The Mamfe Roman Catholic Diocese in the South West region asked Monday for prayers for a priest abducted by suspected members of the Ambazonia Restoration Forces defending Manyu territory.

“Kindly join us in praying for the quick and safe release of Rev Fr. Julius Agbortoko Agbor, who was abducted by suspected members of the Ambazonia Restoration Force yesterday August 29, 2021” His Grace Archbishop Andrew Nkea, told local and international media earlier today.

Rev Fr. Julius Agbortoko Agbor, Priest of the Diocese of Mamfe and current Vicar General of the Diocese of Mamfe was ordained on April 14 2004.

Cameroon Concord News understands he served in various capacities including Parochial Vicar and Parish Priest.   The man of God also studied Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome and was appointed Spiritual Director and Lecturer at the St John Paul II Major Seminary, Bachuo Ntai Mamfe.

In 2018 he was appointed Vicar General of the Diocese of Mamfe , a position he has occupied till his abduction yesterday August 29, 2021.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files

“We deplore the violence, insecurity, kidnappings, torture and senseless killings, sometimes of innocent people and children”, emphasized the Bishops of the Bishops’ Conference of Bamenda Province (BAPEC) in a statement published on Sunday, August 22nd, in which they renew their appeal for the end to the long conflict in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon.

The BAPEC members appeal to all armed groups to “end the violence with immediate effect and work towards a peaceful solution to the conflict”. “Our people have suffered enough and are tired of living in uncertainty and fear”, said the bishops, who praised the commitment of the priests who “stood by the people entrusted to them with pastoral care and have made and continue to make heroic sacrifices in this time of crisis”.

On August 20, a seven-year-old student at the St. Theresa Catholic Primary School in the Kumbo diocese of Cameroon was killed by a stray bullet in a gun battle between Cameroonian soldiers and separatists near the school.

On Sunday, August 22nd, a female parishioner was killed and a pastor was wounded during a service in the Presbyterian Church in northwest Bali.

A military patrol was ambushed by separatists. In the exchange of fire, stray bullets killed the women and wounded the pastor.

The conflict in the Anglophone regions in the southwest and northwest of Cameroon has been dragging on for more than four years and has intensified since the separatists symbolically declared the independence of the two areas that have been grouped into one in Ambazonia on October 1, 2017.

The separatists chose the date of October 1st to commemorate the independence of the English-speaking area from the United Kingdom in 1961. The French-speaking part had gained independence from France in 1960. The creation of a single bilingual state was then decided in a referendum. However, residents of the English-speaking regions complain that they are discriminated against in legislation and in education compared to French speakers.

The conflict has already claimed more than 3,500 lives and forced more than 700,000 people to flee their homes.

Source: Agenzia Fides

Cameroon President Paul Biya must let “peace reign” in the country’s troubled Anglophone regions, according to a former mayor and Catholic activist.

Elizabeth Kang, a leading member of the Catholic Women Association (CWA) spoke to Crux on the sidelines of the women’s convention for peace in Yaoundé.

“I am pleading on God Almighty to do to the Head of State as he did to Saul. Saul was a murderer and when he was going down to Damascus again to carry out his killing, God changed him and renamed him Paul, and he became a great preacher and wrote many books in the Bible. If our Paul today is Saul, God will change him back to the real Paul,” she said.

Biya has been largely blamed for the five-year conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions where a separatist war has left over 4000 dead and forced more than a million people to flee their homes.

When Anglophone teachers and lawyers took to the streets in 2016 to protest the use of French in English-speaking schools and Common Law courts, Biya deployed the military, taking a hardline stance that escalated tensions, and morphed into demands for self-rule by the country’s English speakers.

Separatists have been fighting the military ever since, and violently enforced a school boycott that has left the regions’ children without an education for five years.

Kang says she believes that Biya has the power to bring the conflict to an end.

“The head of state of this country is the father of this nation. He has the authority to say ‘stop the killing, come my children, let us discuss this issue.’ For me, I hold him very responsible,” she told Crux.

“The head of state of this country has to make a statement to the effect that we are all his wives, we are all his children. … As one woman we want to cry out: Withdraw the army. The army too is dying. The mother of the soldier is wailing like me, the mother of the civilian. We are the same women wailing for our children.”

