Cameroonian Media reported that armed men kidnapped Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi in the restive North West region of the country on Thursday. Cardinal Tumi, who is the Archbishop Emeritus of Douala, was in the company of the paramount ruler of Nso. The traditional ruler was heading back to his traditional palace after months of self-imposed exile due to the armed conflicts between government troops and secessionists. Sources say the convoy was stopped by a roadblock mounted by alleged separatist fighters who abducted the Cardinal and took him to an unknown location. In an interview with Vatican News, Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala said that he estimates that Cardinal Tumi was abducted around 6:00pm on his way from Bamenda to Kumbo because he had been in touch with him just an hour before. Much later on Thursday evening, Archbishop Kleda received a phone call from the Cardinal who informed him that he had been interrogated by kidnappers. His subsequent attempts to reach the Cardinal by phone on Friday morning were futile. However, the Cardinal was released later in the day on Friday after spending a night in the den of the kidnappers. Cardinal Tumi, 90, has been vocal in calling for dialogue and peace amid the four-year-long conflict in the North West and South West regions of the country.

Pope Francis’ closeness

Pope Francis has expressed his closeness to Cameroon. At the weekly General Audience on 28 October, he prayed that “the tormented regions of the North West and South West of the country may find peace.”The Pope also prayed for the families of the young students killed on 24 October by gunmen at a private school in Kumba. He expressed sorrow at the “cruel and senseless act which tore the young innocents from life while they were attending lessons at school.”

Cameroon’s conflict

Armed separatists, also known as “Amba boys” have been engaged in an ongoing battle with government troops in their bid to create an independent state which they wish to be called “Ambazonia.”The crisis began in 2016 when educational and judicial institutions in the English-speaking North West and South West regions of the bi-lingual country protested the unjustified appointments of French speakers in their territory. By 2017, the situation had spiraled out of control and had become a full-fledged separatist war.The prolonged conflict has created thousands of casualties and widespread displacement. School children in the conflict zone have only returned to school this year after almost four year of closures. Last month, gunmen alleged to be linked to the separatist fighters, opened fire on students at Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba leaving at six of them dead in the deadly attack.

 Source: Vatican News

‘A mass of the Angels’ will be held on Sunday for the eight school children killed in Kumba by unidentified gunmen.

The Parish Priest of the Cameroon Catholic Community in Mulhein an der Ruhr in Germany Revered Father Constant Leke said the children will be sorrowfully missed by everyone.

A Mass of the Angels will be held in St. Mariae Rosenkranz Mülheim an der Ruhr Church on Sunday afternoon at 3pm.

The Chairman of the Pastoral Council the MbangFon Wara Julius has also invited the entire Cameroon Christian community in the Nordrhein Westphalia province in Germany to be a part of the special Holy Mass.

Cameroon’s unwinnable war

At the heart of the crisis, which started in 2016, was a strike by teachers and lawyers, in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. The professionals, supported by citizens of their areas, protested the unfair use of the French language and unjustified appointments of French speakers in their territories. Cameroon is a bilingual country. By 2017, the situation had spiralled out of control and developed into a fully-fledged separatist war. Both government forces and separatists are now bogged down in a conflict, that observers say, can only be resolved through dialogue.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Mulheim

Bishop Agapitus Nfon expressed his shock at the mass shooting at Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy,  in Bamileke Street,  Fiango, Kumba, on October 24, 2020, and said prayers for the families of the victims will be said on Friday.

“As your spiritual father, I invite you all, especially school children and students and parents and guardians to join me in the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Fiango Kumba on Friday 30 October 2020 at 3.00 p.m. to pray for the repose of the souls of our dear and innocent students who were murdered, and to pray for God’s consolation on their parents and families and guardians, and for all our traumatized pupils and students,” Agapitus Nfon, Bishop of Kumba, said in a statement. “During that mass, we shall also pray for the forgiveness and conversion of the perpetrators of this heinous and barbarous act, while asking our Loving Father in Heaven to intervene for a lasting solution to be found so that true justice and peace may reign.”

Mgr Agapitus says Kumba relived the heinous massacre of innocent children, a scenario last seen in Ngarbuh on February 14, 2020, where innocent children and pregnant women were killed. In the Ngarbuh case, soldiers were found guilty. This time around,  the government blames armed separatists. President Biya has ordered an investigation.

