By Moki Edwin Kindzeka
YAOUNDE—Cameroon's military has
freed 12 people held hostage by 30 suspected rebels on its border with
the troubled Central African Republic. Cameroon's military says that two
of the suspected rebels were killed and several its soldiers were
wounded in a 48 hour operation.
The governor of the Adamawa region of Cameroon says the 12 people,
including children, were freed from captivity after Cameroon military
launched an operation on its border with the Central African Republic.
Kildadis Taguieke Boucar says, unfortunately, some of the hostage takers escaped to the neighboring country.
He says the assailants were quickly detected by the population and
Cameroon military because they were dressed in foreign military
uniforms, an indication many rebels and evildoers from foreign countries
were still operating on Cameroonian territory.
Among the freed hostages flown by Cameroon's military from the border
zone to the Ngaoundere airport in Adamawa region is 47-year old cattle
rancher Mohamadou Njobdji, who says he spent two weeks in captivity
after he was seized with his two children from his home at Ngaoui.
He says the day he was kidnapped there was a loud knock on his door
about 11:00 PM with voices threatening that if he refused to let them
in, he and his family would be killed. He says when he opened the door
some masked people, dressed in black and armed with guns ordered his
household to follow them.
Njobdji says while in captivity on the mountainous border zone, they
were asked to pay ransoms of up to $10,000 each for their release. He
says they were beaten each morning and fed with meat from stolen cattle.
Colonel Asoualai Blama, who led the operation to free the hostages,
has called for civilians to report suspects and strange people in their
localities. He says Cameroon's military is determined to fight the
attackers, but the battle can not be won without the participation of
the general population.
He says he is very thankful to the population, especially farmers and
cattle ranchers who collaborated by giving useful information to the
military. He says without such collaboration the armed men who operate
on border localities should have retreated to the Central African
Republic.
Before 2014, CAR rebels were attacking Cameroon frequently to press
for the release of Abdoulaye Meskine and 10 anti-Balaka soldiers who
were arrested in Cameroon in 2013.
Cameroon and CAR negotiated the repatriation of Meskine to an
undisclosed location and the attacks reduced. But since May 2015,
Cameroon has been complaining that suspected CAR rebels were attacking
its territory, kidnapping cattle ranchers and rich business persons and
asking for ransoms.
Cameroon shares a 900-kilometer long boundary with the landlocked
Central Afrtican Republic and there are 300,000 CAR refugees in
Cameroon.
Source:VOA
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