Kang is a witness to the daily horrors of war in her native Wum. Sometimes, the horrors are too close to home. Among others, her husband has had to spend time in the dreaded Kondengui Central Prison in Yaoundé.

“The first person I lost was my brother’s son whom I raised. Some armed people came and called him out of the house in my absence. In the morning, they had chopped off his ears. The second one was my son. They came and took him out at 5 a.m. [in front of] his wife beat him up and tore his left ear. The third one is my husband who was carried up to Kondengui. He stayed in Kondengui for nine months, and when the family head is not there, you know what that means. An entire family can go astray because the pilot of the house is not there. The other one was my neighbor’s son whose head was blown off by cartridges from unknown persons, and he died. I will not name my cousins that were slain in a whole village. Sometimes, people were carried in other villages and shot in Wum town.”

Holding back tears, Kang notes that women are paying a disproportionate price in the conflict, many of them “menstruating on leaves. The pride of a woman has been taken away. Women are delivering children in the bush, and under very bad conditions.”

The Catholic Women Association came up with various proposals to bring an end to the hostilities.

They called for continued and inclusive dialogue that addresses core issues around peace, solidarity and shared humanity in Cameroon; as well as the equal and permanent involvement of women peace mediators and negotiators in peace processes at all levels, while enforcing their protection at all times.

They also underscored the need to create additional centers for psychological support and trauma treatment, while at the same time making sure that the country’s disarmament and demobilization centers are made functional and responsive to the existing conflict.

“Peace has to reign,” Kang said simply, but added this will be contingent on Biya “calling the army to the barracks, the separatists dropping their guns, and genuine and sincere dialogue to address the root causes of the conflict.”

Source: Crux

The Catholic Women Association of Cameroon held its 9th National Congress from 23 to 25 July 2021 under the theme: “Catholic Women called to holiness for the sanctification and holistic development of the world.”

The national event, which brought together more than 500 Catholic women from different parts of Cameroon, was held in the Diocese of Ngaoundéré, north-central Cameroon, Adamawa Plateau.

During the closing Mass of Sunday, 25 July, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Apostles in Ngaoundéré, the Catholic women pledged to plant a new seed of mutual love that would inspire other members, especially a new generation of members. They will also double up on accomplishing works of mercy within communities.

Do not seek power and prestige

The local Ordinary, Bishop Emmanuel Abbo, addressed the women association and encouraged them to commit and dedicate themselves even more to the different apostolates in their dioceses. Bishop Abbo, nonetheless, admonished the ladies against the temptation of seeking power, prestige and honour at the expense of their calling as lay Catholics. He warned against unhealthy tendencies that undermine others.

Growing a new generation of young Catholic women

National Chaplain of the Catholic Women in Cameroon, Father Giles Ngwa Forteh, for his part, expressed the wish to see a new generation of Catholic Women grow, one whose language and life would be anchored on the law of love.

“Rediscovering the love of God and sharing must be our goal. Indeed, the hatred we see around us clearly indicates that the human heart has become seriously hardened. Only the Word of God can soften that heart and make people take actions that can transform the world. God renews us every time we approach him,” he said.

Source: Vatican News

Muslims in Cameroon have marked the Eid al-Adha, Festival of the Sacrifice, by praying for an end to the country’s separatist conflict, which has killed more than 3,000 people since 2017. Muslim leaders also called on Cameroon’s vaccine skeptics to be inoculated against COVID-19, which has infected more than 80,000 people and killed at least 1,300.

Muslim cleric Bouba Goi Goi officiating Eid al-Adha prayers at the Islamic Complex in Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé, said in his sermon that all Muslims should live lives of complete submission to God to enjoy eternal life, both physical on earth and spiritual in heaven with Allah.

Souley Mane is spokesman of Cameroon’s National Moon Crescent Commission that is responsible for announcing the day of Muslim feasts.

He said Bouba asked Cameroonians of all religious denominations to educate civilians on the need for stability in the central African state.

“It is an opportunity for every Muslim to have a spiritual project to pray for peace, security, unity, health and living together in our country. A good Muslim should be an ambassador of his religion, somebody who tries to work harder for his family, for his community and for his country,” he said.