“Today is the darkest and saddest day for Kumba since the socio-political crisis affecting the North West and South West regions started in 2016, and which has now escalated into war. Today Saturday 24 October 2020, Kumba, the Green City, known for its peace and hospitality has been stricken by the grief of the murder of her children before midday,” the Bishop said in his statement.

Agapitus says the gunmen attacked the shot the students at about 11:30 am on Saturday, leaving the people of Kumba to mourn the deaths of at least six students and praying for the recovery of over a dozen others.

“We are crying and asking why our children were murdered?  What did they do wrong?  Is it because they went to school?  Were they not allowed to go to school by those who previously restricted them for the past four years?  How could they ask children to go to school and turn around to massacre them?  Who then could have done such a gruesome act?

“We are mourning and pondering in our painful hearts,  is enough not enough? Was Ngarbuh not enough?  How much of the blood of our children need to be shed before something concrete and immediate is done?  How long will the powers that be and are capable of restoring peace and tranquility in the distressed Northwest and Southwest Region sit and wait?  How long will the authorities concerned watch and see?  Will all our children die before something is done? 

“We are desperately crying and wailing and asking,  what is holding back those concerned, I mean the international bodies and the government of Cameroon to look for a lasting solution to the problem that will restore justice and peace?  We are painfully weeping and pondering, what is so important other than peace that will make us sit back in indifference and what tender and precious lives being wasted away?

“In our pain and sorrow, we stand by the parents of the deceased students, their families, and the students and staff of Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy, in sympathy and solidarity, to strongly condemn the perpetrators of this terrible and satanic manifestation of disrespect and desecration of human life, which is a gift from God. 

“After the Ngarbuh Massacre, we heard condemnations of the wicked act from all the continents and statements like, ‘Never again should such a thing happen’, were uttered and barely five months after it has happened again from Ngarbuh to Kumba.  Where will it be next,  if something concrete and immediate is not done by the powers that be and can make things happen? 

“My dear people wrapped in grief, our only true hope is God!  Let us turn to Him in our desperation and prayerfully cry to him to come to our assistance.  Let us pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit, He may turn the wicked and stone hearts of the Herods (the murderers of our children) into hearts of love and flesh.  Let us pray for His divine intervention in the search for a lasting solution to the crisis so that justice and peace may reign, for He is a God of Justice and Peace. He is our only hope!”

On Saturday, gunmen attacked Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy Fiango, Kumba. State authorities say they opened fire on no fewer than 19 students, killed at least six, and badly wounded about 13 others.

The Divisional Officer for Kumba I, Ali Anougu, the Senior Divisional Officer for Meme Division, Chamberlain Ntou’ou Ndong, and the Minister of Communication, Emmanuel Rene Sadi blame armed separatists for the attack. However, the Southern Cameroon Interim Government has released a statement saying the regime in Yaounde and a cream of cabinet ministers including senior military figures benefitting from the war in Southern Cameroons were responsible for the Kumba massacre.

The students killed include:

1) Victory Camibon Ngameni, 11-year-old

2) ANAMGIM Jenifer 12-year-old

3) Ngemone Princess 12-year-old

4) Che Telma Nchangnwi

5) Zakame Rema, 9-year-old

6) Chema Syndi

As we went to press, we learned that 12-year-old Renny Ngwane died in hospital Sunday morning. The condition of two victims operated at the Buea Regional Hospital Annex is said to be stable.

The death toll in the school shooting thus stands at seven. Of the 12 victims in the hospital, six are said to be in intensive care.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net with additional reporting from Camcordnews

Carrying only a rucksack, sleeping mat, dressed in black Cassock with his head shaved, Fr. Lado embarked Monday on a 250 km pilgrimage that should take him from Douala to Yaoundé. He wants to draw attention to the suffering brought about by the war in Cameroon, now in its fourth year.

Fr. Lado told Fidespost that his walk was a pilgrimage to pray for dialogue, justice, peace and reconciliation in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon.

“To pray, on the one hand, for dialogue, justice, peace and reconciliation in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon and, on the other hand, to do penance for the reparation of crimes against human dignity committed in these regions. I draw on these Christian values, which are simply human. These are: Fraternity, dialogue, justice, reconciliation and peace,” wrote Fr. Lado recently in an open letter.

