According to several sources, the kidnapping attributed to the armed men took place on the morning of January 19, 2022.
On the morning of January 19, armed men attacked Government High School Weh, in the district of Fungom, division of Menchum (North-West region). According to testimonies on the spot, the attackers, suspected of being separatist fighters, kidnapped four teachers. A student was injured in the panic that ensued, as students tried to flee the attackers. For the time being, there is no information about where the kidnapped teachers were taken.
It should be noted that the divisions of Menchum, Bui and NgoKetunjia in the North-West are most often the target of armed men because of the presence (according to him) of “General No Pity” and his men who continue to claim victims.
On the decision of December 29, 2021, the Senior Divisional of Menchum had, for security reasons, relocated the Government High School Zhoa, in the district of Fungom to relocate it within the grounds of the Government High School Weh.
Despite a strong presence of the Defense and Security Forces in the division, particularly in Zhoa, the separatists took away the teachers, who remain untraceable 48 hours later.
This attack comes as Cameroon hosts the 33rd edition of the 2021 African Cup of Nations. In regions plagued by the Anglophone crisis, separatists had threatened to disrupt the competition. Schoolchildren and teachers are regularly targeted by separatist armed groups. According to Unicef, some 850,000 children have been deprived of school in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon since 2016.