Catholic prelates are leading two “peace caravans” to inform the people of Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of the resolutions of the Oct. 29-Nov. 4 “Major National Dialogue” aimed at ending a secessionist rebellion in the country.

Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions have been experiencing a civil conflict since 2016, when demonstrations broke out after there were demands to use French – the majority language in Cameroon – in their common law courts and English-modeled schools.

English speakers make up around 20 percent of the country’s population and have long complained about being marginalized by the French-speaking ruling class.

After Cameroon’s security forces’ heavy-handed response – including using live ammunition on demonstrators – rebel movements arose calling for the independence of Anglophone Cameroon, saying the new country would be called Ambazonia.

The conflict has left at least 3,000 people dead and over 500,000 displaced.

Cardinal Christian Tumi, the emeritus Archbishop of Douala, has been leading the caravan to the North West region, and Bishop Andrew Nkea of Mamfe has been heading the caravan to the South West region.

The two prelates have been outspoken in their condemnation of the abuses by both sides in the conflict and have both also been strong advocates for the rights of the Anglophone community in Cameroon. Their participation should lend credibility to the national dialogue, which was boycotted by the rebel groups.

In separate meetings to kick-start their tour, the cardinal and the bishop both made it clear that violence can never be a solution to any problem.

“It’s a campaign to promote peace between us; you cannot have peace without love,” Tumi said.

“Peace is the key word. Without peace, there is nothing,” the cardinal added, before describing the pains inflicted by separatists on some citizens.

“I know of a young man whose hands were chopped off. He is now handicapped for life,” he said.

“It’s our children, our brothers and sisters who are fighting, cutting the hands off those who are going to school,” Tumi said, and called on separatists not to be fighting “their brothers and sisters.”

Drawing parallels with the peace efforts made after World War II, the cardinal said that “violence will never lead us anywhere; World War II ended up in dialogue, and the United Nations was founded precisely to make sure it never happens again.”

The cardinal also denounced attacks on local plantation workers that have crippled the economy of the two Anglophone regions, and condemned the fact that separatists made a school boycott a corner stone of their fighting strategy.

He said the approach of the “peace caravan” was aimed at changing hearts and minds.

“To these our children who are hiding in the bushes and in the forests, the way of talking to them matters,” Tumi said.

“We should talk to them with understanding, talk to them with gentleness. Why not invite them to your table and offer them a cup of coffee and then you talk with them,” the cardinal explained.

In the country’s South West region, Nkea expressed his concerns that the conflict had led to the dehumanization of the local population, the destruction of local businesses, the crippling of the education sector, and the significant loss of human life.

As part of efforts to ensure that the peace caravans gain legitimacy, the Mamfe bishop said local leaders who had failed the people should not be part of the caravans and went as far as to call on them to resign.

Nkea noted that most elected officials in the Anglophone regions – members of parliament, senators and mayors – have fled the area since the fighting began, which the bishop called a dereliction of duty.

“This caravan is people-oriented … If people elect you to represent them and you are disconnected from them, then you don’t have any reason to be representing them,” the prelate said.

Nkea said the peace caravans have a duty to explain the resolutions of the Major National Dialogue to the people and warned against making unkeepable promises that could raise expectations too high.

“We should be realistic. We should not invent. We are going, not to please the people, but to explain,” he said.

Explaining the “special status”

As part of efforts to resolve the Anglophone problem, Cameroon’s government has proposed a special status for the two English-speaking regions. The arrangement would give more autonomy and protect their identity as a people.

“The issue of special status must be well explained. As we go around talking, this special status has to be made for everyone to understand what it is,” Nkea said.

The peace caravans have their work cut out for them. Separatist rebels have been targeting clergy, accusing them of collaboration with the government for participating in the peace process.

One priest was murdered by rebels on Nov. 1 in a kidnapping for a ransom gone wrong.

Crux

Every Christian is a “rebel against evil,” according to Cameroon’s lone cardinal.

Speaking during a program on Cameroonian state television, Cardinal Christian Tumi also called on Christians to become more involved in politics.