Detained in Edéa

On Tuesday, Fr. Lado’s journey was abruptly interrupted when police detained him in Edéa, a city located along the Sanaga River in the Littoral Region. He was later released and is continuing with his walk. After his release, Fr. Lado said he was in good spirits. “I explained to them (police) that I was on a pilgrimage which has a long religious tradition … but they violated my civil rights,” he said.

Support for the education of children of IDPs

Fr. Lado has placed his pilgrimage under the theme, “Where is your brother?” (Gen 4: 9).

“If the Church, the (Cameroonian) authorities and the Ambazonians do not sit around the table to find a solution to this crisis, I will do my part,” said Fr. Lado when he first announced his decision to walk.

Fr. Lado also says he wants to do penance for the reparation of the crimes against human dignity that have been committed during the conflict. “This march,” adds Fr. Lado, “is a call for solidarity to support the education of children of Internally Displaced Persons or refugees, who are living precarious lives.”

Why else I am walking?

“I am walking so that human blood stops flowing in our country. I walk so that the constitutional right to demonstrate peacefully in Cameroon is respected. I walk in solidarity with internally displaced people and refugees from the Anglophone crisis. I walk to exorcise in me and in us the demon of indifference. Walking is not just a human right, but a divine right. I walk to make it work,” explained Fr. Lado.

Fr. Lado said his march is also in solidarity with hundreds detained, in Cameroon, on 22 September, after demonstrations called by the opposition party, the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC). The demonstrators want national dialogue, electoral reforms and the return of peace to the Anglophone regions of the country. The Cameroonian government deems demonstrations in some regions as illegal.

UN Rights Experts condemn government heavy-handedness

The government has been accused of using excessive force and deploying heavily armed security forces to prevent peaceful demonstrations. UN human rights experts, this week, demanded that authorities release the prominent opposition leader and others arrested during the country-wide peaceful protests. They urge the government to stop intimidating political activists.

The experts further want an impartial investigation into all human rights violations, including allegations of enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and ill-treatment of protesters, and that perpetrators be brought to justice.

“We are extremely worried about mass arrests of peaceful protesters and political activists who express dissent,” the experts said. More than 500 people were reportedly arrested after opposition-led protests on 22 September. About 200 of these are still being held in detention. They could face terrorism or national security charges and a trial in a military court simply for exercising their fundamental freedoms, said the UN rights experts.

A four-year war that no one is winning

The four-year separatist conflict has created widespread displacement of half a million people. More than 3 000 persons have been killed. Children in the conflict zones have not been able to attend school for close to four years. Earlier this month, some parents and teachers in the conflict zones braved threats from armed groups and reopened some schools.

At the heart of the crisis, in 2016, was a strike by teachers and lawyers, in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. The professionals, supported by citizens of their areas, protested the unfair use of the French language and unjustified appointments of French speakers in their territories. Cameroon is a bilingual country. By 2017, the situation had spiralled out of control and developed into a fully-fledged separatist war. Both government forces and separatists are now bogged down in a conflict, that observers say, can only be resolved through dialogue.

Fr. Lado: The outspoken academic

The outspoken and controversial Fr. Lado is not a stranger to the Cameroonian government. He has been raising his voice from about the year 2007 when he was the vice-dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Management at the Catholic University of Central Africa, in Yaoundé. He has also been a critic of Paul Biya who has been President of Cameroon for 38 years.

Fr. Lado holds a doctorate in social and cultural anthropology from the University of Oxford. He has written and spoken on issues of Anthropology, Catholic Pentecostalism, trends in African Catholicism, and on social change in sub-Saharan Africa.

Source: Vatican News

Two facilitators from the Bible Society of Cameroon’s literacy program in the Far North region have been killed by Boko Haram over the past few weeks.

After a two-year lull, attacks by Islamic militant group Boko Haram in that region are on the rise again, and are claiming many victims. Among the lives recently lost were two literacy facilitators from the Bible Society of Cameroon’s Alpha Program in the Parkwa language. One of them died in early August, and the second in mid-September.

