Twenty-nine inmates from the Buea Central Prison in Cameroon regained their freedom Tuesday following the intervention of Bishop Michael Bibi of Buea, through the Justice and Peace Commission.

The Church achieved the feat by paying off fines for prisoners who had completed their sentences but lacked the financial means to secure their own release.

As the 29 prisoners regained their freedom, they actually burst into song.

“Our Bishop, we say thank you! Our Bishop, we say thank you!” they sang.

As the freed inmates emerged, they shared stories of relief and renewed hope. One former inmate, who identified himself as an ice cream vendor named Elake Mbua, recounted a family dispute over property that finally landed him in prison.

“I’m thanking the Roman Catholic Church for intervening for me. If not of the bishop, I don’t know for how much longer I’d remain in jail. I say thank you,” he said.

Another freed man, Clovis Fuh, who had been incarcerated for a year, simply beamed.

“Today is the happiest day in my life,” he said.

“My father [meaning Bishop Bibi} and the Catholic Church have done something that I will never ever forget in my life,” Fuh told Crux.

Bibi, accompanied by the Director of the Justice and Peace Commission, Joyce Mbong, and diocesan priests, personally oversaw the release. The bishop explained that this act of mercy is a longstanding tradition for the diocese, fueled by the generosity of priests, religious, and lay faithful.

“It has been a tradition that I, together with my priests, the religious and the Christians of the diocese … struggle to see what we can do in order to get them out of prisons,” Bibi stated.

“I’m happy today that the work that the Justice and Peace Office has carried out has made it possible for us to release these prisoners… This is the first set we are doing. We will work again and get another list,” Bibi said.

The bishop’s involvement with the Buea Central Prison extends far beyond Tuesday’s event, according to Prison Administrator, Donatus Ntemgwa. He said the release of the 29 inmates has scaled down overcrowding in the prison.

“He has also promised us to do post-detention care… since he has promised us to follow up these inmates after their release, so we are very, very happy,” the prison administrator told journalists.

However, Bibi cautioned the newly freed individuals, urging them to make a clean break from their past.

“The prison is not their home,” the bishop stated.

“They came here because they did something that was not proper. Some came here because of misjudgments … they should go and not come back, because some of them have gone and come back once, twice, thrice,” the bishop said.

To ensure they don’t return, the Justice and Peace Commission is implementing a comprehensive reintegration plan. Mbong outlined a multi-faceted approach to the social and economic reintegration of the ex-prisoners.

“As of today, we are going to get a database of those who have skills and their talents,” the commissioner told Crux.

“Some have already expressed the need to want to continue on skills training or to continue education. So we still have to look for resources to be able to support them,” she explained.

She said the commission “will maintain contact with the former inmates, assist with family reconciliation in cases where needed, and help them find productive work.”

One freed prisoner, a former hairdresser, said that she will “start from where I stopped.”

The Church officials pledged to help secure essential documents for those who lack them, such as birth certificates and national identity cards.

Mbong made a direct appeal to the public for support, given the costs involved.

“We cannot do all at a time, and I want to use this forum to appeal to those who can and have the resources to support the Justice and Peace Office in this mission of preparing these inmates and also facilitating their reintegration into society,” she said.

For the 29 prisoners who walked through the prison gate into freedom, the journey to a new life has just begun, with the Diocese of Buea pledging to walk alongside them every step of the way.

Source: Crux

Father John Berinyuy Tatah, parish priest in Babessi, who was abducted on November 15 along with his vicar in southwestern Cameroon, has been freed.

His release on December 2 came a few days after the deadline set by Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda, who had threatened to close Catholic institutions in the region if the priest was not released by November 26.

Last week, the archdiocese organized a peaceful march to demand his release.

Father John and his vicar were abducted on November 15 on their way home from Mass for the inauguration of the PAX Institute at the University of Ndop.

According to Archbishop Fuanya, the two priests were captured in Baba I (a village about 60 km from the town of Bamenda, on the Bamenda-Nkambe ring road, near the town of Babessi) by armed men claiming to be separatist fighters from Ambazonia and taken to an unknown location.

On November 18, four priests and a layman were also captured; they were supposed to negotiate the release of the two priests. The vicar, the four other priests, and the layman were released on November 20, while Father John remained in the hands of his captors.

The circumstances of the priest’s release have not been disclosed. Meanwhile, the Ambazonian rebels who had captured him posted a video on Facebook in which Father John called for dialogue to resolve the crisis in the English-speaking region.

Source: fides.org

Catholic leaders in Cameroon’s restive North-West region have issued a scathing condemnation of the recent kidnapping of priests, stating that the targeting of religious figures is a clear sign that the separatist struggle has “lost focus” and devolved into pure criminality.

Their remarks follow the abduction of six priests and one member of the laity from the Archdiocese of Bamenda.

