{"id":222620,"date":"2023-05-28T10:05:58","date_gmt":"2023-05-28T02:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=222620"},"modified":"2023-05-28T10:05:59","modified_gmt":"2023-05-28T02:05:59","slug":"thirty-women-kidnapped-by-anglophone-separatists-in-cameroon-freed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=222620","title":{"rendered":"Thirty women kidnapped by anglophone separatists in Cameroon freed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/assets\/news_photos\/2023\/05\/27\/image-127704-1685208932.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>YAOUND\u00c9, May\u00a0 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Thirty women kidnapped by separatists in Cameroon&#8217;s restive anglophone region a week ago have been released, an official in the country&#8217;s communications ministry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The women were released on the evening of May 23, three days after they were abducted in the mostly English-speaking Northwest region, said Denis Omgba Bomba, head of the communication ministry&#8217;s National Media Observatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The &#8220;elderly&#8221; women were &#8220;kidnapped by heavily-armed terrorists&#8221; in the village of Kedjom Keku a day after taking part in protests against monthly taxes demanded by the separatists, local officials said earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The government typically uses the phrase &#8220;terrorists&#8221; in connection with armed insurgents from the majority-francophone country&#8217;s English-speaking minority, who are fighting to establish an independent homeland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0The women had demonstrated against &#8220;monthly taxes of 10,000 CFA francs ($17) for men and 5,000 for women&#8221; levied by the insurgents, according to the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0The rebels have said they levy the taxes to finance their &#8220;war effort for independence&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0Violent clashes erupted in late 2016, after which militants calling themselves &#8220;Amba boys&#8221; declared an independent state in the Northwest and Southwest regions, home to most of the anglophone minority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The conflict has claimed more than 6,000 lives and forced more than a million people to flee their homes, according to the International Crisis Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0Both the separatists and government forces have been accused of atrocities in the fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0Armed groups are regularly accused of abducting, killing or injuring civilians whom they accuse of &#8220;collaborating&#8221; with Cameroonian authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0NGOs and the UN accuse the government of repressing dissent in the English-speaking areas as well as clamping down hard on political opponents. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/platform-cdn.sharethis.com\/img\/facebook.svg\" alt=\"facebook sharing button\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/platform-cdn.sharethis.com\/img\/twitter.svg\" alt=\"twitter sharing button\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/platform-cdn.sharethis.com\/img\/messenger.svg\" alt=\"messenger sharing button\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/platform-cdn.sharethis.com\/img\/whatsapp.svg\" alt=\"whatsapp sharing button\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/platform-cdn.sharethis.com\/img\/sharethis.svg\" alt=\"sharethis sharing button\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>YAOUND\u00c9, May\u00a0 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Thirty women kidnapped by separatists in Cameroon&#8217;s restive anglophone region a week ago have been released, an official in the country&#8217;s communications ministry said. The women were released on the evening of May 23, three days after they were abducted in the mostly English-speaking Northwest region, said Denis Omgba Bomba, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":222622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222620"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=222620"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222623,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222620\/revisions\/222623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/222622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=222620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=222620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=222620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}