Saturday, December 11th, 2021
Escape from violence?
Handball players disappear at the World Cup
A worrying situation arises at the women’s handball world championship in Spain: four national players of Cameroon cannot be found and have apparently broken away from their team. It is believed that the reason for this lies in the homeland of the athletes.
Four players of the national team of Cameroon disappeared without a trace at the handball world championship in Spain. The head of the delegation of the African country, accompanied by the tournament director, placed an advertisement with the police, reported the digital newspaper “El Español” and other Spanish media, citing the organizers of the World Cup. The police in Valencia confirmed these reports on request. According to current knowledge, kidnapping is ruled out.
The four women have been missing since Thursday. They were not used that day in the game against Angola (24:35) in Llíria in the province of Valencia, it said. Her whereabouts were still unknown on Saturday. Citing the Cameroon delegation, “El Español” reported that they were Amelie Cevanie Mvoua (24), Appoline Michele Abena Ekobena (26), Jodelle Clarisse Madjoufang (28) and Yasmine Yotchoum (27).
It is believed that the women may have gone into hiding to apply for asylum in Spain or another country in Europe. It could be an escape from the violence at home. A civil war has been raging in Cameroon for about five years. Separatists are fighting for a state of their own. It was not until Friday that it became known that at least 30,000 people had fled violent clashes in the north of the country to neighboring Chad. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 80 percent of these people were women and children.