“Every Christian is a rebel against all that is not good-that is morally evil. A Christian is a rebel against lies,” Tumi said.

“Politics is part of the world and Christ has told us: Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel message. Wherever there is man acting; the Church has to be present,” he said.

“We are therefore called to evangelize the politicians and politics, because their activity also is preparing them for the kingdom of God. There is no activity that is out of the region of the church,” Tumi continued.

The program brought together Christian leaders from different denominations to discuss relations between Church and State in the West African country, which is currently experiencing a number of crises, including a rebellion in the country’s two English-speaking provinces. Cameroon is 80 percent French-speaking, and the Anglophone minority has long complained about discrimination and marginalization by the Francophone majority.

Around 70 percent of the country’s population is Christian, almost evenly divided between Catholics and Protestants.

During the program, the President of the Cameroon Baptist Convention, Reverend Godwill Ncham, said he believed in the separation of Church and State, but insisted it doesn’t mean that “the Church or Christians cannot be involved in politics.”

“It is intended to create boundaries so that as a Christian when you get involved in politics, you don’t turn the political platform into a Church,” the Baptist minister said.

“So I believe the dichotomy of Christians not involved in politics is not true to scripture, because the Christian life calls the Christian to engage all of life. There is also the false dichotomy of circular and sacred. I am first a Christian before a pastor; and my Christian life calls me to engage the traditional sinful background from which I come unto transformation, and I am supposed to engage others and bring them to transformation as well .So to say that a Christian should not be involved in politics because he would dirty himself is inadequate. A Christian should be involved in politics in order to clean up the politics,” Ncham continued.

Tumi even said that if had not become a Catholic priest, he would have become a politician.

“Politics is good. Take for instance; President Paul Biya. He will answer for the role he has played as the head of state of a people of God. The people in every country are the people of God, created by Him. Every power comes from God, and therefore they must exercise power with fear, and look at their power as occasions to serve,” the cardinal said.

Tumi criticized politicians for telling lies and making promises they never intend to keep, and said Christian politicians should be able to inject truth into politics.

“The Truth is the agreement between what I am saying and what I am thinking. If what I am thinking contradicts what I am saying, I am telling a lie. And we pastors have been called and sent by God to promote the truth. Christ is the truth. ‘I am the Truth, I am the light, I am the way,’ says Christ. The truth is objective. If it is not objective, it’s not true,” he explained.

Tumi said the Christian’s mission should also be to sanitize politics, because “Christ came to save the sinner, not the saint.”

“So where sin abounds, the Grace of God also abounds. So therefore, wherever a human being is found-be he or she good or bad, we have to be there to try to bring the lost child back to the fold,” he said.

The Christian leaders were unanimous that the state was “at war” against the Church.

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rt. Rev. Samuel Fonki Forba, accused the government of undermining religious studies.

“Religious studies in our schools should not be mocked and treated as a side issue,” he said.

“What is happening in our country is because the morals of our society have gone down the drain, and we must do something to keep those morals. When things are bad, that’s when they (political leaders) call on religious leaders to come and have an ecumenical prayer session for the nation,” Forba continued.

“When things are moving the way they want them to move, the Church is not recognized. And so we are saying that we have a lot to offer; to partner with the state of Cameroon to change the present dispensation. They must recognize the role of the Church in all of this,” he said.

Tumi was even more harsh in his criticism of the government, reprimanding the state for excluding religious studies in competitive examinations for professional schools.

“It’s a fight against us. It’s a fight by the government against us,” the cardinal said.

“You are telling the children that religion is not so important, and it betrays your ignorance. The highest university in England is Oxford University and the highest degree you get in Oxford University is DD – Doctor of Divinity, and that’s religion,” he said.

The animosity of the Cameroonian government against the Church reached a head in 2017 when the Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua of Bamenda, his auxiliary Bishop Michael Bibi, Bishop George Nkuo of Kumbo, two priests – Fathers Michael Kintang and William Neba – and ministers from other denominations were dragged to court for  statements made in connection with the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon’s North West and South West regions.

Ncham said such extreme measures by the state are to be expected.

