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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Eromo Egbejule in Abidjan

Kidnappings soar in central Africa’s ‘triangle of death’

A group of men stand outside near some trees, some holding bows
Amos Nangyo, centre, leads an anti-kidnapping vigilante group in Pala, south-west Chad. Photograph: Joris Bolomey/AFP/Getty Images

Tired of waiting for the authorities to come to their aid, young men in the Mayo-Kebbi Ouest region of south-west Chad are banding into vigilante groups, using bows, arrows and spears to fight gunmen who have turned kidnapping into a professional pastime.

“We guide the gendarmes in the bush, but we are also the first to go after the criminals after a kidnapping,” said Amos Nangyo, head of one of the units in Pala, capital of the region, which borders Cameroon, told Agence France-Presse earlier this month.

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