Mane said that the 1,500 people at the prayer complex include Christians.

The Council of Imams and Muslim Dignitaries of Cameroon organized the prayer for peace.

The council’s coordinator, Moussa Oumarou, said Muslims who are separatist fighters should drop their weapons and encourage their peers of other religions to stop fighting.

Cameroon estimates that there are at least 2,000 separatist fighters in its English-speaking western regions. The government said the number of fighters who are Muslims is unknown since the rebels hide as civilians.

Souleyman Mefire Ngoucheme is imam of the Nkoazoa Mosque located 10 kilometers west of Yaounde. He said besides promoting peace, Muslim cleric in Cameroon also cautioned faithful on the dangers of COVID-19.

He said he is asking all Muslims in Cameroon to respect COVID-19 barrier measures like regular washing of hands with soap and water, putting on face masks in public and keeping a physical distance of at least a meter from other people. Ngoucheme said Muslims should not hesitate to take COVID-19 vaccine because the jab can save their lives and help to stop the coronavirus spread that has killed so many people.

Cameroon said fewer than 150,000 people have been vaccinated since April, when the government received 700,000 doses to inoculate civilians against COVID-19.

Last year during Eid al-Adha, Cameroon restricted prayers and festivities that brought together more than 10 people. Thousands of Muslims in the capital Yaoundé defied the restrictions, ordered as part of measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. This year, many came with face masks but did not respect the at least one meter distance from each person as instructed by the government.

Source: VOA

Father Christopher Eboka who was taken away by unknown gunmen on Friday, May 21, 2021 has been released. Rev Father Eboka’s kidnapping reportedly underscored the need for all the factions involved in the Southern Cameroons conflict to seek ways of reaching a peaceful resolution.

The kidnapping sparked outrage and anger both in French and Southern Cameroons.

Southern Cameroons exiled Vice President Dabney Yerima issued a statement condemning the act while thousands of Ambazonians prayed for his release and against an epidemic of kidnappings sweeping the entire Ambazonian territory.

What we know

The Ambazonia Interim Government announced the release in a statement, saying the priest was unharmed.

The Dabney Yerima statement did not provide information on whether a ransom was paid to the kidnappers.

On May 21, Rev Father Eboka and his rider were abducted while traveling on a road between Mamfe and Eshobi. The kidnappers are suspected members of a criminal gang run by the disgraced Southern Cameroons front line leader Dr Samuel Ikome Sako.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

“I really felt bad that within a period like this when most people, most governments are trying to look for ways and means of combating COVID 19 disease – a virus that is killing and taking away the lives of many people – that people will still have the audacity to embezzle funds of this nature, that is meant for the common good, that is meant to save the lives of people,” said Bishop Michael Bibi of Buea, in Cameroon’s South West Region.

According to the Johns Hopkins COVID portal, over 1,200 people have died of COVID-19 in Cameroon, with more than 77,000 people testing positive.

In the face of such a health emergency, Bibi said it was evil for people to steal money.

“To say the least, this is inhuman. It is not correct, and I think that the Cameroonian government should do proper investigation and the people who are responsible should be brought to justice. We cannot allow things like this to go ahead because it is not proper. Humanly speaking, it is bad,” he told Crux.

Cameroon’s Ministry of Health has come under fire for its poor transparency in the distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars of COVID aid, with members of the opposition and some international aid agencies accusing members of the government of embezzlement.

In the face of the mounting scrutiny, Cameroonian President Paul Biya earlier this year instructed the Justice Ministry to investigate.

Meanwhile, 23-page report by the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court that was leaked in the local press on May 20 reveals disturbing facts about the way the $382 million of COVID funds were managed.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was overbilled at ten times the expected rate, and there was no public bidding for contracts. Some contracts were allegedly given to “ghost companies” that didn’t actually exist.

Over $11 million was budgeted for the local manufacture of chloroquine and azithromycin. Instead, the heal ministry imported the drugs from India and repackaged them in Cameroon.

Renovation work on facilities meant to welcome COVID-19 patients was not completed – only seven of eleven facilities were completed.

