On April 7, 33 major seminarians at the seminary in Manyu province in the English-speaking region of Cameroon, were kidnapped within a day and released later.
Bachuo Ntai Seminary in the southwestern part of Cameroon, where for the past six years forces have been demanding the region's separation from the French-majority region to become an independent country, on the pretext that the English-speaking population has been marginalized. disadvantaged compared to the French region. The relationship between the two sides is getting worse and worse.
According to Radio International, Father Humphrey Tatah Mbuy, communications director at the Cameroon Bishops' Conference, said the seminarians were abducted while leaving the main building of the seminary to take a car ride to their bedroom. The monks were taken by armed men and led into the forest. The group demanded a ransom of 25 million African francs for life, which was later reduced to six million, but no ransom was paid by the authorities.
The kidnapping comes two months after gunmen set fire to the dormitories of girls at the boarding school of Our Lady of the Rosary in Mamfé, also in southwestern Cameroon. A few months earlier, Father Julius Abgortoko, Vicar General of the Diocese of Mamfé, was kidnapped on August 29 of last year, and released two days later.
Even the late Cardinal Christian Tumi, former archbishop of Douala and a key mediator in the English crisis in Cameroon, was abducted twice by rebels in November 2020. and January of last year.
The situation in Cameroon is turbulent because of the English-speaking region and clashes between the regular army and armed elements of the separatist faction.