“The Church being taken to court is expected, because if you look at the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those who thirst after righteousness’; and he says those who are peacemakers and who thirst after righteousness will be persecuted. So we consider the being taken to court as being part of the persecution of the Church trying to fill its role in the community,” the Baptist minister said. “And it shouldn’t hurt us to produce wounds that will not heal, it should fortify us to be resilient to continue to play our role in the community.”

Source: Crux

“Raise not your hand against the Anointed of Yahweh”(1Sam.26:11)

(Pastoral Letter to all the Christians and People of Good will in the Diocese of Mamfe about the recent Kidnapping of Priests in Central Ejagham Area, in Mamfe Diocese)

My dear People of God,

1. When the Diocese of Mamfe was created on the 9^th of February 1999, it was a moment of grace and great joy to all the people of God in Manyu Division, Lebialem Division and Nguti Subdivision in Kupe Muanenguba Division whose territory corresponds to the territorial circumscription of the new Diocese of Mamfe. It is an indisputable fact that   this territory of the Diocese of Mamfe has known a lot of spiritual growth, economic development and social progress since the creation of the Diocese. Of all the parishes of the Diocese, there is no one that has not felt the motherly hand of the Diocese in its growth, especially through the instrumentality of the young and dynamic priests of the Diocese who sacrifice and work through the very difficult terrain of the Diocese to ensure that the Gospel reaches all the corners of the Diocese.

• This year 2019 marks exactly 20 years since the creation of our beloved Diocese of Mamfe, and again, it is a moment of immense gratitude to God for all that we have achieved so far. We render  thanks to God for the blessings he showered upon Bishop Frnacis Teke Lysinge, pioneer Bishop of the Diocese of Mamfe for the first fifteen years of the Diocese, especially for the solid foundation he laid and the way he sacrificed himself for the smooth take off of the Diocese. I also thank God for the short time I spent with him as Co-Adjutor Bishop and for the blessings he has bestowed upon me during the last five years that I have led the diocese of Mamfe as the Local Ordinary. We have every reason to thank God. However, it is clear that we could not organize a grand celebration of  the 20^th Anniversary of the Diocese because of the prevailing socio-political crisis that has rocked the southwest and northwest regions in the past three years. Mamfe was one of the first places to be hit very badly by the crisis, as it was one of the first places where violence escalated and resulted to deaths, loss of property, grave insecurity, many internally Displaced Persons and many refugees who ran into Nigeria.

• In all these difficulties, the priests stood with their people and made sure that they consoled and comforted them through the words of the Gospel and the daily celebration of the Sacraments. Through the heavy gun shots, the fire and the dangers to life, our heroic priests remained among their people as true shepherds who would never abandon their sheep in times of danger. Like Jesus the Good Shepherd, the priests of the Diocese of Mamfe were ready at all times to “Lay down their lives for their sheep”(Jn.10:15). This pastoral consciousness and commitment even ended up in  the tragic death of Rev. Fr. Cosmas Ondari Omboto, the Parochial Vicar of Kembong Parish. Yet the priests did not feel discouraged and they did not abandon their flock, not even in Kembong.

• I am addressing this pastoral letter to all of you about some unfortunate recent events  that have happened in our Diocese in the last two weeks, especially in the Central Ejagham Area. In the morning of  20^th of October, 2019, some unknown Gunmen who claim to be members of the restoration forces of Ambazonia, abducted Rev. Fr. Felix Sunday, a Nigerian “Fidei Donum” Priest and Parish priest of Afap, when he had just celebrated Mass in a Mission station and was returning to Afap for the second Mass. They kept him overnight and only released him on Monday the 21^st of October, 2019. On that same Sunday, 20^th October, another group of young men with guns waited on the road between Ewelle and Ajayukndip to abduct the Assistant Priest of Kembong Parish, Fr. Gabriel Romeo Foukwa, but the Angel of God intervened and Father missed the road and arrived his parish through a different route. The same fateful day, 20^th October, there were plans by again another group of armed young men to kidnap the Parish Priest of Eyumojock, the Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Dzesinyuy in Tabor. But the innocent priest celebrated Mass without knowing anything and left before his kidnappers arrived. On Friday, 1^st November, 2019, four gunmen went into the Presbytery of Kembong Parish where the young Fr. Cosmas Ondari was brutally murdered, and surrendered the parish priest and his assistant at gun point and requested that they must be given one million Francs CFA before they are released. Eventually they released them without any ransom paid. What was painful about these abductions is that some of the Christians knew either hours or days before hand that this would happen and never warned the priests.

