At least 80 hostages have been seized during the past three months, according to the defence ministers of Cameroon and the Central African Republic, who have announced the deployment of a combined force to their shared border.
The two ministries attribute the rise in border crime to rebels who fled military crackdowns in the CAR.
According to the defence ministries of Cameroon and the CAR, persistent rebel attacks, widespread thievery, and kidnappings for ransom combine to create a dangerous scenario for residents along their shared border.
Within the last three months, several people in the neighbourhood have been kidnapped for ransom.
This includes the roughly 80 farmers, ranchers, and businesspeople who have been held prisoner over the last three weeks.
Families sent the rebels a total of $150,000 to release their relatives.
Although many of the people have reportedly been released from rebel camps on the border by Cameroon and the CAR’s army, many remain in rebel custody.
According to Adamu Abass, military operations in a jungle region where he and several other hostages were being kept liberated them.
On November 5, at midnight, he said insurgents stormed his home and kidnapped three members of his family.
He said that roughly 17 captives, including women and children, were being tortured by insurgents in a jungle near the border with the CAR.
Adamu said that he informed the rebels that because of his financial situation, he was unable to pay the demanded ransom of roughly $20,000 to release himself, his wife, and his daughter.
Adamu talked on Friday on CRTV, the national broadcaster of Cameroon.
He said that three persons were hurt when insurgents and government soldiers in Cameroon engaged in gunfire.
The United Nations peacekeeping force in the nation, known as MINUSCA, has been relentlessly attacking the rebels’ hideouts, according to the CAR.
One of the Cameroonian commanders battling rebel incursions along the country’s northern border is General Agha Robinson.
According to him, every time Cameroon sends soldiers over the border, insurgents sneak through with hostages. He said that several dozen civilians who are still being kept prisoner on both sides of the border by Cameroon and CAR have consented to participate in coordinated military operations.
Agha stated that forces from the two nations will defend farmers, ranchers, and traders who are attacked by rebels in order to obtain supplies.
He said that the combined force would also look for and capture any rebels’ weapons that were stashed away in border towns and villages.