“We’ve lost the engine of the church.” – Patrice

Jonas, 42, an elder in the Union of Evangelical Churches in Cameroon, was killed on the night of August 8 while standing guard outside the church with three other people. Patrice*, who lives opposite the church, describes what happened.

“Boko Haram usually turn up in the villages at around 10pm so when it got to 11pm those on guard thought they weren’t coming – so they fell asleep. They didn’t fire their weapons in the air or light torches, which they usually do, so Jonas was taken by surprise in his sleep. The other two managed to escape but Jonas was shot in the head twice.”

The church ‘s pastor confirms Patrice’s words but is still in shock, too overwhelmed to be able to talk about what happened. Marcel*, one of the translators working on the Parkwa Bible, was almost killed by Boko Haram last October. He was a friend of Jonas and describes him as hardworking, someone who was calm and serious in everything he did.

Many people have fled their villages since the attacks resumed in the region. Boko Haram members have warned those who have chosen to stay that they will continue to bury their dead because “living on the mountainsides doesn’t mean you’re in heaven”. In other words, they are not beyond Boko Haram’s  reach.

After Jonas’s death, the church built his family a hut at the top of the mountain, which is more difficult for Boko Haram to get to. Olivier*, the Bible Society’s delegate for the Far North, North and Adamaoua regions, went to visit his widow.

“We found her absolutely devastated by the terrible loss she has suffered, but also ill because the humidity on the mountain attracts insects and reptiles,” says Olivier. “They are living in a terribly precarious state. One of the children has festering wounds on his legs and two of them had left for a town 27 kilometres away to find plastic – so that the family can lay it beneath their bed mats, to insulate them from the ground.”

“It is this Bible that will bring hope and heal the wounds of the Parkwa-speaking people”. – Luc Gnowa.

On September 18, barely 40 days after Jonas’s death, Boko Haram killed yet another literacy facilitator, Joseph.

A catechist in the Catholic Church, Joseph was 43 and had eight children. He was a friend of Jonas. Marcel was among the group who went to collect Joseph’s body.

“The villagers were hiding in caves,” he says. “One of Joseph’s children was sick and crying. Fearing that they would be discovered, some of the villagers asked Joseph to take his wife and child and return to his hut. That’s where Boko Haram found them. His wife was able to escape with the child, but not Joseph. We have lost one of our best Parkwa literacy teachers.”

In the village, people live in fear. They can flee … but where to? What would they live on? There is flooding in the area, and living conditions are extremely difficult. Diseases are decimating the population and famine is rising due to a ban on cultivation in the area surrounding the village – this is to ensure that anyone approaching can be seen. But people have nowhere to go.

“After the murder of our two team members, who were responsible for preparing the community for the arrival of the Bible in Parkwa, our task becomes even more urgent,” says General Secretary of the Bible Society of Cameroon, Luc Gnowa.

“It is this Bible that will bring hope and heal the wounds of the Parkwa-speaking people. The translation of the Bible into the Parkwa language is truly taking place under the most painful conditions. Even at the official ceremony to launch the translation project, we had to leave the village in a hurry because we were warned of a possible attack by Boko Haram.”

“You know, when God sends you on a mission, he doesn’t say what conditions you will face when you go. He says, ‘Go, I’m sending you.’ He sent us to this people and we must accomplish our mission. We are convinced that, with him, we will complete our mission, despite the actions of the enemy.”

Please pray for our Parkwa-speaking brothers and sisters, that God will intervene for these people who have seen their men die and for all those in the Far North who have been bereaved due to the actions of Boko Haram.

Please lift up these families who have lost everything and for the Bible translators who are so distressed by what has happened that they are finding it difficult to concentrate. May the Lord’s name be glorified and give us victory, so that his children can finally live in peace and safety.

Source: Eternitynews

An ecumenical statement has been released by UK Church leaders on the situation in Southern Cameroons. The Bishops of Southwark and Chichester have joined with other church leaders in a joint statement on the genocide going on in Southern Cameroons.

Bishops Christopher Chessun and Martin Warner, together with senior Methodist and Roman Catholic leaders, have called on the international community to respond.

We hear the cry of our sisters and brothers in Cameroon’s Anglophone region, who are facing daily violations of their human dignity. Recent reports of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention and attacks on civilians demand a response from the international community. We call on the UK government to work with other European countries on robust diplomatic action to halt the violence and help bring about a negotiated settlement that protects the rights all Cameroon’s people. We also express our closeness to the churches that are working with local communities to reject violence and pursue the path of dialogue, and we assure them that they have not been forgotten.