• What is the crime of these priests? The young men who have been perpetrating these heinous acts against the priests claim that they are venting their anger against the Bishop of Mamfe because he attended the Grand National Dialogue in Yaounde, and that all those who attended the Dialogue from Manyu must pay a fine of 500.000 frs CFA each. Therefore, they told the Priests that their target was the Bishop and until he paid his fine, they would track him down and kidnap him. The truth is that I don’t have this kind of money to pay to anybody.

• It is clear that it is not only the priests who are suffering in the hands of some of these armed boys in various villages, but the entire population is not getting it easy in their hands either. The boys claimed that they took up guns to protect the population and it is a great contradiction that these guns are now being used to terrorize the very population they claimed to be protecting. We all joined to decry the brutality of the military against the people but now it is our own children who have turned against their own people and they think it is normal?

• When  David found out that King Saul was helpless and sleeping, his servant Abishai urged him to kill him, but David said, “Yahweh Forbid that I should raise my hand against Yahweh’s anointed”. He warned Abishai in the following words, “For who can lift his hand against Yahweh’s anointed and be without guilt?”(1Sam.26:9). Touching the anointed one of God never goes without a guilt and this guilt follows such a person right into the grave. The priest is a man of God and all those who lay hands on such an anointed incur a malediction upon themselves.

• The gospel of John tells us that when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and he asked them who they wanted, at the mention of his Name, “Jesus of Nazareth”, they all went back and fell on the ground. It did not dawn on them that they were going to commit the most atrocious act in history, by laying hands on the Son of God(cf John 18:1-10). When they brought Jesus to Pilate and questioned him, Jesus ended his dialogue with Pilate by stating that “the one who handed me over to you has the greater guilt”(Jn.19:11).  Let us not make the mistake of the killers of Jesus who said to Pilate, “Let his blood be on our heads and on our children”. These are words that carry heavy and very lasting consequences.

• The Code of Canon Law states the following sanctions upon those who lay violent hands upon clerics and religious: “A person who uses physical force against the Roman Pontiff incurs a latae Sententiae Excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See…”(Can.1370 par.1);  “One who does this against a Bishop incurs a latae sententiae interdict and if a cleric, he incurs also a latae sententiae suspension”(Can.1370 par.2); “A person who uses physical force against a cleric or religious out of contempt for the faith, or the church, or ecclesiastical authority or ministry, is to be punished with a just penalty”(Can.1370 par.3).  This is the teaching of the Church and it is important that all those who violate these law either knowingly or unknowingly, be aware of the consequences.

1. Because of the constant threat to the lives of priests coming from the very people they are risking their lives to serve, I have decided on the following action:
   1. I have withdrawn all the priests from the Parishes of Kembong, Ossing and Eyumojock and they will be out of the Parishes till further notice. This will hold good for any other parish where the people decide to harass their priests.
   1. These boys who harass the priests are from these villages, and until the population dialogues with their children and give me a written guarantee  of the safety of the pastors who work for them, the parishes will remain without pastors.
   1. I have suspended all development projects in these parishes because the very people for whom the projects are meant, have made the areas unsafe for any development, and even those who work on these projects are not safe.

1. I appeal to the boys who have caused this embarrassment to the entire Christian community and their villages, to change their hearts and work towards the growth and progress of their various communities. They should collaborate with their village and Christian leaders, so that their priests can return soonest to their parishes and continue to work in peace. I appeal equally to those who give them orders to do such acts against the people, to stop from pushing these our brothers into calling malediction upon themselves.

