Following the abduction of over 70 school children from a Presbyterian boarding school in Cameroon’s Anglophone region, Amnesty International is calling for their release/freedom.

The call was made by the Deputy regional director for West and Central Africa, Amnesty International, Samira Daoud.

According to him, “These appalling abductions show just how the general population is paying the highest price as violence escalates in the Anglophone region”.

He said that the abduction of school children and teachers can never be justified. Whoever is responsible must release and return the victims immediately.

He expressed Amnesty International’s solidarity with the families of the abducted children and demanded that the Cameroonian authorities do everything in their power to ensure all the pupils and school staff are freed unharmed.

Recalling similar incidences in Nigeria with the case of Chibok, he said, “In a case with a chilling echo of the 2014 kidnappings of the Chibok schoolgirls in Nigeria, it is vital that Cameroon’s government act swiftly and decisively to reunite these children with their loved ones”.

The students were abducted on Nov. 5  and the alleged kidnapper was recorded as telling the students, “We shall only release you after the struggle. You will be going to school now here … all of us stay here and fight for this struggle inside Ambazonia land.”