The President of the Confederation of African Football, (CAF), Dr Patrice Motsepe has donated $200,000(Sh440 million) to the Catholic church in Yaounde on behalf of the Motsepe Foundation.

The South African billionaire, who is overseeing the organisation of the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, (Afcon), announced the donation during a mass he attended at the St Joseph Anglophone Parish of the Catholic church in Mvog-Ada, Yaounde on Sunday.

The continental football chief was accompanied by the CAF Secretary General, Veron Mosengo-Omba.Motsepe said it was an honour to attend the church service that was officiated by the Archbishop of Yaounde, His Grace Jean Mbarga.

“For the Catholic church in Cameroon, the Motsepe Foundation will donate $ 200,000,” Motsepe announced, throwing close to a thousand worshippers into excitement.The CAF boss clarified that the cash was not from the continental football body, but from the Motsepe Foundation.

Archbishop Jean Mbarga had earlier led an interreligious service to pray for peace for the duration of the tourney that will run till February 6.

“I am excited to hear that the Bishop organised prayers for the success of the competition in his Basilica,” Motsepe said.During the interreligious service at the Mary Queen of the Apostles Basilica in Yaounde on January 5, Archbishop Jean Mbarga described football and the current competition as a veritable source of unity to the people of Cameroon.

And in what looked like a repetition, perhaps for emphasis, the Archbishop of Yaounde again restated in his homily on Sunday that football is the sport which easily unites Cameroonians.He then prayed for a hitch-free organization of the football fiesta.

“It is a privilege to have you pray together with us,” Archbishop Jean Mbarga told the CAF president and SG before invoking the Holy Spirit to guide and direct the CAF leaders and especially for the success of the ongoing tournament—Motsepe’s first since he became CAF president last year.

Source: The Citizen

A priest has been filmed being beaten by soldiers and dragged into a military vehicle in broad daylight in Cameroon. Father Tobias Bekong was abducted on January 12 in Buea in the South West Region. His parishioners say they have no idea why he was taken by members of Cameroon’s elite military force called the Rapid Intervention Battalion or BIR. He was released very late the same day, prompting civil society groups to question why security forces can behave with such impunity.

A local source (anonymous to protect him) says that soldiers ran into the church premises without permission, seizing the priest without asking who he was. His car was ransacked, he was dragged across the courtyard and taken away in a military vehicle.

Father Bekong’s abduction comes as global attention focuses on the Central African nation, which is currently hosting the month-long Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) football tournament. For weeks, separatist militias demanding their own Anglophone country they call ‘Ambazonia’ have threatened to disrupt football games being held in the English-speaking South West Region. Some human rights groups called for a ceasefire, urging the government of President Paul Biya to keep AFCON and civilians safe by announcing a road map toward peace talks mediated by a third party. However, the government continues to pursue a military strategy against the separatist fighters. It has been accused of heavy-handed tactics, including arbitrary arrests, burning of homes, and extrajudicial killings of civilians.

Since AFCON began in early January, there have been improvised explosions, gun battles in and around Buea causing casualties, and the assassination of a respected opposition senator. All employees of the local council have been ordered to attend matches, while academic and support staff at the University of Buea have been encouraged to fill the stadium. There are rumours that officials are paying local people to attend football matches in defiance of boycott demands from separatists. Photos of empty venues during games have circulated on social media. The teams from Mali and Tunisia were reported to have suspended practice sessions fearing they might be vulnerable to attack.

The escalating violence is a blow to the reputation of the Biya government which had assured international football officials that players and spectators would be safe. Cameroon’s plans to host AFCON have twice been postponed: first because of unpreparedness, and then due to Covid. There was embarrassment at the start of the tournament when Cameroon’s mascot was seen wearing a bulletproof vest, surrounded by soldiers. There has also been concern about the spread of Covid, following the misappropriation by Cameroonian officials of $335 million in pandemic mitigation funds provided by the IMF.

In 2021, separatist groups set off more than 80 IEDs, as violence increased in the Anglophone regions. The UN estimates 700,000 out of a population of six million Anglophones have been displaced, and a million children have been unable to attend school for five years due to a separatist-imposed boycott and insecurity. Separatists also enforce a weekly “ghost town” in the Anglophone regions, preventing normal activity every Monday, with sometimes lethal consequences for those who violate the ban. Reputable international rights watchdogs report atrocities against civilians by both government soldiers and armed separatists, charging all sides with behaving with impunity.

Religious figures have equally been targets of both sides. At least seven clergy have been assassinated since 2017, and priests and nuns have frequently been subject to intimidation and attack. As they attempt to preach peace, they face kidnapping for ransom by separatists and arbitrary arrest by government forces.

