Attacks on clergy are increasing in the anglophone areas of Cameroon, as tensions rise between English-speaking separatists and the French-speaking government. Bishop Michael Bibi of Bamenda in anglophone south-west Cameroon told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need that the spiralling conflict between separatist groups and the francophone central government is putting Church workers at risk.

He said: “The Church is on the front line. A priest and a seminarian have both been murdered in the anglophone region. In the case of the latter it was a deliberate execution, staged in front of his church in the presence of the parishioners.”

Nineteen-year-old seminarian Akiata Gerard Anjiangwe was killed by soldiers on 4 October 2018 outside St Therese’s Church in Bamessing village, near Ndop, northwest Cameroon.

The bishop added: “Sadly, these two are not simply isolated cases. I receive alarming news from many priests and religious who have been shot at, or kidnapped and ransomed. I myself have been arrested, but they let me go again after a few hours.”

Bishop Bibi told ACN that, despite renewing its efforts to promote dialogue between separatists and the government, the Church is accused by both parties of taking sides.

He said: “We tell the young people to stay in school and not join the militias, that it will lead to nothing – and so the militias accuse us of playing the government’s game for them.

“But we also denounce the actions of the government army and call for the region to be demilitarised – and so all of a sudden we are accused by the authorities of siding with the rebels.

“The truth we speak is not welcome in the midst of this fratricidal conflict. The truth is that both sides are involved in the killing and are only adding violence to violence.”

He added: “Thanks be to God, the Cameroonian people have a strong faith… What is needed now is for our political leaders to be likewise illuminated by this faith.”

Requesting support for the country, Bishop Bibi said: “We need the prayers of ACN and we also need practical help for the victims of the conflict in the anglophone region, in line with the words of Jesus: ‘I was hungry, and you fed me, naked, and you clothed me.'”

Independent Catholic News

Bishop Michael Bibi, Auxiliary Bishop of Bamenda, Cameroon, visited Portsmouth and celebrated Mass on Sunday 20 January at St John’s Cathedral in a break during a visit to Rome.

Portsmouth and Bamenda dioceses have been twinned since 1974. Ten Portsmouth priests have served in Cameroon; four priests from Bamenda are currently working in the Portsmouth diocese. Financial help to Bamenda has helped a Pastoral Centre for training cathechists and running spiritual courses; social welfare projects have helped with water supply and provided material enabling people to earn a living; a motorbike was supplied for a rural health worker.

Catholic schools in Portsmouth diocese are encouraged to twin with schools in Cameroon. Bamenda is a major centre in the English speaking region of Cameroon whose schools and legal system have been disadvantaged by the government dominated by French speakers tending to impose the use of French. A majority of the region’s population support a separatist movement which has engaged in acts of violence including recently the deaths of two priests and a seminarian. Some counter terrorist activity by security forces has led to civilian deaths.

There have been kidnappings of school children, not just Catholics but also from a Presbyterian school. Bishop Bibi himself was kidnapped and released on two consecutive days in early December while driving from town to town on church business. The President of Cameroon Paul Biya, aged 85, has been in power since 1982 and shows no sign of standing down.

The country suffers from terrorism by Boko Haram, a group connected with Al Qaeda, the need to back the government’s efforts to combat which seems a priority for help from the UK although some assistance is given to displaced people.

Bishop Michael said the atmosphere in Bamenda alternates between normality and tension. Sometimes there are road blocks. Mondays in the English speaking region are the days for “ghost towns” when many people observe a general strike; more extreme separatists threaten violence against those who do not take part. Some homes have been burnt down.

To help those in need the Bamenda archdiocese has encouraged parishes to set up Ad Hoc Committees. The Bishop of Portsmouth, Philip Egan urges all to help by contributing to the Diocese of Portsmouth Bamenda Commission.

Source: Independent Catholic News

An ambulance dispatched by a Catholic Church-run hospital in Cameroon continued saving lives this month amid fresh outbreaks of violence between the military and armed groups.

Elengu Noella, 27, told voanews.com that the vehicle whisked her and four other women to safety during a firefight between security personnel and separatists but two of her three children were killed in the heavy fighting near the town of Buea.

Cameroon said this week it is mobilizing troops along its northern border with Nigeria as Boko Haram and its splinter group, the Islamic State in West Africa, step up their attacks.

