7, May 2017

Biya envoy ends “seductive” tour of Southern Cameroons 0

The President of the National Episcopal Council, NEC, Archbishop Samuel Kleda has ended a tour of Southern Cameroons reportedly ordered by the 84 year dictator, President Biya. The head of the Douala Archdiocese met with the Roman Catholic Bishops of Southern Cameroons including stakeholders in the education sector of the Catholic Church. Cameroun Info.Net reported that Archbishop Kleda’s ‘seductive’ tour was aimed at watering down the tension within Catholic Bishops and Christians in the region after a recent court summon.

Archbishop Kleda held talks with the Bishops of Mamfe, Kumba, Buea and Bamenda where he proposed a Francophone way forward to end the Anglophone crisis.  He was accompanied on his Biya mission by Mgr Abraham Kome, Bishop of Bafang and the Head of the Sub commission for Justice and Peace,  Fr Jervis Kebbei, vice Secretary General of the National Episcopal Conference, acting as notary and translator.

Kleda was told by the Anglophone Bishops that public schools were also paralyzed as a result of the Anglophone uprising. The Man of God admitted that he met the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium during the January National Episcopal Conference, NEC meeting in Mamfe. But still did not condemn their arrest or called for their immediate release. The Francophone Bishop read from the same CPDM script and pleaded with the Anglophone Bishops to put an end to hatred, suspicion civil disobedience, as well as intimidation.

Archbishop Kleda said true peace, which is fullness of life, is built on solidarity and fraternity. He also affirmed that the Cameroonian Bishops have asked the state to respect the rights of all Cameroonians and apply the 1996 constitution on decentralization. Archbishop Samuel Kleda pointed out that the court action against the Anglophone bishops could create new problems.

It is vital to include in this report that by travelling with a translator, the Archbishop of Douala justified calls for an independent state of Southern Cameroons. Archbishop Kleda and his other Francophone Bishops refused to issue a declaration in Mamfe against the rapes, killings and extra judicial killings going on in Southern Cameroons. Cameroon Concord News understands ghost town operations will resume tomorrow Monday the 8th of May 2017 in all villages, towns and cities in West Cameroon.

By Rita Akana