1. As I round up this letter, I invite all the Christians to appreciate and value their priests, especially for the services they render to them. Your priests love you and they are ready to continue serving you with all their hearts, their minds and their energy. Yet in these prevailing unfortunate circumstances, each priest can sorrowfully look at his people and echo the adapted words of the Reproaches during the  Good Friday Liturgy saying:

“My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me.

I pray for you everyday and celebrate Masses for you; but you have wished evil on me.

In the confessional I bring you freedom from sin; but you have led me to captivity with your guns.

Through Caritas I bring food to your hungry, bring medication to those who are sick, and bring the pregnant women to the hospital; but you threaten me with death.

I have suffered with you to protect you, cried with you for the dead; but now you turn round to destroy me.

I have built churches for you, presbyteries, schools etc, but today you pull me out of the mission house and turn me to an Internally Displaced Person without shelter.

My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me.”

1. In conclusion, I want to assure all the Christians of these parishes of my pastoral solicitude and my prayers. Like the Chief Pastor of the Diocese of Mamfe, I wish to borrow the words of Christ and pray for these boys who are disturbing our priests and say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”(Luke 23:34). I will never stop loving the people of Mamfe Diocese and giving my all for them. There is no family without difficulties, but the Christian faith helps us to solve our problems peacefully without violence and move ahead as one family.

May Mary the Queen of Peace intercede for us and may God bless the people of Mamfe Diocese.

Given in Mamfe, this 9^th Day of November, 2019, the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.

+Andrew NKEA,

Bishop of Mamfe

A second Bible translator has been killed by suspected Fulani extremists in the civil war-ridden Anglophone region in southern Cameroon this week, a ministry source has confirmed.  Bible translator Benjamin Tem was murdered in his home in the Wum region Sunday night, reports Efi Tembon, a Cameroonian activist who heads a ministry called Oasis Network for Community Transformation.

According to Tembon, who met the victim while working on a translation project in 2013, Tem served as a Scripture engagement facilitator for the Aghem Bible Translation Project, which completed a New Testament translation in the Aghem language in 2016.

Tem, 48, was also a promoter of Bible listening groups in the Wum area. He was buried on Monday and leaves behind five children.

No one has claimed responsibility Tem’s murder. However, Tembon told The Christian Post that locals have blamed Fulani radicals, saying they have been encouraged by government actors to carry out attacks against separatist-supporting farming communities in southern Cameroon.

Fulani herders in Africa have long butted heads with farmers over land rights to graze cattle.

“He was attacked last night by people suspected to be pro-government Fulani herdsmen,” Tembon told friends on Facebook. “They butchered him and cut his throat.”

Tem’s death comes two months after fellow translator Angus Fung, who also served in the Aghem Bible Translation Project in Wum, was killed in a similar fashion in his home.

According to Tembon, Fulani attackers have killed at least two dozen people and burned several houses in the Wum area alone.

“I think our authorities have actually been working with the Fulanis,” said Tembon, who regularly travels to world capitals to urge the international community to push for an end to the bloodshed and human rights abuses in Cameroon. 

“There is a war of independence going on in the area and so the local population supports independence for southern Cameroon. And these attacks toward the local population is not just by Fulanis, the military is also attacking and burning homes. So the military is working hand-in-hand with the Fulanis. They have actually armed some Fulanis to help them fight the local population.”

Tembon accused the government of trying to “inject a religious aspect to the conflict.”

“[T]hey know that the Fulanis are Muslim and the local population tends to be Christians,” he said. “And so trying to create a conflict will create chaos in the area.”

According to the Joshua Project, the Aghem community in Wum is 75 percent Christian.

Since Tem’s death, residents have fled the area, much like other local populations that have come under attack. Tembon assured that “attacks are taking place far and wide” in Southern Cameroon.

“All the areas where attacks have been carried out have been deserted,” Tembon stressed. “Now the Fulanis will graze and try to take advantage of the chaos and take over the land.”

According to the United Nations, at least 700,000 people have been internally displaced in Cameroon amid the violence over the past two years.

Many in the Aghem area have either fled their villages into other bigger towns or fled out of Cameroon into Nigeria.