In January alone, the military has recorded five incursions by insurgents near the border and in the Lake Chad basin, with three people killed last week, the media reports.

Meanwhile, Cameroon, which is also fighting separatists in its English-speaking western regions, is believed to have sent thousands of refugees back to Nigeria.

Filippo Grande, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, has repeatedly urged the Cameroon government in the capital Yaounde to “refrain from further forced returns and to ensure protection to those fleeing insecurity and persecution in Nigeria.”

The situation worsened in Nigeria in 2018, capped by a brutal massacre in November when a Boko Haram strike on a military base killed up to 100 soldiers.

Now Cameroon seems bent on sealing off the border as the terrorist group continues to recruit fighters from within its territory.

Defense Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Rene Claude Meka has vowed to fight fire with fire, saying this year will see Cameroon fight for national unity and territorial integrity.

“2019 will not be a bed of roses,” Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said on Jan. 21.

“We shall continue with various operations in the far north, northwest and southwest regions, and reactivate special operations in the Adamawa region where criminal groups specialized in kidnapping are wreaking havoc.”

Source: La Croix International

Cameroonian Christians are crying out against the ongoing violence in their country, where churches are being converted into military barracks and believers are forced to flee. “We need peace and the United Nations intervention,” a Methodist Christian, whose identity wasn’t revealed, told Protestant Digital.

“Many people die every day, homes and villages are burned, there are famished people and also those who take refuge in Nigeria. We do not have a voice in our country.”

The violence in question stems from protests in the English-speaking region of the country, where some militant groups have created the self-proclaimed Republic of Ambazonia in opposition to what they say is oppression from the French-speaking side of the country.

Hundreds of people have been killed this year, while tens of thousands have been forced to flee as refugees. Some 50 primary and secondary schools and Christian hospitals have been affected, while at least four churches have been converted into military barracks.

“The government of Ambazonia, which controls most of the Northwest and Southwest, has placed a group of soldiers in the school until the crisis is resolved,” the Methodist Christian said. “There are often shootings between different forces, and a stray bullet can kill a minor.”

Kidnappings have also been rife. Seventy-nine children were taken by gunmen from a Presbyterian Church school but were returned earlier in November.

“They look tired and psychologically tortured,” said Fonki Samuel Forba, moderator of the country’s Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian school said that it will close due to concerns over safety.

“It is unfortunate we have to close the school and send home 700 children,” Forba said. “Their security is not assured by the state and armed groups constantly attack and kidnap them.”

American missionary Charles Wesco was killed late in October when he was caught in “crossfire” between the Cameroon army and English-speaking separatist forces, the U.S. government said.

Wesco had only moved to Cameroon with his family, which includes eight children, earlier in October after selling most of his possessions in the U.S., in order to serve as missionaries with the Believers Baptist Church in Warsaw, Indiana.

In October, on the occasion of a community bank holiday, Forba declared in a statement: “Given what the English-speaking community is going through at this time, we cannot have a celebration while many of God’s children are being killed, suffering or living as internal or external refugees.

“The emphasis should be placed on supplying the Working Fund for the Mission, to allow the church to continue assisting our pastors and brothers displaced by the armed conflict that has brought pain and suffering to many.”

Source: The Christian Post

Three Claretian missionaries who were abducted in Cameroon on 23 November, were released safely on 29 November.

The missionaries said in a message: “We thank everyone for the solidarity shown during our captivity. It was no easy experience. In those difficult days our thoughts and prayers went to the Martyrs of our Congregation. For our part we experienced the warmth of your prayers and affection.

“At present we are at our parish in Douala and want to start negotiations for the release of our driver Jerry Berson. We are all alive.

“Although information referred to Jude, Placid, Abel and the driver, there were actually five of us! Fr Yene Anaclet, the local parish priest who came to negotiate our release, was also held by the kidnappers. Now he too has been released and we are all in Douala.”

The Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Maria (Claretians) said in a statement: “We thank God for the release of our missionary confreres abducted on 23 November . We are grateful for all the messages of solidarity, communion and prayers. May God bless us all!”

