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A Cameroonian army operation has freed 16 hostages, including Polish
Catholic priest Mateusz Dziedzic, who were abducted by rebels from
Central African Republic last month, Cameroon's government said on
Wednesday.
"A special operation of Cameroonian defense and security forces
permitted the liberation last night of 15 Cameroonian hostages … as
well as the Polish priest Mateusz Dziedzic," the statement said.
The head of the organization that runs Poland's overseas Catholic
missions had said a rebel group known as the Democratic Front of the
Central African People (FDPC) abducted Dziedzic on the night of Oct.
12 in neighboring Central African Republic.
The FDPC, one of a number of armed groups that has fought the Central
African government and other militants in an off-on conflict in the
former French colony over the past decade, had demanded Cameroon
release its leader Abdoulaye Miskine.
It was not immediately clear if this condition had been met.
The FDPC was initially allied with Seleka, a coalition of local rebels
that also included fighters from neighboring Sudan and Chad which
toppled the Central African government and seized the capital Bangui
in March 2013.
After falling out with Seleka, Miskine fled to Cameroon and was
arrested there in September 2013.
Credit: Reuters