A local NGO, the Release Them Campaign, claims there are 3,500 Anglophone prisoners of conscience in Cameroon’s nine listed jails and dozens of police and military detention centres around the country. However, this estimate has not been substantiated.

Father Bekong was ordained in 2012. He serves at St Charles Lwanga Parish in Molyko, Buea, and is the principal of St Paul’s College Bojonga in Limbe where several AFCON matches are being played.

A local source who must remain anonymous lamented that the BIR is able to behave without regard to due process because there is a lack of international diplomatic pressure on the Cameroon authorities. In 2019, BIR, which reports directly to President Biya, looted a world heritage site at Bafut in Anglophone North West Region. An Amnesty International report accused the force of torturing and killing civilians.

“The BIR have been told that Biya is untouchable and has the backing of the global community,” said the Anglophone source. “They can behave like colonialist masters. That is why we are fighting them.”

Human rights groups say they regret that rather than use AFCON as an opportunity for peace, listening to the voices of clergy on the ground, the Cameroonian government has instead harmed and detained a religious authority. They say there is a need for sustained pressure by international partners of Cameroon, including the Vatican, to move the violent actors toward a just resolution around a peace table. A year ago, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, visited Cameroon, urging President Biya to join inclusive peace talks mediated by an impartial party such as the Swiss Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. The Cameroon government did not act on his suggestion.

Source: Independent Catholic News

“The situation in the English-speaking regions is always very tense. According to observers, the ‘Amba Boys’ (the independence fighters, ed) are intensifying their attacks on the military. This leads to a violent reaction from the army, which however also affects the civilian population. Recently, for example, armed groups planted a bomb near an army center that destroyed the building and killed some of the military and soldiers. In response, they set fire to the houses around the area, resulting in the death among the military and at least two civilians, as well as several completely destroyed homes”. This is what the Archbishop of Bamenda, Mgr. Andrew Nkea Fuanya reports to Agenzia Fides.

The English-speaking areas continue to represent a hotbed of great tension in Cameroon while the dialogue process is struggling to proceed. The Archbishop continues: “There has been no progress in recent times. Now is a period full of activity, at every level, and we hope that after the Christmas holidays we can resume the process of meeting and dialogue. As for the general situation, after pointing out that the attacks have increased in number and intensity, it must be said that, from a social point of view, life continues: people have learned to live with this absurd state of affairs. Shops, offices, transport continue their business. Even schools are open, although not all, only in large centers, let’s say that 60% of institutions are open. In this period, the cities are full of Christmas decorations, churches are always full. People are tired, they want to go back to a normal life and with these demonstrations they take the opportunity to show it to everyone. As a Church, also through the intervention of Caritas and the “Justice and Peace” Commission, we are taking action to support the new internally displaced people created by the latest attacks and we really hope that Christmas can enlighten hearts and that the new year brings good news”.

To the situation of high tension that has been recorded for years in the western English-speaking regions, there are recently added those that have emerged in the north of the country, where shepherds and fishermen have clashed violently over issues related to the use of water. In the past few weeks alone, there have been 22 deaths and thousands displaced

“The bishop of Yagoua – concludes Mgr. Andrew Nkea Fuanya – told us that the situation is really difficult. These internal tribal conflicts are truly worrying, especially in that area of the country where we should all be united in order not to offer room for maneuver for the advance of Boko Haram, who is very active in that area”. 

Source: Agenzia Fides

A leading Cameroonian archbishop has called on Catholics to pray the rosary for peace in the country’s conflict-ridden Anglophone regions.

“We have known fighting. We have known killing. We have known destruction of property and all kinds of evil associated with war. It is not ended. It is still continuing,” said Andrew Nkea Fuanya on Dec. 8.

Nkea is the archbishop of Bamenda, in Cameroon’s North West Region. The Bamenda ecclesiastical region includes both the North West and South West regions, which make up the English-speaking areas of the majority French-speaking country.

Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions have been ravaged by conflict since the violent suppression of a series of demonstrations against the imposition of French in the Anglophone regions’ common law and British-based education system.

At least 3,500 people have been killed in the conflict since it began in 2016, and at least 700,000 more displaced. In addition, rebels have shut down the education system in the two regions, burning schools and kidnapping students and staff.

Both the insurgents and government troops have been accused of grave human rights abuses, with the civilian population caught in the middle.

Nkea said he believes Mary holds the key to a lasting peace.

“Our human intelligence seems to have been blocked in looking for a solution. And that is why we are turning to God the Almighty in prayer because we believe that God will make a way where there seems to be no way,” the prelate said.

