YAOUNDE, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Three secondary school teachers were kidnapped by armed separatists late Thursday in Buea, capital of the Southwest Region of Cameroon, according to local authorities.
"They were kidnapped because they were preparing to restart school," a local official who opted for anonymity told Xinhua.
Popular separatist leader Eric Tataw confirmed the abduction and said it is part of "the commitment to shut down schools" within the Anglophone regions of the country.
Schools are due to start in Cameroon early September but armed separatists have announced plans to paralyse activities in the English-speaking part of the country in the first three weeks of the new school year.
Separatists have said on social media that only "inclusive dialogue and ceasefire" will facilitate the resumption of schools in the two Anglophone regions where they have been clashing with government forces in a bid to create a new nation they call "Ambazonia".
Insecurity in Cameroon's northwest and southwest regions has left more than 4,400 schools forcibly closed, affecting more than 600,000 children, according to a UNICEF report released earlier this month. Enditem