“In Wum, the military has killed more than the Fulanis,” Tembon said. “They have killed hundreds of people.”

In August, Fung, a 60-year-old Bible translator, was hacked to death by suspected Fulani radicals in Wum, where he and his wife were attacked in their home at night. While Fung was killed, his wife, Eveline, had her hand chopped off.

According to Tembon, Mrs. Fung left the hospital earlier this month.

“We are trying to get her to another hospital for just a checkup,” he said. “We also got some contributions, which I’m trying to send to her so she can move. We’re going to move her to a safe location after she goes for a checkup in this other hospital.”

In the spring, Tembon reported that Pastor Elijah Koh, a graduate of Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary in Ndu, was killed during a military invasion in the Mfumte area.

The Anglophone conflict, also known as the Ambazonia War, began in 2016 when separatists demanded autonomy because they felt underrepresented by the majority-French-speaking central government. In 2017, Anglophone territories in the Northwest and Southwest declared their independence. Since then, fighting has spread across the Anglophone regions. 

Church leaders in Cameroon have called for the release of Catholic humanitarian leader Paul Njokikang who was arrested on Sunday and reportedly sent to a torture camp near Bamenda.

Njokikang addressed the United Nations Security Council in April, where he detailed the horrifying humanitarian conditions amid Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis and human rights abuses carried out by the government and separatist fighters.

“Father Paul represents a moderate Anglophone voice in an increasingly polarized conflict. The international community must demand his unconditional release,” United Kingdom Parliament member David Alton said in a statement, according to Crux.

“There can be no constructive dialogue while the Biya regime undermines the work of impartial charities. The U.K. should use its influence at the U.N. and in the Commonwealth to press the Cameroon authorities to hold genuine and inclusive negotiations.”

Late last month, Muslim separatist activist Abdul Karim was arrested after he met with the Swiss Embassy. He has been charged with terrorism, financing terrorism, and secession.

However, Karim’s lawyers have filed a habeas corpus request to the Yaoundé High Court on grounds his arrest was unlawful, according to Human Rights Watch.

As for Tembon, he has not returned to his native Cameroon since he testified before U.S. Congress in 2018 about the human rights abuses being committed by the Biya government.

Source: Christian Post

Father Paul Njokikang, the director of Caritas in Cameroon, has been released from detention. Yesterday, Independent Catholic News reported his arrest following Mass on Sunday. He was held by Cameroonian security services at a military base, and freed on Monday night.

It is believed that the Yaounde regime of President Paul Biya came under sustained pressure from the Catholic church both in Cameroon and further afield. On Monday, ICN’s article was sent to the papal nuncio in London and Ottawa.

One British Cameroonian activist (requesting anonymity for his own safety) commented, “The pressure on Biya’s regime was just too much.” He thanks ICN for its role in securing Father Paul’s release.

Father Paul came to international attention last May when he addressed the United Nations in New York. He described the deteriorating security situation in Cameroon’s Anglophone region, saying that the heavy-handed actions of the security services had provoked an extreme response from some English-speaking activists. He reported on the widespread destruction of schools and hospitals by Anglophone separatists who demand their region becomes a new country called Ambazonia. He also told of the disproportionately violent response of Cameroonian security services, leaving more than 3,000 dead and 530,000 displaced.

Regarded as a moderate voice, Father Paul urged the Biya regime to engage in genuine and inclusive dialogue to stop the polarisation of attitudes in the region. Although Yaounde held a national dialogue recently, many Anglophone Cameroonians criticised it for being a publicity stunt aimed at pacifying foreign criticism of the regime.

While the Cameroonian Diaspora in the UK has welcomed Father Paul’s release, its members remain concerned about the fate of hundreds of non-violent Anglophone activists being held in jail, some without charge or access to lawyers.

Among those detained is the academic, Abdul Karim Ali, an outspoken critic of the Biya regime who was arrested on September 25th. He had just returned from Switzerland where the Swiss authorities are attempting to start negotiations between the Cameroonian government and Ambazonian separatists and other Anglophone civil society groups. Abdul Karim Ali is on hunger strike at SED prison (the State Defence Secretariat) in Yaounde. He is charged with secession, funding terrorism and terrorism. Human Rights Watch has previously documented the widespread use of torture at SED.