“I invite all the Catholics and non-Catholics of the archdiocese of Bamenda to call on Our Lady to intercede for us so that peace may return to our society. We should not leave Our Lady to have any rest until peace has come back amongst us and the killings have stopped. Peace must return to Bamenda. Peace must return to our society. Jesus the Prince of Peace must bring back peace to Cameroon. Our Mother Mary cannot be in Heaven and we, her children, are suffering on earth like this,” he said.

Nkea called on all Catholics to pray the rosary daily – individually, in groups, and in families – “so that our prayers will rise to Heaven, like one big smoke of incense. She (Mary) must hear us, and Jesus must hear us.”

“From all the corners of the archdiocese, the heavens will hear us. And on this mountain, we shall pass through Mary to Jesus,” he said.

The archbishop was speaking at the inauguration of the Shrine of our Lady of Fatima at Abangoh, a hill on the outskirts of Bamenda.

“On this Mountain of Abanghoh, God shall judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. On this Mountain of Abanghoh, God shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. On this Mountain of Abanghoh, the nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore,” he said.

“Peace will flow down from this Mountain like a river throughout the North West Region, throughout our Diocese and into the rest of Cameroon,” the archbishop added.

“We shall never allow evil to defeat good and the only way we shall do this is to join the Blessed Virgin Mary to fight evil. The rosary is the only weapon we have at our disposals,” he said.

English-speaking Cameroonians make up to 20 percent of the country’s population and have long complained about being marginalized by the French-speaking majority. The Anglophone rebels say they want to secede from Cameroon and establish a new nation, to be called Ambazonia.

In 2019, the government organized what it called a “Major National Dialogue” to try finding solutions to the crisis.

The meeting proposed several recommendations, 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 reinstatement of certain airport and seaport projects in the two regions, and the rapid integration of ex-combatants into society.

However, most of the rebels have rejected the government’s proposals.

“This conflict has been going on for too long. Lives have been lost, property destroyed, and our people have been forced to flee their homeland,” Nkea said. “After so many years fighting and killing each other, now is the time for peace.”

Source: Crux

Among the 50 migrants that Pope Francis is taking back to Italy with him, are two Cameroonian students stuck in the buffer zone for the past six months as neither the Turkish Cypriots, nor the Republic would take them in.

Ten of 50 are migrants held in prison for residing in the Republic without permits.

The interior ministry thanked the Pope for his initiative to relocate 50 migrants to Italy.

“Among them are the two individuals who remained in the buffer zone until today, whom the Republic had been asking the European Commission to relocate to another member state to avoid additional undesirable political problems for our country,” the ministry said.

According to the ministry, the Vatican’s symbolic gesture was recognition of the difficulties faced by Cyprus by the rising flow of migrants that “come through the occupied areas from Turkey.”

“This is the substantive solidarity we seek from our European partners,” the ministry said.

Pope Francis also met prison governor Anna Aristotelous on Friday morning who expressed her admiration for his work and sensitivity and support he showed poor people.

Aristotelous thanked the Pope for relocating 10 irregular migrants and handed him a handmade violin the prisoners had made for him.

Source: Cyprus Mail

Sisters at a Catholic hospital in the war-torn Anglophone regions of Cameroon have been threatened by government soldiers for the second time this year. Army officers told the Tertiary Sisters of St Francis they were looking for armed separatist group members known as the Amba Boys. After a two-hour search of the medical facility, the heavily-armed officers found no combatants. However, a media release from the Sisters reports that the soldiers vowed to burn down the hospital the next time they visit it.

Cameroon government soldiers in three armoured vehicles arrived at the St Elizabeth Catholic General Hospital Cardiac Centre at 1.30pm on November 14. The hospital is in Shisong in the Bui area of the mainly English-speaking North-West Region. The hospital director, Doctor Sister Anshoma Helen Mbouh, was summoned and forced to accompany the soldiers as they spent more than two hours searching every section of the health facility.

The media release from the Tertiary Sisters of St Francis continues, “Not finding the Amba boys they were looking for, they started insulting and threatening the Reverend Sisters.” The officers said they would shoot the Sisters, and it is alleged that they then severely beat two hospital security officers during interrogation.

The same hospital was searched by armed soldiers on July 19 this year. The media release reports that when they left the hospital on November 14 at 3.45pm, some of soldiers expressed remorse. “However, some of them continued with their threats to the Sisters and the Hospital. They promised that the next time they would be back, they will set the entire hospital on fire.”

Commenting on the invasion, Lord Alton said, “It is intolerable that a hospital and its patients and staff should once again be subjected to heavy-handed intimidation, threats and harassment by government forces. This is an outrageous violation of a place dedicated to saving lives and healing. The Cameroon government owe the hospital an immediate apology and a promise that there will be no recurrence.” It is a war crime to attack a hospital during a conflict, even when it treats enemy wounded.