Revd Richard Teal, President of the Methodist Conference 

Rt Rev Christopher Chessun, Lord Bishop of Southwark, Church of England Lead Bishop for International Affairs

Rt Rev Declan Lang, Catholic Bishop of Clifton, Chair of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference Department of International Affairs

Carolyn Lawrence, Vice-President of the Methodist Conference

Rt Rev Martin Warner, Lord Bishop of Chichester (companion link to the Anglican Diocese of Cameroon)

Rt Rev Philip Egan, Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth (twinned with the Catholic Diocese of Bamenda)

Christians have left Cameroonian churches that claim COVID-19 does not exist. The defecting Christians say they saw some who obeyed church instructions to ignore barrier measures infected or dying from the virus.  Christians are being accepted into other congregations.

This song “When God Speaks” blasts through loudspeakers at Winners Chapel, a popular church in the Fouda neighborhood in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé. The song, by the Nigerian gospel singer Frank Ugochukwu Edwards, is played to welcome 23 new members.

Among them is 37-year-old Annabella Tabot. Tabot says she left the Tabernacles of Freedoms Ministries because her pastor deceived them, saying that COVID-19 did not exist. Tabot says the pastor asked her 60-year-old husband not to go to the hospital and was instead praying for healing from evil spirits.

“His health condition kept on deteriorating and he finally died. Luckily the government came in and isolated him and the other family members were not contaminated,” she said.

In August, Cameroon’s government closed Tabernacles of Freedoms Ministries for preaching that COVID-19 is a hoax. Many of its 300 members defied government orders and kept worshiping in front of the closed church.

Tabot said more than 100 members left the church when her sick husband died, shortly after he was suspected of having COVID-19 and forced to go to the hospital by the government.

The Association of Pentecostal Churches in Yaoundé reported that at least 270 Christians left from six churches that preached against the existence of COVID-19.  Protus Ngala, pastor of Redemption Ministries says 11 of his followers left.

“I have gone to some of the people,” he said. “I made some questionnaires and passed them over to the church [remaining members] to try to know what needs to be adjusted. I try to do all of those things to make sure that I am a better leader. I understand that I also could be defective.”

Ngala said he has always believed that COVID-19 exists but thought it could be treated through prayer and fasting.

Governor Naserie Paul Bea of Cameroon’s Center region says the Christians are changing churches after a rigorous campaign he led to educate the public on the dangers of COVID-19. He says churches that do not respect barrier measures to protect against the virus will be punished.

“We need to limit the activities of some of these groups,” he said. “We cannot be in a state that is saying one thing and another person is preaching another thing. The [churches] are there to be a relay, not only of the government but equally to teach the people what the Bible says.”

Sociologist Paul Emmanuel Somb of the University of Yaoundé says the high wave of defections show people are not happy with most churches’ teachings. 

He says many new churches should face reality and acknowledge that their teachings truly do not respond to their member’s growing spiritual and health needs. He says pastors, priests and Imams should be true guarantors of the uprightness and morality of people who are counting on them. He says religious leaders who deceived their followers, saying that COVID-19 does not exist and collected money from them, claiming to instead deliver patients from evil spirits should be held responsible for their actions.  

Since March 5 Cameroon has reported more than 19,000 COVID-19 cases, with 415 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University data. 

A health worker wearing protective equipment, disinfects a member of medical staff amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an hospital in Douala, Cameroon, April 27, 2020.

The central African state blames negligence, lack of knowledge and the failure of some churches to educate their members on the dangers of COVID-19 as among the factors in the increasing number of cases.

Culled from VOA

A catholic reverend father identified as Jude has slumped and died while preaching the Homily during mass on Sunday, 30th August 2020.

It is understood from the caption of the video that Rev.Fr Jude was the spiritual director of CMA Diedo in Duoala, Cameroon’s commercial capital city.

It was observed from the video that the clergy while speaking, first paused for a few seconds and then slumped while still at the pulpit, sending commotion and noise into the congregation.

The cause of his death could not be established at press time.

Source: Naija News