Abducted nuns released by captors

About 13 Catholic nuns who had been abducted in Cameroon were later released by their captors.

The nuns were abducted last week when they were travelling through the country. None of them knew their captors.

They spent the day and night with their abductors as negotiations went on for their release. They were released the next day.

According to the United Nations (UN), ransom payments by some parents and the intervention of the Catholic diocese of Kumba secured the nuns’ release.

The UN says besides the 13 nuns, in the past two weeks eight students and a teacher have been kidnapped in the southwest of the country. The nuns were kidnapped in the northwest.

The UN is thus urging all parties to refrain from acts of violence that have forced residents to live in fear, unable to exercise their fundamental human rights for more than a year.

Press briefing notes issued on Tuesday from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, say the UN is deeply concerned about the worsening violence in the Southwest and Northwest regions of Cameroon.

The UN is continuing to receive reports of abductions and killings by armed groups, as well as extrajudicial killings by State armed forces.

The press briefing notes say the UN is urging “all sides to refrain from acts of violence that have, for more than a year now, left the population in these regions living in fear, unable to access their basic human rights.”

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