Gunmen kidnap 30 women in northwest Cameroon

DOUALA, Cameroon

Thirty women were abducted by suspected separatists in northwest Cameroon last weekend during a national unity festival, according to a statement.

"Armed men" the women May 20 "at about 8:30 a.m. local time (7:00 a.m. GMT) in the village of Kedjom Keku, still called Big Babanki, Tubah district, Mezam department," Simon Emilie Mooh, the locality's prefect said late Tuesday.

He said the women were "elderly" and members of The Takumbengs “secret society.”

They were abducted while leading a peaceful march to protest terror abuses against the population, according to Mooh.

He condemned the abductions that he called "cruel" and "gender-based," but assured that investigations are underway to track the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Humanitarian organizations were outraged and provided additional details about the abductions.

The Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA), a NGO based in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde, said the women were demonstrating "against the exploitative activities of the Amba Boys," an armed Anglophone group in the region.

The women were protesting "monthly taxes of 10,000 CFA francs ($16.77) for men and 5,000 ($8.38) for women," it added.

Cameroon has been in a separatist crisis since 2016 that affects the northwest and southwest -- two regions where the minority constitutes a bilingual country.

Anglophones are a minority in Cameroon and claim to be marginalized by the English-speaking portion. Some Anglophones want separation and others desire independence in their region.

Cases of kidnapping and massacres are common in the regions. Security in the country is stepped up from special national events.