Source: Independent Catholic News

A Catholic priest who runs the local Caritas for his Cameroonian archdiocese was arrested on Sunday, and a local bishop says he has no idea why.

Father Paul Njokikang was picked up early Sunday morning after celebrating Mass in Mbinfibe, near Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s North West region.

He was reportedly taken by security forces to a military camp at the Bafut airport.

“No reason as yet has been advanced for his arrest,” Archdiocese of Bamenda auxiliary Bishop Michael Bibi told Crux. “It is only when Father will be released that we will get to know why he was arrested.”

The archdiocese has called the arrest “arbitrary” and said Njokikang was being held illegally.

Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions have been experiencing a civil conflict since 2016, when demonstrations broke out after there were demands to use French – the majority language in Cameroon – in their common law courts and English-modeled schools.

English speakers make up around 20 percent of the country’s population and have long complained about being marginalized by the French-speaking ruling class.

After Cameroon’s security forces’ heavy-handed response – including using live ammunition on demonstrators – rebel movements arose calling for the independence of Anglophone Cameroon, saying the new country would be called Ambazonia.

In a statement issued Monday, the Humanitarian Family in Bamenda – which offers assistance to those affected by the conflict -condemned the arrest and called for the priest’s immediate release.

“Cameroon’s military is arbitrarily detaining Father Paul at their concentration and torture camp at the Bafut Airport near Bamenda,” the organization said.

The statement said the local population sees Njokikang as a local version of Mother Theresa who is known for his good works towards the poor and vulnerable people suffering due to the ongoing strife.

The priest came to prominence when he addressed the United Nations Security Council in April, describing the worsening humanitarian and security situation in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions. He also detailed the human rights abuses of the government’s security forces.

“The disappearance and death of young males is no longer news. Some of those who have been killed are persons with disabilities or special needs, or the aged who cannot run away to safety,” he told the international body.

Njokikang said both the government and the separatist fighters are committing human rights violations, “which acts as an instrument of terror to the local people.”

It is not clear if his arrest was in retaliation for his remarks at the UN. The military has not responded to Crux’s repeated requests for comment.

In the UK, the priest’s arrest was condemned by Lord David Alton, who accused the government of long-serving leader Paul Biya of cracking down on moderate voices.

“Father Paul represents a moderate Anglophone voice in an increasingly polarized conflict. The international community must demand his unconditional release,” he said in a statement.

“There can be no constructive dialogue while the Biya regime undermines the work of impartial charities. The UK should use its influence at the UN and in the Commonwealth to press the Cameroon authorities to hold genuine and inclusive negotiations,” Alton said.

According to the UN, about 530,000 people have been forced from their homes in the restive Anglophone regions. Some 3,000 people have been killed in three years of violence.

Originally a German colony, Cameroon was divided between France and Britain after Germany’s defeat in World War I.

When British Cameroon joined the already independent French Cameroon in 1961, it did so under a federal system that allowed both parts to practice the legal and educational systems inherited from their colonial powers.

However, the country’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, scrapped the federation in 1972 and introduced a unitary national government through a hastily organized referendum. Most observers see this event as the seed for the current rebellion.

The government sought to address some of these issues when it organized a “Major National Dialogue” from September 30 -October 4 in Yaoundé.

The meeting came up with a series of proposals, including the adoption of a special status for the two Anglophone regions; the restoration of the House of Traditional Chiefs; the election of local governors, the immediate relaunch of certain airport and seaport projects in the two regions; the rapid integration of ex-combatants into society; and a return to the name United Republic of Cameroon.

The president released a major opposition figure – Cameroon Renaissance Movement leader Maurice Kamto – on Oct. 5 as a sign of reconciliation.

However, separatist militia leaders refused to take part in the conference, calling it a “smokescreen.”

Since the end of the meeting, separatists have intensified their attacks against the government.

Source: Crux