Lord Alton will be tabling a Parliamentary Question asking the British government, which recently signed a trade deal with Cameroon, to urge the authorities in Yaoundé to urgently participate in inclusive peace talks to break the impasse in the Anglophone Crisis.

There has been increasing violence in the English-speaking area of Cameroon since 2016, when the Francophone-dominated government tried to impose French-language procedures, judges, and teachers in courts and schools on the area’s six million Anglophones. Hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians have been driven from their villages as their homes have been burnt, causing a humanitarian crisis which continues to deteriorate. Armed separatists demanding independence for the Anglophone regions which they call Ambazonia have responded to harsh government tactics with violence of their own. Doctors, nurses, religious orders and medical facilities have also been threatened by armed men claiming to represent the Ambazonian separatist fighters. Repeated efforts by the Swiss Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and Swiss government to hold inclusive peace talks have been rebuffed by Cameroon, and encouragement from the Vatican has gone unheeded.”

Source: Independent Catholic News

More than 200 people, most of them women, marched in the city center of Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, on Tuesday against what they call growing intolerance in the Central African state. The protesters, marking this year’s International Day for Tolerance, sang that there is a growing lack of respect for each other’s cultural and religious beliefs.

Secretary General of the Council of Imams and Muslim Dignitaries of Cameroon Adamou Ngamie took part in the protest. Ngamie says all Muslims, especially Imams, must try to preach inter-religious tolerance because it is praised by God in the Holy Quran. He says intolerance is bringing confusion and discord in Cameroon, which is in dire need of tolerance that will breed cohesion and bring back peace to the country.

In 2020, the government of Cameroon reported on problems of inter-religious intolerance in the central African state. It cited conflicts between Christian Pentecostal churches and Muslim fundamentalist movements on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria. The report said several clashes resulted in casualties but gave no further details.

Tuesday’s protesters noted intolerance in Cameroon spiked in 2017 when Anglophone separatists, complaining of second-class treatment, took up arms against the French-speaking majority state.

Cameroon’s separatist conflict has claimed more than 3,000 lives and displaced more than 550,000, according to the United Nations.

22-year-old University of Yaounde student Anabel Michou marched in the protest. She says hate speech and propaganda on social media by both separatists and authorities promote intolerance.

“We are calling on everybody to join us on board, to build a hate free Cameroon, to promote social cohesion, to ask for peace. Wherever we find ourselves, we have a collective role to play to make Cameroon a better country. There are alternative, nonviolent means of saying what we have and using the right channels for our thoughts to be heard. And we should also remember, we cannot build by destroying. We have to build by making what we have better.”

The Cameroon Women’s Peace Movement, which has been urging troops and separatists to lay down their arms, organized the protest. Movement member Nicoline Nwenushi Wazeh says the separatist conflict would be greatly reduced if Cameroonians learned to tolerate each other.

“We need to acknowledge that every human being is a separate entity [person] and this acknowledgement needs to come from the government through enforceable laws against intolerance. Parents should have a communication around tolerance with their children. In schools, children should be able to know about tolerance. We should be able to promote tolerance.”

In July, Cameroon launched a campaign against what it called growing online hate speech, intolerance, and xenophobic statements.

Rights groups, however, note that along with xenophobic statements, authorities also define hate speech as criticism of the state and long-time President Paul Biya.

The government did not issue any statements for this year’s International Day for Tolerance but has in the past called on all Cameroonians to live together in harmony.

Source: VOA

Is the United States a nation that cares for humanity or politics? That was the question from a group of Black migrants from Cameroon during a virtual conference with the media last week.

Cameroon is a country in deep turmoil as the government faces confrontation with citizens who claim the country has fallen victim to corruption and violence. According to the United Nations, the separatist war has forced more than half a million people to flee their homes over the past four years, many coming to the United States for a new start.

But those hopes have been dashed for thousands of Black migrants as they face detention and the threat of deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The group is seeking Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the U.S. in hopes of avoiding those threats.

Last week, the Cameroon Advocacy Network (CAN) joined with other groups including representatives from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for a webinar. The group heard from several Cameroonians who have fled the troubled nation in hopes of starting new lives in the U.S. Those who spoke would not identify themselves for fear it would result in their immediate arrest.

“I’ve been here almost two years and am still living in fear of deportation or even stepping out of the house because of ICE,” said one migrant who identifies himself as “Terry” to protect his identity. “We never believed that by crossing the border, we would be locked up for days and nights.”

