Thirty women kidnapped on May 20 by rebels in western Cameroon, plagued by a deadly conflict between separatists of the Anglophone minority and police, have been released, a government official told AFP on Saturday.
They were released by their captors on the evening of May 23, after three days of kidnapping, said Denis Omgba, director of the Media Observatory of the Ministry of Communication.
These "elderly" women had been kidnapped on May 20 "by armed terrorists" in the village of Kedjom Keku, in the North-West region, after participating the day before in a demonstration during which they protested against taxes demanded each month for each man and woman by separatist rebels, had then assured the local prefecture.
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The authorities still use the word "terrorists" to refer to armed rebels demanding independence for the North-West and South-West regions, populated mainly by the English-speaking minority of this predominantly French-speaking Central African country.