Un groupe de touristes européens voyageant dans le sud-Ouest du Cameroun n'a pas été enlevé, leur
opérateur suisse a déclaré mercredi, contredisant les rapports du gouvernement selon lesquels les militants séparatistes les avaient pris en otage.S'exprimant à la télévision d'état à la fin mardi, le porte-Parole du gouvernement Issa Tchiroma Bakary a déclaré que 18 otages avaient été enlevés lundi et ont été libérés des heures plus tard par le bataillon d'intervention rapide de l'armée de l'armée.
Il a déclaré que le groupe comprenait sept touristes suisses et cinq touristes italiens ainsi que six responsables municipaux Camerounais, qui ont été pris par des séparatistes anglophones dans la région agitée du Sud-Ouest.
Cependant, le groupe tour African Adventures a déclaré que ses clients avaient simplement été arrêtés lundi par un groupe d'individus armés qui ont effectué un contrôle de leurs documents et de leurs véhicules.
" nos négociations avec ce groupe ont abouti à l'octroi de notre permission de partir," l'opérateur a déclaré dans une déclaration sur son site web.
" peu de temps avant notre départ, les forces spéciales de l'armée Camerounaise sont arrivées sur les lieux et un bref engagement a suivi," a-T-il ajouté, sans préciser.
Aucun de son groupe n'a été soumis à la violence et tout se passait bien, la société a dit.
La force de défense ambazonien (ADF), le principal groupe séparatiste anglophone luttant contre les forces de sécurité de l'état, avait précédemment nié la version gouvernementale des événements.
" L'Adf ne prend pas d'otages. L'Adf arrête des facilitateurs et des collaborateurs et n'arrête pas les ressortissants étrangers," cho ayaba, un dirigeant du conseil d'administration de ambazonien, auquel l'adf est vaguement affiliée, a déclaré à Reuters.
L'Adf a été responsable de la plupart des fusillades qui ont tué plus de 20 agents de sécurité de l'état lors d'un soulèvement d'un an contre le gouvernement francophone du président Paul Biya qui dit avoir marginalisé la minorité anglophone.
Cependant, un certain nombre de groupes armés plus petits sont apparus ces derniers mois en réaction à une répression du gouvernement qui a inclus des villages rasés dans les zones rurales anglophones du Cameroun près de la frontière nigériane.
(écrit par Aaron Ross et Joe Bavier ; montage par Edward Mcallister et Robin Pomeroy)
A group of European tourists traveling in southwest Cameroon were not kidnapped, their Swiss tour operator said on Wednesday, contradicting government reports that separatist militants had held them hostage.
Speaking on state television late on Tuesday, government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said 18 hostages had been taken on Monday and were freed hours later by the army's elite Rapid Intervention Battalion.
He said the group included seven Swiss and five Italian tourists as well as six Cameroonian municipal officials, who were taken by English-speaking separatists in the restive southwest region.
However tour group African Adventures said its clients had simply been stopped on Monday by a group of armed individuals who carried out a check of their documents and vehicles.
"Our negotiation carried out with this group resulted in their granting our permission to leave," the tour operator said in a statement on its website.
Speaking on state television late on Tuesday, government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said 18 hostages had been taken on Monday and were freed hours later by the army's elite Rapid Intervention Battalion.
He said the group included seven Swiss and five Italian tourists as well as six Cameroonian municipal officials, who were taken by English-speaking separatists in the restive southwest region.
However tour group African Adventures said its clients had simply been stopped on Monday by a group of armed individuals who carried out a check of their documents and vehicles.
"Our negotiation carried out with this group resulted in their granting our permission to leave," the tour operator said in a statement on its website.
"Shortly before our departure, Cameroon army force special forces arrived on the scene and a brief engagement followed," it added, without elaborating.
None of its group was subjected to violence and all were doing well, the company said.
The Ambazonian Defence Force (ADF), the main anglophone separatist group battling state security forces, had earlier denied the government version of events.
"ADF does not take hostages. ADF arrests enablers and collaborators and does not arrest foreign nationals," Cho Ayaba, a leader of the Ambazonian Governing Council, to which the ADF is loosely affiliated, told Reuters.
The ADF has been responsible for most of the shootings that have killed more than 20 state security agents in a year-long uprising against President Paul Biya's francophone government that they say has marginalized the English-speaking minority.
However, a number of smaller armed groups have emerged in recent months in reaction to a government crackdown that has included razing villages in rural anglophone Cameroon near the Nigerian border.
(Writing by Aaron Ross and Joe Bavier; Editing by Edward McAllister and Robin Pomeroy)
None of its group was subjected to violence and all were doing well, the company said.
The Ambazonian Defence Force (ADF), the main anglophone separatist group battling state security forces, had earlier denied the government version of events.
"ADF does not take hostages. ADF arrests enablers and collaborators and does not arrest foreign nationals," Cho Ayaba, a leader of the Ambazonian Governing Council, to which the ADF is loosely affiliated, told Reuters.
The ADF has been responsible for most of the shootings that have killed more than 20 state security agents in a year-long uprising against President Paul Biya's francophone government that they say has marginalized the English-speaking minority.
However, a number of smaller armed groups have emerged in recent months in reaction to a government crackdown that has included razing villages in rural anglophone Cameroon near the Nigerian border.
(Writing by Aaron Ross and Joe Bavier; Editing by Edward McAllister and Robin Pomeroy)
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