Following the abduction of at least 70 school children in Cameroon’s Anglophone region, Samira Daoud, Amnesty International Deputy regional director for West and Central Africa said:

“These appalling abductions show just how general population is paying the highest price as violence escalates in the Anglophone region.

“The abduction of schoolchildren and teachers can never be justified. Whoever is responsible must release and return the victims immediately.

“We express solidarity with the families of these children and demand that the Cameroon authorities do everything in their power to ensure all the pupils and school staff are freed unharmed.

“In a case with a chilling echo of the 2014 kidnappings of the Chibok schoolgirls in Nigeria, it is vital that Cameroon’s government act swiftly and decisively to reunite these children with their loved ones.”