The missionaries released are: Fr Giuda Taddeo Langhe, Apostolate Prefect and director of Pubblicaciones Claretianas del Camerun. Fr Placide Muntong Gweh, student Abel Fondem Ndia, and Fr Yene Anaclet. The missionaries were abducted by secessionists present in the Anglophone area of the country, on the way to Munyenge with humanitarian aid for the people suffering because of fighting in the area.

In the two English speaking regions of Cameroon involved, violence against men of the Church is increasing. On 21 November Fr Cosmas Omboto Ondari, a Kenyan missionary from the Mill Hill Mission Society of St Joseph, was murdered in Kembong, a few kilometres from Memfe, main town in the Department of South Eastern Province.

Source: Independent Catholic News

Christian Cardinal Tumi has paid homage to the Kenyan Priest shot and killed by Cameroon government troops in Kembong in the Manyu County. The Cardinal performed the Roman Catholic ritual on the remains of late Father Cosmas Ondari before the corpse was flown to Kenya.

Father Cosmas Omboto Ondari, a Mill Hill missionary, was “brutally and recklessly murdered” at the Kembong church where he was serving as the parochial vicar of the St Martin of Tours Parish, the Bishop of Mamfe, Andrew Nkea, said in a statement.

“He was killed by government soldiers, who were shooting at random from their passing vehicle,” Bishop Nkea said, citing eyewitness accounts. “I visited Kembong Parish on Thursday, November 22 and personally counted 21 bullet holes on the church building… the blood of the murdered priest was still clearly seen on the cemented entrance, just at the door,” the prelate recounted.

Bishop Nkea called for thorough investigations into the heinous crime committed against an innocent and peace loving missionary, adding that the culprits be brought to justice. The Biya Francophone regime claimed Ambazonia Restoration Forces killed the priest on the instructions of a Southern Cameroons activist, Eric Tataw.

By Rita Akana

Three Claretians (Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) have been kidnapped in the Anglophone region in southwest Cameroon. They are: Fr Jude Thaddeus Langeh Basebang, Fr Placide Muntong and a student from the same religious congregation.

The three were kidnapped on Saturday, 24 November, by armed men on the road to Muyenge, where they were going on a mission of evangelization and assistance at the local parish.

So far there is no further information on the identity of the kidnappers.

Several religious have been victims of the violence in Cameroon. On November 21, Fr Cosmas Omboto Ondari, a Kenyan missionary from the Missionary Society of St Joseph of Mill Hill, was shot dead in Kembong, a few kilometres from Memfe, the provincial capital of the South-Eastern Province.

Source: Fides

Father Cosmas Omboto shouted at few catechists and church members to hide behind the church before meeting the bullet, it has been revealed.

An emotional Bishop Andrew Nkea of Mamfe Diocese says Omboto, a Kisii priest working in St Martin Tours Parish in Kembong was shot dead by government soldiers who were shooting at the church.

“It’s painful that we lost him while at service. Soldiers started shooting indiscriminately and Father Omboto moved around asking those presenter to hide behind the church.

“The bullet met him in front of the church when asking catechists and worshippers to hide behind the church on Wednesday 3pm,” Nkea told BBC Radio.

The youthful priest who was ordained in 2017 March by Bishop Joseph Mairura, is said to have returned to volatile Kembong in April this year, four months after running away to Mamfe Diocese.

And back at Gusii home, a section of priests have joined his family in mourning with some calling for stability in South West part of Cameroon.

“It’s sad that the Mill Hill priest, our son was killed in a foreign country. We call for enhanced security in Cameroon for the sake of poor people. We shall organise for his burial,” said Father Lawrence Nyaanga.

Separatists anglophones are engaged in running battles with government forces after their agitation to break away from francophone dominance failed.

Source: Hivisasa.com

Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaoundé says the Catholic Church can play a big role in helping Cameroonians affected by the secessionist uprising in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, as well as the millions of Cameroonians affected by poverty and other hardships.

During an event to launch a fund-raising to benefit the poor and destitute of Cameroon, the archbishop talked about charity as a major part of the Christian faith, and the role the Church’s aid agency Caritas has to play.

“The Caritas Foundation-Cameroon is the voice of the bishops at the service of the poor,” Mbarga told journalists during a press conference in Yaoundé on Nov. 12.

“The bishops have decided to not remain indifferent, vis-à-vis the growth of misery. That is why we put in place the Caritas Foundation. That means that henceforth, we have a reliable instrument to sensitize the population on the need for generosity, mobilize for the African hospitality and above all mobilize for Christian charity,” he said.