According to a release signed by the Archbishop of Bamenda, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya, gunmen abducted Father John Berinyuy Tatah, the parish priest of Babessi, and his assistant on Nov. 15, as they returned from the Mass inaugurating the PAX University Institute in Ndop.

On Nov. 18, four priests and one lay person went to negotiate with the gunmen for the release of the two priests but were also taken captive. While the group was later released, Tatah remains in captivity, with his captors demanding a ransom.

In a Nov. 23 release, Nkea declared the Church will not pay the ransom, setting a Wednesday deadline for the captors to free the priest. He warned that if the deadline passes, all Catholic institutions in the Ndop Deanery will be closed and religious personnel will withdraw.

“The frequent kidnapping of our priests and mission personnel has pushed us to the wall and we say that this should stop with immediate effect,” he added, noting that many lay Christians have also been tortured or killed.

The recent kidnappings are the latest crimes in the separatist conflict that has rocked Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions for nine years.

The crisis stems from the 1961 reunification of the former French and British Cameroons, creating a bilingual state where the English-speaking minority has long felt marginalized by the Francophone-dominated central government.

Tensions over the perceived erosion of the common law legal system and English-language education practiced in the English-speaking regions boiled over in 2016, leading to peaceful protests that were met with a harsh security crackdown. This response radicalized many in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, sparking an armed insurgency for an independent state called “Ambazonia.”

But what began as a genuine fight for identity has degenerated into criminality, Church leaders argue, and the kidnapping of priests is a testament to this decline.

“The focus has been lost because we cannot be fighting the church, a moral institution and its authority,” said Edith Tanyi, National President of the Catholic Women’s Association (CWA), expressing the disgust and frustration felt by many faithful.

Valentine Tameh, an executive member of the Catholic Men Association in the Bamenda archdiocese, questioned the spiritual legitimacy of a movement that attacks men of God.

“We have heard over and over that the struggle is God-ordained. But when such things begin to happen, then you ask, how can it be God-ordained when priests, pastors, bishops are being kidnapped?” he told Crux.

Tameh argued the conflict has shed any pretense of being a political movement.

“These kidnappings tell me that the ongoing struggle is not a rational struggle any longer,” he asserted. “I think I will not hesitate to call this criminality now… what progress has those huge, extorted sums brought to the people? Nothing at all. So, it’s more or less criminality now,” he said.

Pricillia Agendia, Director of Communication for the Archdiocese, highlighted the demoralizing effect on the community, noting that priests are now targeted “on average, weekly.” She warned that such tactics are undermining the separatists’ cause by alienating potential sympathizers.

“The kidnappings are not helping in any way in resolving the crisis because kidnappings are sending the wrong message about a crisis that drew sympathy at the beginning,” she told Crux.

In his release, Nkea also urged the military to be more professional and ethical—a veiled reference to abuses also committed by security forces. He called on all stakeholders “to do everything within their powers to dialogue and bring this crisis to an end.”

“The people of the North West and South West regions have suffered enough and they deserve to have a quiet life,” the archbishop said.

Source: Crux

In Cameroon earlier this month, a group of Catholic priests and lay faithful were kidnapped, as well.

According to a letter from the Archdiocese of Bamenda received by Crux and published to archdiocesan social media on Saturday, a parish priest and his assistant were taken by separatist Ambazonian fighters on Nov. 15.

For years, the separatists have been trying to establish an independent state in the English-speaking western reach of Cameroon on the border with Nigeria.

Four other priests and one layman, who had gone to plea for the parish priest’s release, were held by the fighters.

The letter from Bamenda’s archbishop, Andrew Nkea, says all but one of the hostages – Father John Berinyuy Tatah – have been released. Tatah, the letter states, is being held for ransom.

“We have made our position clear that the Church never gives ransoms,” the letter states.

The archbishop’s letter also calls on clergy and religious in the Ndop deanery of Baba 1  – the administrative division of the archdiocese in which the kidnappings took place – to close schools and churches if the hostage is not released by Wednesday, Nov. 26.

“If by Friday, 28th November 2025, Fr. John is still in captivity,” the letter states, “the Archbishop, all the priests, religious and members of Christ’s lay faithful will go to Baba 1 and march to the place where Fr. John is being held, and either bring him home, or remain there until he is released.”

The letter also calls on military personnel “to be professional and ethical in their relationship with the people,” noting that soldiers are “supposed to maintain law and order and ensure the security of the people,” rather than “exploit them by collecting money from them or torturing them in any way.”

Source: Crux

Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Cameroon’s Catholic Archdiocese of Douala has condemned the post-election violence that erupted across the country following the proclamation of results from the October 12 presidential poll.

In a statement issued on November 1, Archbishop Kleda noted that unrest reflects deep frustration, poverty, and widespread distrust of political institutions.

