A gaggle of armed males have kidnapped 5 employees members working for Docs With out Borders, recognized by the French acronym MSF, in northern Cameroon.
In response to a press release issued by the medical charity on Thursday night time, armed males broke into the MSF base in Fotokol, located within the distant northern border space with neighboring Nigeria.
Motive for kidnapping unknown
“5 members of our workforce have been taken away after the break-in. Neither the identification nor the motives of the perpetrators are recognized right now,” MSF advised DW in an emailed response.
The group mentioned that its groups have been “mobilized to help our 5 colleagues.”
Information company AFP cited an area administrative official as saying that three of the help employees are from Chad, one is from Senegal, and the fifth is French-Ivorian.
The supply additionally mentioned two Cameroonian safety guards have been amongst these kidnapped and that the military had launched a seek for the lacking members of employees.
Cameroon’s troubled north
Although the identification of the abductors stays unknown, there have been plenty of assaults concentrating on civilians and troopers by Islamist teams.
Boko Haram and the so-called Islamic State West Africa Province are recognized to launch assaults within the space together with within the close by Lake Chad area.
In September 2019, a suspected Boko Haram assault close to Fotoko, claimed the lives of six Cameroonian troopers.
In August 2021, 26 Chadian troopers have been killed whereas on patrol in neighboring Chad.
The violence has spawned a regional humanitarian disaster, and a whole bunch of hundreds of individuals have been displaced and dispersed in neighboring international locations.
MSF has been serving to to help displaced individuals and refugees, offering remedy to tens of hundreds of individuals.
Coupled with the Islamist insurgency, Cameroon can also be attempting to sort out militants from the nation’s Anglophone minority who’re combating for the institution of a separate state.
MSF additionally advised DW that it might solely be releasing restricted data on the state of affairs right now.
kb/msh (AFP, Reuters)