8, September 2025
The Roman Catholic Church is concerned about a new term for Paul Biya 0
As an important presidential election is approaching in Cameroon, scheduled for October 2025, Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala has just published a sixteen-page pastoral letter in which he provides a damning assessment of the situation in his country. This situation has been exacerbated by the candidacy of the current head of state, Paul Biya, the ailing, 92-year-old candidate for re-election.
Samuel Kleda does not mince words: the archbishop regularly denounces the “moral depravity” in his country. In the letter, distributed and read in the parishes of his diocese on August 8, he speaks of “a society shaken by multiple ills that afflict all social strata.” He attributes the widespread malaise, which is fueling growing discontent in the run-up to elections, to “anti-evangelical acts” deeply rooted in the country’s governance.
These ills include governance marked by corruption, a perverted democracy, endemic poverty and unemployment, illegal immigration, a crumbling road network, difficult access to drinking water and electricity, opaque management of oil resources, injustices in the mining sector, and security crises in the English-speaking regions and the Far North. These scourges pervert the relationship between citizens and their leaders, leading to abuses of power and injustices.
The Archbishop also deplores a socially unbalanced economy, where the country’s wealth is diverted to finance the lavish lifestyles of an elite, while the majority of the population lives in poverty: “The country’s natural resources are plundered to enrich a minority, while the majority of citizens suffer from hunger,” he writes. This situation creates a gaping gap between the rich, who are increasingly prosperous, and the poor, who are increasingly deprived.
But the Archbishop of Douala also does not spare Cameroon’s democratic system, which he describes as “corrupt.” He denounces a political system marked by institutional violence, intimidation, and lies: “A democracy where political actors are despised, brutalized, and imprisoned is doomed to failure,” he asserts.
The exodus of young people is described as a “brain drain.” Bishop Kleda notes that, faced with the lack of hope for a better future, thousands of young people are leaving the country, sometimes risking their lives, in search of better employment, living, and educational conditions abroad. “This flight deprives Cameroon of its young talents, scientists, engineers, and health professionals, to the benefit of countries offering better opportunities,” he laments. This phenomenon, he believes, seriously compromises the nation’s future.
The Archbishop also highlights the security crises tearing the country apart. In the English-speaking regions, where a secessionist conflict that began in 2016 has already caused more than 6,500 deaths and displaced 800,000 people, he condemns both the atrocities committed by the separatists—assassinations, assaults, and kidnappings—and the brutality of the army, which “razes entire villages on mere suspicion.”
In the Far North, attacks by the terrorist group Boko Haram are sowing terror and devastation. Faced with these dramatic situations, Archbishop Kleda urges the government to redouble its efforts to restore peace in all regions affected by these crises.
As the presidential election approaches on October 12, 2025, Kleda appears to be suggesting that Cameroonians mobilize for a change in governance: “Choosing a president of the Republic is a civic duty that falls to each of us and will shape the future of our country,” he declared.
Kleda’s remarks sparked strong reactions, particularly from those close to President Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982 and is running for an eighth consecutive term at the age of 92. Professor Owona Nguini, an ally of the president, accused the archbishop of meddling in politics: “The bishop has strayed from his priestly mission to engage in partisan politics,” he declared.
Despite the gravity of the situation, Archbishop Kleda concluded on a note of hope, inviting Cameroonians to unite in prayer: “On the eve of the presidential election, I invite you all to join me, your brother, so that together we may raise our voices to Almighty God, to implore peace for our country, a spirit of love and service in families and for each of us,” he wrote.
It is a peace and social cohesion that is at risk of being undermined as the October 2025 election draws closer.
Source: Crux
11, September 2025
Buea: Bishop Bibi laments spiraling violence in Southern Cameroons 0
Days after suspected separatist fighters killed nine Cameroonian soldiers in the South West region, Bishop Michael Bibi of Buea condemned the relentless bloodshed plaguing Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.
