Cardinal Christian Tumi, a 90-year-old archbishop emeritus of Douala in Cameroon, who was kidnapped alongside 10 others in the West African country’s restive Anglophone region has been released.
The whereabouts of the others, including a traditional ruler – Fon of Nso, Fon Sehm Mbinglo I – are still unknown.
The circumstances of his release are not clear.
Bishop Nkuo of Kumbo reported that the local leader had not been released.
“The Fon of Nso is still being held by his captors. They were taken in two different directions but the cardinal has been released. We don’t know where the Fon is at the moment,” the bishop said on the afternoon of Nov. 6.
The retired cleric was driving from Bamenda in the capital city, Yaoundé, to Kumbo alongside the others on Thursday when they were intercepted and abducted in Bamunka, a village in Cameroon’s northwest region, by gunmen belonging to separatist militias.
The cardinal was escorting the traditional ruler back to Kumbo after he had fled the city months ago following the killing of his two sons by suspected separatists.
Anglophone separatists have been demanding an independent state, saying they do not want to be part of French-speaking Cameroon, triggering a conflict that has claimed many lives.