“The proclamation of the results of the October 12 poll, with the disappointment and outrage it rekindled in the minds and hearts of many of our compatriots, gave rise to peaceful protests and demonstrations,” the Cameroonian Catholic Archbishop said in his reflection on the Solemnity of All Saints, Archbishop.

He lamented, “Unfortunately, these experienced serious excesses through acts of vandalism, looting, and theft, with grave consequences on the material and economic lives of many innocent people in cities such as Douala, Garoua, Maroua, Bertoua, Dschang… This is deplorable and condemnable.”

On October 27, Cameroon’s Constitutional Council confirmed the re-election of President Paul Biya, Africa’s second-longest-serving head of State, rivalled only by President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.

The official results showed Biya winning the October 12 election by 53.66 percent of the total votes, against 35.19 percent for opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Reuters reported.

On October 31, Mr. Tchiroma called for three days of ghost town protests from November 3-5.

In his November 1 statement, Archbishop Kleda lamented that public buildings, commercial establishments, and shops were vandalized, looted, emptied, and others set on fire during the protests.

“These regrettable acts have plunged innocent people into distress and misery,” he said, further decrying verbal and physical violence, intimidation, arrests, and killings—particularly among the youth—that continue across the country.

He added, “While working on new ways to preserve the security of people and property, it is essential that this violence, intimidation, these arrests and killings come to an end. Cameroon should not be a land of permanent confrontation between the government and the people after each presidential election.”

Archbishop Kleda further said, “Democracy is incompatible with cannon fire, threats, arbitrary arrests, and intimidation of citizens who think differently. Elections are not organized to kill fellow citizens. One does not govern a people with weapons.”

“No government in the world can govern without the people; it governs for the people, and has the duty to love them and meet their legitimate and profound aspirations,” the Catholic Church leader says.

President Biya is the world’s oldest Head of State, having served since 1982 in the Central African nation, where Presidents have a seven-year mandate.

Constitutional amendments that the 92-year-old President’s party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), spearheaded in 2008, abolishing the two-term presidential limit, brought about his “extraordinarily long tenure”.

After the presidential polls, the opposition contender, Tchiroma, reportedly announced himself the winner.

His declaration was dismissed by Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji, who denounced it as unlawful and “a matter of serious concern.”

The ruling CPDM also condemned Tchiroma’s claim as a “grotesque hoax,” maintaining that only the Constitutional Council is authorized to officially declare the winner.

However, there are reportedly widespread concerns about electoral transparency, fairness, and integrity. Opposition groups, civil society, and media have flagged possible irregularities.

In his November 1 statement, Archbishop Kleda said the October 12 presidential election had appeared to many Cameroonians as “a kairos”, and the favourable moment “to write a new page of our history.”

“By a very large majority, we expressed this desire, this will, this deep aspiration of our hearts and souls, by the massive choice of the candidate, the leader whom we deemed capable of satisfying this great hunger and quenching this immense thirst of the Cameroonian people,” he said.

“Through the reactions of many after the proclamation of the results of the presidential election of 12 October 2025, many citizens who hoped for a better future are firmly convinced that their choice was not respected. It was scorned and, worse still, ignored; today, their disappointment is immense,” the Catholic Archbishop said.

The Local Ordinary of Douala, who started his Episcopal Ministry in Cameroon’s Catholic Diocese of Batouri in February 2001, outlined the dire socio-economic conditions that fuel public anger, saying, “The suffering and poverty of the interior of Cameroon are being loudly cried out. People are hungry because they have no work. The current general unemployment rate is estimated at 74%, and the 2024 poverty rate at around 37.7%.”

The Local Ordinary of Douala Archdiocese expressed concern that “10.1 million Cameroonians live on less than 1,000 CFA francs (US$1.76) per day.”

He said, “Cameroon counts more than six million citizens on the roads of exile or in illegal immigration … Our country lacks a reliable economic system that creates jobs. The energy deficit (water and electricity) does not allow for the development of our economic fabric.”

He further said, “People are anxious about this situation, which continues with no sign of hope. Citizens or families prefer to leave the country. People who take to the streets to cry out their despair express a rupture and call on the conscience of their leaders.”

Archbishop Kleda added, “If billions are spent to organize elections, money can also be found for the well-being of the population. We cannot turn a deaf ear or remain indifferent and insensitive to the distress signals they send us.”

He says, “Appeasement, and the preservation of peace and stability in our country today, depend on a collective awareness of these different crises that undermine our nation and generate the suffering and misery of Cameroonians, and on a firm will to provide appropriate solutions.”

“May the Holy Spirit enlighten our leaders and the Cameroonian people, and may the Virgin Mary, Patroness of Cameroon, intercede for us,” Archbishop Kleda implores.

Source: aciAfrica