On Friday, the separatist group Fako Unity Warriors claimed responsibility for an explosive device near Malende that killed the soldiers. This attack underscores the elusive nature of peace in the Anglophone regions — a reality deeply troubling to the bishop.
“War is not something to be encouraged,” the cleric told Christians during a Sunday teaching. “God did not create us to fight each other and to kill each other,” Bibi said.
“Human life is sacred because it has its source and origin in God. When it comes into existence, it continues to have a relationship with God,” Bibi said referencing the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
“Only God, who gives human life, has the right to take it away,” the bishop emphasized.
“Those who fight and take life must know this is wrong. That is why the Church calls us to be advocates of justice and peace, ensuring our communities are free from fighting and killing,” he said.
Cameroon’s English-speaking regions have been embroiled in conflict since 2016. What began as peaceful protests by teachers and lawyers against perceived marginalization by the Francophone-dominated government descended into a brutal separatist war following a harsh government crackdown.
This conflict, however, is deeply rooted in Cameroon’s colonial past. Once a German colony, the territory was divided between Britain and France after Germany’s defeat in World War I. The two powers administered their respective regions — first as League of Nations Mandates and later as United Nations Trust Territories — until independence. In 1961, a UN-supervised plebiscite led to the reunification of the two Cameroons under a federal system. This federation, however, was short-lived. In 1972, it was abolished in favor of a unitary state, concentrating power in the Francophone-dominated central government.
For Anglophone Cameroonians, this dissolution marked the beginning of systemic marginalization. The grievances that fueled the 2016 protests were not spontaneous; they were the culmination of decades of pent-up frustration over the erosion of their political autonomy, cultural identity, and economic opportunities.
The human cost of the war that has been going on now for nearly nine years is staggering. Beyond the recent soldier casualties, the conflict has claimed at least 6,500 lives according to the International Crisis Group. About a million others have been forced to flee their homes to escape indiscriminate violence, burning villages, and widespread human rights abuses committed by both sides.
There are legitimate fears that more violence lies ahead as the school year begins, given separatists have long made a school boycott a cornerstone of the separatist struggle, and as the country heads to a presidential election in October.
Already, separatists have imposed lockdowns, saying they want to disrupt the new school year as well as the October presidential poll.
“Apart from the Monday lockdowns [for long, separatists had imposed lockdowns in the two regions every Monday], the ‘boys’ have said that beginning Monday September 8 when schools reopened for the 2025/2026 academic year, the two regions will be on a complete lockdown until the election in October,” taxi man and Catholic Christian, Ernest Shu Tegha told Crux.
“How do I survive for over a month if I cannot work,” he said.
Catholic bishops in the two regions have continued to plead with the separatists to allow kids back in school.
Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya told Crux that “it is unethical for Children to be used as a weapon of war.”
“We continue to plead that our children should be allowed to go back to school,” he said. Government officials have also been front and center in the effort to get kids back to school in the two regions.
“It is the right of every child to be educated; to have free, equitable and inclusive education,” said Dr. Asheri Kilo, the Secretary of State for Basic Education, in an interview of the Cameroon state broadcaster, CRTV.
“Why would anybody want to stop that,” she asked.
For some time, there had been an uneasy calm in both regions. In an exclusive interview on local Television channel, Equinox, Nkea said “a bit of social life has been returning to Bamenda.”
The archbishop said four years ago, the streets went quiet before 6 Pm every day. Today however, “you can see people drinking right up to ten PM. People are now free to organize funerals and weddings,” he said, but warned that such moments should not be confused with a return to peace.
“The situation is still very volatile,” Nkea said.
“I have made this distinction before. The fact that people are coming back, the fact that shops are opening more and more, the fact that people are beginning to celebrate funerals, more marriages openly and go right into the night does not explain the end of the crisis,” he explained.
“It is simply telling us that either people are getting used to the crisis or there is an uneasy detente. There’s an uneasy calm and we don’t know what can happen at any time. Let us not be deceived by social life returning to our communities and interpret that as the end of the crisis,” the archbishop added.
That warning is now materializing with the current lockdowns.
Source: Crux