Another man who called himself “Fabrisk” became emotional as he described efforts to come to the U.S. only to find himself and others treated as criminals and taken into custody.

“We come here and are transported with chains all over our bodies. We can’t eat, can’t feed ourselves or go to the bathroom,” he said. “We find ourselves in the arms of people who want to destroy us emotionally.”

The Cameroon Advocacy Network is a new coalition that has grown out of the ongoing organizing work of Black migrants and immigrants. Several of the coordinating members are part of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, an important partner for Presbyterians in southern California as well as with the Interfaith Immigration Coalition.

With the increase in Cameroonian asylum seekers arriving these past few years at the U.S.-Mexico border, CAN was created to organize efforts and inform advocacy campaigns. Many of the English-speaking Cameroonians have some connection to Presbyterian partners in Cameroon. They have attended either Presbyterian schools or Presbyterian churches.

PC(USA) representatives have met with CAN regularly to learn how to support their efforts and accompany Cameroonians in communities.

“In Cameroon, you don’t know what will happen from one minute to the next. You can leave home to fetch water or go to church and there is no promise that you will come back. The youth are most vulnerable,” said a woman identified as “Azoh.” “That’s why you see people embark on a journey to America. There is this thought that America is this giant where people feel most safe. That’s what’s causing this major influx of Cameroonians coming. People don’t mind taking the risk. To them, it’s a risk worth taking.”

Azoh said people come to America thinking they’ll be protected, adding that they can’t imagine that the same country where they seek protection would send them back to where they came from.

“I’ve been in the United States since 2003. I work hard, pay my taxes and contribute to this country,” she said. “My brother was released here two years ago from detention and lives every day in fear that he could be picked up, whether he goes to the doctor or something else. We are in a panic when he leaves because we don’t know if he will come back.”

Terry agreed, saying the stress is very high as they await a final outcome.

“The situation has not changed. I find myself still in chains because I am not free. I live in absolute fear of being arrested and it’s traumatizing,” he said. “When I go out just for a walk, I may see a police van. We try to adjust the way we walk so not to look suspicious. It makes me feel afraid because if you are arrested, deportation is the next thing.”

Daniel Tse is one of the founders of CAN and knows firsthand how difficult it is for migrants hoping to stay in the U.S.

“People can’t go to the mall or step out of their house for fear of deportation. They are locked up in their houses,” said Tse. “This is painful for those that have gone through this suffering. We stand with you and are not giving up this fight.”

Terry says those coming to the U.S. for a fresh start want to do their part as productive citizens.

“It’s frustrating. We are young, strong, ready to work and support this country in whatever way we can. We ask you to search in your hearts to help us,” he said. “If we go back to Cameroon, our fate is uncertain, our future is uncertain. Our wives and children’s futures are uncertain because their lives are in jeopardy. If they come for you, your whole family will suffer.”

Terry is calling on the Biden administration to find a solution that will allow them to stay without fear of deportation.

“Help us because we know that no matter how tough it might be, there is that humanitarian part of you that has love. You might turn things around for those who are crying and clamoring for your help,” Terry said. “We want to participate and support this great nation physically, emotionally, financially and morally.”

“The U.S. asylum system has been weakened by the past few administrations by policies that make it nearly impossible to ask for and claim asylum. Those who bear the harm of these policies are those who arrive in the United States by crossing the southern border. We witness systematic oppression against Black asylum seekers — they are held in detention longer; they are deported at higher rates; they must pay bail bonds at exorbitant rates; and their asylum cases are less likely to be approved,” said Amanda Craft, manager of Immigration Policy for the Office of the General Assembly. “As we urge policy changes, we must take into consideration how the immigration system continues to abuse communities of color, especially Black immigrants. A step in the right direction would be to grant TPS status for Cameroonians and halt deportation flights.”

Susan Krehbiel, associate for Refugees and Asylum with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, says she feels anger and shame for her own government when she hears firsthand accounts from those held in immigration jails.

“It is antithetical to who we are as a nation and as people of God. We also heard of the lasting impact of these traumatic experiences, the lingering fears and distrust that they carry with them for years,” she said. “The situation faced by the people of Cameroon seeking asylum in the U.S. should be compelling to all of us. The stories shared help us see the real lives and families who suffer because we no longer have a valid asylum system. That is why Temporary Protected Status is an important first step in at least meeting our international obligation to not return people back to harm.”

CAN representatives said at the close of the webinar that they will continue to push for TPS.

People are asked to sign a petition to help at cameroonadvocacynetwork.org/take-action. The PC(USA) continues to support efforts to urge the president to designate TPS status for Cameroonians.

Source: PC USA