Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 November 2018
143. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the assessment that has been made of the circumstances surrounding the recent kidnapping of approximately 80 persons, including children, from a school in the town of Bamenda, Cameroon; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46583/18]
View answerI am aware of the kidnapping on Monday 5 November of 78 schoolchildren and three others in the town of Bamenda in North West Cameroon.
The Government fully supports the 6 November statement of the EU calling for the schoolchildren to be freed immediately and without conditions, expressing solidarity with the families of the kidnap victims, and calling on all parties to engage in a constructive and inclusive dialogue in order to find a solution to the ongoing crisis in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon.
I am pleased to hear reports that all 78 children have now been freed and hope that the remaining victims will be freed immediately and without conditions.
The Government remains concerned by the deteriorating political and security situation in Cameroon and will continue to monitor human rights and humanitarian developments in close coordination with our EU partners and through the Embassy of Ireland in Abuja.
