that took place at the time of the attack.

In a statement the Cameroonian Bishops' Conference expressly refused to pay any ransom, "so as not to create dangerous precedents."

The identities of the kidnappers remain uncertain. The short release video mentions the Freedom Fighters of Ambazonia. Ambazonia is the name of the unofficially recognized separatist state established in 2017, which comprises the two anglophone regions of Cameroon, the north-west and the south-west.

Several Separatist groups are active in both regions, but they call themselves 'Freedom Fighters of Ambazonia'. A Fides statement says it could be a new group using the international attention to the kidnapping of the nine hostages to gain attention. But Fides says the kidnappers could also be a criminal gang, hiding behind a political acronym to carry out kidnappings for extortion purposes.