The head of the World Council of Churches has expressed shock and dismay at the kidnapping on Sunday night of 79 students and three staff from a Presbyterian Secondary School in north-west Cameroon.
Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, said people were praying for the kidnapped staff and students and were appealling for their release.
“This incident underscores the gravity of the crisis afflicting especially the western regions of Cameroon, and we urgently appeal for increased international and ecumenical advocacy and action for a just peace in Cameroon, in which the equal dignity and rights of all people in the country are respected and protected, and for the immediate cessation of all armed violence,” he said.
“We pray for the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon, and for all the churches of the country, that they may be empowered and strengthened in their witness and for their pilgrimage for justice and peace in Cameroon and the region.”
The students, who are reportedly aged between 11 and 17, were attending the boarding school near the regional capital of Bamenda when they were kidnapped along with two staff members and the school principal. Separatist militias – who want to create a new state called Ambazonia in the country’s English-speaking north-west and south-west regions – have been blamed for the kidnappings.
Rt Rev Fonki Samuel Forba, moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, told the BBC that he had spoken to the kidnappers and that they didn’t want a ransom.
“All they want is for us to close the schools. We have promised to close down the schools,” he said. “We hope and pray they release the kids and the teachers.”