The archbishop pointed out Cameroon was host to hundreds of thousands of refugees who need “to find a home among us. The needy should find help.”

Most of the refugees in Cameroon are fleeing internal conflicts in Chad and the Central African Republic.

Mbarga said the poor and destitute require access to water and healthcare, young people need support to set up enterprises, and projects of community interest need to be carried out.

“Remember that Caritas is an institution for aid and development,” the archbishop said.

Of great concern to the archbishop is the ongoing Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon, where government forces have been fighting separatists in Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions for nearly two years now.

Teachers’ and lawyers’ strikes in 2016 over perceived attempts by the francophone-dominated administration to destroy the Anglo-Saxon-educational and legal systems practiced in Anglophone Cameroon mutated into political demands for independence by the Anglophone minority, who make up around 20 percent of the population.

Now separatists wish to establish a new country, called Ambazonia.

The crisis has led to the displacement of at least 437,000 people, according to the UNHCR, most of them in dire need of humanitarian assistance. In addition, 58 schools have been destroyed and 3.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

“This year’s fund-raising naturally targets those in need and in emergency situations,” Mbarga said.

“Last year, we were living in relative peace. This year, we are faced with very heavy humanitarian needs. How do we take part in that reconstruction work as Christians and how do we come to the help of the affected families, who have lost loved ones? How do we help in rebuilding schools and hospitals that have been burnt? All these require of us, generosity,” the archbishop said.

While the Anglophone crisis has dominated the news from the country, Cameroon’s rates of poverty remain disheartening: At least 30 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and 70 percent of the country’s over 25 million people still don’t have access to potable water.

The Director of Caritas Foundation Cameroon, Father Kisito Mballa Onana, said Cameroon was also suffering from a refugee crisis as a result of the fighting in the Anglophone regions.

“They live under precarious conditions,” he said.

“The Church wants to do something in terms of improving their living conditions, education, training and healthcare.”

Cameroon was governed under a federal system of government between 1961-1972, giving English-speakers a large degree of autonomy from the French-speaking majority.

The Catholic Church has been opposed to secession, calling on the authorities to initiate an inclusive dialogue with the various stakeholders.

In a May 16 letter, the bishops called for an end to the fighting.

“Let’s stop all forms of violence, and let’s stop killing each other. We are all brothers and sisters; let’s engage in dialogue, reconciliation, justice and peace.”

But the situation has continued to get worse.

“These last days, the number of deaths and people kidnapped has continued to rise…the secessionists are gaining ground. They too are violent and kill people,” Onana told Crux.

Source: Crux

A Kenyan Roman Catholic priest, Rev Father Cosmos Omboto Ondari serving with the Mamfe Diocese in Cameroon was shot and killed by Cameroon government forces on Wednesday in the village of Kembong some few kilometers from Mamfe, the chief town in the Manyu County, a local official said.

Cameroon Intelligence Report has not gotten any reaction from the Bishop’s House in Mamfe. But what we do know is that the late Rev Father Cosmos Ondari was killed in front of the church building by Francophone soldiers deployed to Kembong by the French Cameroun regime to combat the Ambazonia Restoration Forces. The soldiers reportedly stormed the Church compound made a mockery of the priest before firing two shots at him.

Our chief correspondent in the Manyu County pointed out that the motive behind the killing of the Kenyan priest remains unclear. But the Francophone soldiers who carried the act were heard murmuring privately that all English speaking clergies were directly behind the Ambazonian separatists fighters. All attempts at getting to His Lordship Bishop Andrew Nkea, Bishop of the Diocese of Mamfe who has demonstrated a moderate view ever since President Biya declared war against the English speaking minority were futile.

Several Christian churches operating in the Manyu County have ordered everyone to stay at home. The remains of the late Man of God will be moved today to Mamfe, the headquarters of the diocese. No Cameroon government official has commented on the incident.

Recently, an American missionary Charles Wesco Trumann was killed by Cameroon government forces on grounds that he was a CIA agent secretly providing assistance to the Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces. Another Roman Catholic priest Rev Father Alex Sob was murdered in Muyuka by Cameroon government forces some few months ago.

By Judith Fon in Mamfe