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On May 15, 2020, Second deputy Mayor for Ndop, Chombong Joseph was kidnapped alongside three others. The politician would go on to spend weeks in captivity before finally regaining freedom.
Weeks after the deputy mayor’s escape, details are beginning to surface about his abduction and freedom.
Chombong Joseph was kidnapped with three others, a cameraman and his two nephews. They are believed to have been held in a locality after Babanki.
A source close to the council official says he made away when the separatist fighters attempted to change the location where they were being held.
While other details of his escape are yet to be known, he was first sighted in the village of Bamunkumbit. He then went on to Baligashu where he called his wife and was picked up by the forces of law and order.
Chombong Joseph’s kidnap is one of many in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. After the crisis turned into a full-blown war, separatist fighters have resorted to several unorthodox means to raise funds including kidnapping for ransom.
Before legislative elections in February, they warned politicians in the crisis-hit regions against running for office, stating that it was against their call for a boycott of the process.
The Deputy Mayor may have regained his freedom but the war is far from over. In Ndop, a lockdown imposed by separatist fighters still looms and has left parts of the North West region cut off from the rest of the country. The United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and other bodies have so far condemned the move and attacks on humanitarian workers providing relief in the area.
Mimi Mefo Info