“The conditions under which the special contracts were awarded remain unknown to the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court, which reflects a certain opacity in the awarding of contracts, and which affected most of the contracts,” the report states.

The Audit Bench accused the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation of 30 management errors, and recommends ten legal proceedings that could end up as criminal investigations.

The ministries have denied wrongdoing.

Bibi said the government must pursue these cases.

“Corruption thrives when there is little follow up to bring the culprits to justice,” the bishop said.

He said conversion of hearts is the only way the problem can be rooted out of the country.

“Corruption is something that is common and I think that we all have to fight against corruption; we all have to educate ourselves that whatever position we have in the Church, in the government, and if we have funds that are given to us  for the common good, we should use it for the common good,” he told Crux.

“We should not think about our individual benefits or what is going to benefit our family members and friends, we should think about the common good. For me I think that is key, and my prayer and wish is that we should be converted from this attitude of corruption, because if we are not converted, the country will never develop, things will never move properly,” Bibi said.

Source: Crux

A priest of the diocese of Mamfe in the Southwest region of Cameroon has been kidnapped as the fighting in Southern Cameroons rages on and enters a critical phase.

Father Christopher Eboka was taken away by unknown gunmen on Friday, May 21, 2021 who have requested a huge ransom from the diocese. The kidnapping of members of the clergy is unfortunate and this underscores the need for all the factions involved in the conflict to seek ways of reaching a peaceful resolution.

The Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in Mbonge has spoken with Father Christopher’s mother who is very devastated and is urging those responsible for the priest’s kidnapping to release him so that he can continue with the great job he has been doing.

Kidnapping a priest is not only despicable, it is the height of irresponsibility and the Cameroon Concord News Group is joining its voice to that of the mother of father Christopher Eboka to urge the kidnappers to release the man of God.

Those who kidnap men of God are crossing a dangerous red line and this must be condemned by all god-fearing Cameroonians.

The clergy in the two English-speaking regions of the country has been playing a significant role since the Southern Cameroons crisis started in 2016 with the objective of engineering a lasting peace in the two English-speaking regions of the country and to help alleviate the suffering of the population.

Over the last two weeks, the fighting in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of the country had escalated, with army soldiers taking huge casualties.

Southern Cameroonian fighters who started out with dane guns have morphed into manufacturers of effective Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) which are sending many army soldiers to an early grave.

While the army soldiers have been brutal and successful in outgunning Southern Cameroonian fighters due to their superior weaponry, the use of IEDs by Southern Cameroonian fighters over the last year has left the government in an unfortunate quandary.

In the country’s northwest region where the fighting is escalating on a daily basis, the IEDs have been going off every day and many uniformed officers have not had the luck to return to their families.

The military has lost many of its fighting equipment and these new strategy developed by the Southern Cameroonian fighters has left many army soldiers with tones of butterflies in their stomachs.

The morale among the soldiers is down and many of them, especially those who have been to the battlefield, understand that this war will never be won on the battlefield, as Southern Cameroonian fighters have become deadlier and more determined to push the military out of Southern Cameroons.

Many of the young soldiers are from poor backgrounds and they need the salary from the military, but their belief in a conclusive military victory is diminishing on a daily basis as news of their wounded and dead colleagues spreads across the country like wildlife.

Many of those army soldiers would jump at any opportunity that would get them out of the military, but Cameroon is a country that is bereft of jobs and opportunities. The young soldiers are now caught between the rock and a hard place.

If they refuse to go to Southern Cameroons where Southern Cameroonian fighters are delivering death to many soldiers for free, they will end up in jail for a long time. If they head to Southern Cameroons, they are sure they will not be coming back to East Cameroon, or if they must return, it will either be in a body bag or with debilitating injuries that will make entirely dependent on their family members.

The situation in Southern Cameroons is dire. The world has to wake up from its sleep. The fighting in that part of the country has escalated and very many young Cameroonians are losing their lives because a government ruled by old and ailing leaders is still seeing negotiations as a weakness.

If the world does not stand up against the brutality playing out in Southern Cameroons now, it will one day regret its decision, as many young lives are being wasted due to the inflated ego of people who have prioritized war over peace.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai