Cameroonians living abroad are fanning the flames of the separatist conflict in the English-speaking regions, according to Archbishop Avelino Bettencourt, the Vatican representative to the Central African country.

The separatist crisis in Cameroon began in 2016 when lawyers and teachers in the English-speaking regions protested against the marginalization by the predominantly French-speaking government. The situation escalated into a full-blown separatist conflict, with armed groups in the northwest and southwest regions seeking independence for a new state called Ambazonia. The conflict has led to the deaths of more than 6,000 people, the displacement of over a million, and the destruction of property.

In a wide-ranging interview published September 16 in local newspaper, Municipal Updates, the Papal Nuncio said violence of any kind cannot be justified, and noted that he has seen up and close the human suffering in Cameroon’s war-torn English speaking regions, the Northern regions afflicted by Boko Haram as well as the difficulties Central African refugees living in the east of the country are going through.

Narrowing down on the separatist war in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions, and the role of the diaspora in supporting the conflict, the pope’s representative challenged diaspora Cameroonians to be conveyors of love and hope, instead of being the tools for violence.

“I believe when you are out of your country, your nation is even dearer to you,” Bettencourt said.

“And that love, if it is love, can only be real if it is to promote peace in your homeland. I would encourage all the diaspora to love their homeland because it is beautiful and rich in traditions and it is worth giving one’s life for peace,” he explained.

In comments to Crux, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of the Bamenda Archdiocese in the separatist stronghold of the North West Region of Cameroon echoed a similar feeling, blasting the diaspora for supporting and abetting a crisis without fully understanding the harm it’s causing the people.

“Our diaspora is so involved because they are not living in Cameroon. They lack adequate information and do not have firsthand experience of the crisis.” Nkea said.

“They see images on social media and hear about events that have occurred. When people are killed in Bamenda, I am the first to arrive at the scene. When houses are burned, I am the first to witness it. So, I speak from personal experience,” he added.

He emphasized the importance of firsthand experience in understanding the true impact of the crisis.

“Regardless of how connected these people are to social media, they lack firsthand experience, which is why they can make the statements they do,” he told Crux.

Nkea expressed a reluctance to engage in discussions about Anglophone problems with those who are not on the ground.

The archbishop’s argument, which he has made on several other occasions, highlights the growing divide between those experiencing the crisis firsthand and those observing from afar, raising questions about the role of the diaspora in addressing the issues facing the Anglophone regions of Cameroon.

But that argument has typically not been taken well with the diaspora, who have accused the archbishop of dishonesty in his assessment of the role of the diaspora in the ongoing crisis.

Chris Annu – leader of one of the factions fighting to create the nation called Ambazonia – has in a YouTube declaration blasted the President of the Cameroonian Episcopal Conference for being “deeply dishonest” in his assessment of the role of the diaspora, and for striving to be “politically correct.”

“Diaspora members who have lost loved ones and property to both La Republique du Cameroun soldiers and rogue Ambazonian elements understand the devastation firsthand. Diaspora leaders he [the archbishop] disparages are deeply informed and genuinely care about the people,” he said.

The Apostolic Nuncio in his interview appealed for dialogue as the only viable way of getting out of the crisis.

“I think at the end of the day, we need to talk to each other with a certain amount of humility and a certain amount of desire to attain the better good of the population,” Bettencourt said.

“We have to work together. All the forces have to work together – be it the religious leaders from all denominations, all social institutions together with security and military and the government. We are people who believe in law and order, and anything less than law and order is chaos,” the Vatican representative said.

Nkea emphasized that meaningful dialogue can only occur if the appropriate atmosphere is established, which, in his view, requires the cessation of violence.

The archbishop also rejected the notion that peace can only be achieved through justice. Citing the example of America, which he described as one of the most unjust societies in the world, Nkea pointed out that this injustice has not led Americans to engage in widespread violence.

“We should have peace, and then we can fight for justice,” he told Crux.

Culled from Crux

Archbishop Andrew Nkea has strongly rejected the notion that opposition to the LGBT agenda is based simply on African cultural norms.

“Our stand had nothing to do with culture,” said Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda, Cameroon. “It was about fidelity to the truth; fidelity to what Christ taught. It was about fidelity to what the Apostles handed down to generations.”

Archbishop Nkea, who is president of the Cameroon bishops’ conference, said that African bishops spoke forcefully against blessings for same-sex marriage during the last session of the Synod of Bishops, and in response to the papal document Fiducia Supplicans. “We are going back to the second session with the same vehement rejection of that document,” he said.

Source: Catholic Culture

The Catholic Bishop of Buea Diocese in Cameroon has “strongly” condemned the killing of police officers in the country’s Southwest region following an attack on their security post located in his Episcopal See.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa on Monday, August 26, Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi weighs in on the August 24 attack that reportedly resulted in the death of three police officers and injury of others; he appeals for peace in the troubled regions of the Central African nation.

“On Saturday, August 24, 2024, three policemen were killed by unidentified gunmen at Bwitingi, a locality in Buea Subdivision, Fako Division of the Southwest Region of Cameroon, Diocese of Buea,” Bishop Bibi says.

He adds, “From my visit to the site of the incident, three police officers on duty were killed in an attack which occurred around 10:30 P.M. The makeshift police post where the attack happened was established as a measure to protect civilians in the context of the ongoing armed conflict in the North-West and South West regions of Cameroon.”

“I strongly condemn any act that violates human life and pray for the conversion of the perpetrators of violence in our midst and for a return to peace and stability,” the Cameroonian Catholic Bishop says.

He continues, “The Church remains close to the families, friends, and relatives of the deceased. We equally pray for the eternal repose of the souls of the victims of this attack.”

“Every time we hear of killings in the context of the ongoing crisis, we are reminded that if we do not abandon the path of violence and seek the path of peace, violence will definitely continue to inflict pain, hurt, and trauma on us all,” he said.

The Catholic Church leader, who has been at the helm of Buea Diocese since December 2019, first as Apostolic Administrator, and since February 2021, as the Local Ordinary adds, “As Christians and people of goodwill, we must always remember the commandment of God: Thou shall not kill.”

Cameroon’s English-speaking regions plunged into conflict in 2016 after a protest by lawyers and teachers turned violent.

An armed movement of separatists claiming independence for the so-called republic of Ambazonia emerged following the government’s crackdown on protesters.

School boycotts have become common in these areas, as have enforced moratoriums on public life, resulting in what is known as “ghost towns”.

In his August 25 statement, Bishop Bibi reflects on the ongoing crisis, emphasizing the value of giving peace a chance.

“The integral development of our country requires peace. This peace that we seek as Christians is true peace. Peace which is not limited to maintaining a balance of powers between adversaries,” he says.

The Catholic Church leader who started his Episcopal Ministry as Auxiliary Bishop of Cameroon’s Bamenda Archdiocese in March 2017 explains that “peace cannot be attained on earth without safeguarding the goods of persons, free communication among men, respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, and the assiduous practice of fraternity. Peace is the tranquillity of order. Peace is the work of justice and the effect of charity.”

He appeals to the people of God under his pastoral care “to pray for a speedy return to peace in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon, the peaceful repose of the souls of the departed victims of Saturday’s incident, and for stakeholders of the crisis to seek peaceful means to sustainable peace.”

Source: aciafrica

Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt, the pope’s representative to Cameroon, is urging Christians to remove the obstacles to peace as the central African country reels from a separatist crisis to the west and Boko Haram incursions to the north.

The Apostolic Nuncio was speaking August 14 during the annual Diocesan Peace Pilgrimage held at St. Joseph Cathedral of Bafoussam Diocese.

He emphasized the divine origin of peace and condemned all forms of violence.

“Peace is the creation of God. It is also a gift from God. Violence is the creation of evil. Violence is never justified. Let us stop any obstacles to peace,” the archbishop said.

He urged Christians to “carry our branches of peace with conviction, with humility, and raise them up to the Lord.”

“Let us place them in our doors, in our windows. Let us make everybody know that we have new symbols of life, not a Monday that is a symbol of death because of someone’s definition, but a branch of life which is a symbol of life and freedom and resurrection in Christ,” Bettencourt said.

The reference to Monday as “a symbol of death” is predicated on the fact that separatists in Cameroon’s two English-speaking North West and South West regions have enforced lockdowns on Mondays as they seek to undermine state presence.

Those who violate the lockdowns are kidnapped, tortured or even killed.

Bettencourt said it was critical that those who pursue peace should do so in humility, and respect towards others.

“I have to be humble before God. I have to be humble before my brother Bishops. We all must be humble before each other in order to be able to understand each other,” the Portuguese-born archbishop said.

“Violence is not justified today, which is Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, or Monday, or Tuesday. It doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, because every day is a creation of God,” he added.

Violence erupted in the two English-speaking regions in 2016 when the government responded to teachers and lawyers’ strikes with lethal violence.

The teachers and lawyers in the two regions were striking over what they saw as the overwhelming influence of French in Anglo-Saxon schools and courts.

The government’s violent response led most Anglophones to coalesce around a common theme: The time had come for them to reaffirm their identity as Anglophones, with a distinct educational and legal system.

But it also led to the growth of a separatist wing who felt that the only way for Anglophones to practice their legal, education and political systems was to break away and form a separate nation to be called Ambazonia.

The conflict is now in its eighth year, and has led to the deaths of at least 6000 people, according to the International Crisis Group. More than one million others have been displaced, with more than 70,000 seeking refuge in Nigeria.

The United Nations says 2.2 million of the Anglophone regions’ four million people need humanitarian support while about 600,000 children have been deprived of effective schooling because of the conflict.

The country also faces a reinvigorated jihadist insurgency with deadly attacks in the Lake Chad area. According to the International Crisis Group, the war with Boko Haram, centered in the Far North, has killed over 3,000 Cameroonians, displaced about 250,000.

During the Bafoussam pilgrimage, Christians seized another opportunity to pray for peace in their strife-torn nation. Bishop Paul Lontsié-Keuné of Bafoussam urged both individual believers and the collective community to become ambassadors of peace, spreading harmony wherever they go.

The bishop also urged Christians to “do everything necessary to register and vote in the 2025 presidential elections for the candidate they believe will bring peace to Cameroon.”

He said such a vote would “promote social justice in a country where many live in fear due to kidnappings, the rise of hate speech, tribalism, and other challenges.”

Cameroonians are set to vote in a presidential election next year with ailing president, Paul Biya, now in power for over forty years, expected to seek re-election.

Opposition leaders have accused the president of plotting to extend his stay in power after parliament recently passed a bill extending the mandate of members of parliament by one year and shifting parliamentary elections by the same period.

That move has technically knocked off some of Biya’s potential challengers from the ballot. The Cameroon law requires a candidate for the presidency to belong to a political party that has representation in either parliament or in councils.

The country’s main political party, the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) of Prof. Maurice Kamto is neither represented in parliament nor in the councils.

The CRM said it expected to take part in local and parliamentary elections that should have taken place in February 2025. That way, Kamto would have been able to run in the presidential.

Kamto said the law extending the term of parliamentarians, along with a presidential decision postponing local elections, is another ploy by 91-year-old Biya to remain leader for life.

In light of the growing uncertainty in the country, Lontsié-Keuné urged the faithful to “trust in the saving grace of God, not to succumb to fear, and to strive for unity and fraternity while rejecting all forms of tribalism and division among them.”

Source: Crux

Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea of Cameroon’s Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda has outlined six levels of communion, which he said Catholic Priests share in their Priestly ministry.

In his Wednesday, July 31 homily during the opening Mass of the General Assembly of Priests of Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province (BAPEC), Archbishop Nkea highlighted Communion with the Trinity, Communion with the Church, Hierarchical Communion, Communion in the Eucharistic Celebration, Communion in the Exercise of Ministry, and Communion in the Presbyterate as vitally important in the ministry of Priests.

He described the July 31 – August 2 meeting as a “wonderful encounter of faith and fraternity”, and added, “The Priesthood is the strongest brotherhood in the world.”

“We are linked by that special fraternity which flows from the mystical oil of Chrism with which we were anointed during our Priestly ordinations, and nothing can weaken or separate us from this divine brotherhood,” the Cameroonian Catholic Archbishop said at St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary Bambui (STAMS) in Bamenda Archdiocese.

Communion with the Trinity

“The communion of the Priests is fulfilled above all with the Father, the ultimate origin of all his power, with the Son, in whose redemptive mission he participates, with the Holy Spirit who gives him the power for living and fulfilling his pastoral charity,” Archbishop Nkea said.

The Local Ordinary of Bamenda, who doubles as the President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) advocated for “pastoral charity” on the part of Priests.

“Far from being reduced to a series of techniques and methods serving the functional efficacy of the ministry,” he said, pastoral charity “refers to the nature proper of the mission of the church for the salvation of humanity.”

Communion with the Church

“The ecclesia communion of the Priest is lived in diverse ways. In fact, through Sacramental Ordination, he develops special bonds with the Pope, the Episcopal body, his own Bishop, other Priests, and the faithful,” he said.

Communion with the Church, the Archbishop of Bamenda emphasized, “is of utmost importance because without the Church the Priest cannot exist. We are Priests, and we can only experience this Priesthood in its fullness by being in communion with the Church.”

Hierarchical Communion

“Taking form in said ministerial communion are also some precise ties, first of all with the Pope, the college of Bishops, and Priests’ own proper Bishop,” he said referring to communion from the hierarchy viewpoint.

The 58-year-old Catholic Archbishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in August 2013 as the Coadjutor Bishop of Cameroon’s Mamfe Diocese explained, “There can be no genuine Priestly ministry except in communion with the Supreme Pontiff, the Episcopal College, especially with one’s own Diocesan Bishop who deserves that filial respect and obedience promised during the right of ordination.”

“The Priesthood has absolutely no meaning if it is separated from that of the Bishop in whose Priestly ministry we share,” Archbishop Nkea said.

Communion in the Eucharistic Celebration

“Hierarchical communion is most meaningfully expressed in the Eucharistic prayers,” Archbishop Nkea said.

He explained, “When the Priest prays for the Pope, the College of Bishops and his own Bishop, he expresses not only a sentiment of devotion but attests to the authenticity of his celebration as well.”

“The Eucharistic celebration manifests the unity of the Priesthood of Christ in the plurality of his ministers as well as the unity of the sacrifice of the people of God,” he added.

Holy Mass, the Cameroonian Catholic Church leader said, “contributes to the consolidation of the ministerial fraternity existing among Priests. Without the Eucharist, the Priesthood has absolutely no meaning.”

Communion in the Exercise of Ministry

“Each Priest is to have a deep, humble, and filial bond of obedience and charity with the person of the Holy Father and adhere to his Petrine ministry of magisterium, sanctification and governance with exemplary docility,” he said.

Filial union with a Priest’s “own vision is also an indispensable condition for the efficacy of the Priestly ministry,” the Local Ordinary of Bamenda Archdiocese added.

“Priesthood without communion in ministry has no meaning. In this province of Bamenda we have a provincial pastoral plan that binds us in the exercise of our ministry, and therefore we share commitment in the exercise of ministry through this common pastoral plan,” he said.

Besides being an expression of maturity, Archbishop Nkea said, “This adhesion which entails proceeding in unison with the mind of the Bishop, contributes to the education of that unity in communion which is indispensable for the work of evangelization.”

Communion in the Presbyterate

“By virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, each Priest is united to the other members of the Priesthood by specific bonds of apostolic charity, ministry and fraternity,” Archbishop Nkea said.

Priesthood, he said, is “a true family, in which the ties are not of flesh or of blood but come from the grace of Holy Orders.”

“Belonging to a specific Presbyterate always takes place within the context of a particular church, and not for reasons of incarnation, which in no way alters the fact that the Priest too, as a baptized person, belongs in an immediate manner to the universal church,” he explained.

Archbishop Nkea described the Priesthood as “a moving signpost”, and went on to explain, “The signpost stands on one place and indicates the road to heaven. But the Priest is a moving signpost. You are moving as you show the people the way to heaven.”

“You are also moving towards heaven. You cannot be showing the way to heaven, and you are moving towards hell,” he added. 

Archbishop Nkea called upon Priests to “give up everything so as to enter heaven at the end of our lives. It will be a total catastrophe and a waste of life if we direct people to go to heaven and we find ourselves outside heaven.”

Source: aciafrica

Members of the Catholic Women Association (CWA) in Cameroon have, over the last six decades, manifested “great resilience” and hope, Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea of the country’s Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda has said.

In his Wednesday, July 24 homily during the celebration of the 60th Anniversary since CWA was established in Cameroon, Archbishop Nkea also acknowledged with appreciation women’s life of prayer, their perseverance, as well as their determination.

“You have taken an active part in the spiritual growth of the lives of the women in our church. You have worked hard to improve the condition of women and the girl child everywhere. You have done all within your powers to make your parishes and Christian communities true families of God,” he said during the celebration at the Divine Mercy Co-Cathedral of Cameroon’s Catholic Diocese of Buea.

As CWA member, he said, “you have worked hard for the preservation of family values and you have defended the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage and the family. You have contributed greatly to the formation of Priests in our local churches, either through financial contributions or by bringing materials, food, and other necessary items to our seminaries.”

“Women are creatures of great resilience and if women give up on something, it means there is no way for redemption. We see that no matter how bad a child is, the women never lose hope,” the Local Ordinary of Bamenda, who doubles as the President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) emphasized. 

He continued, “Sometimes when men torment the women, they never lose hope. When society becomes hostile and even violent, women never lose hope.”

“This is a great virtue that we have seen in the women, especially during this time that we are going through a lot of difficulties in our regions of the Northwest, the Southwest, the Far North, and the east of Cameroon,” he said referring to the Anglophone crisis.

Archbishop Nkea continued, “In the current socio-political crisis that we are going through in the Northwest and the Southwest regions of Cameroon, the women remain the hope of this nation. It is the women who would save us through their prayers, perseverance, and determination to build fraternity again.”

“Women bring hope to the future. Women always give hope to the desperate and the hopeless. Women give hope when hope is lost,” he further said.

Archbishop Nkea went on to lament the situation in the Central African nation, saying, “Many things are happening in our country today which are not good. But it is you who will save this country.”

“There’s a lot of tension mounting in our country, around various regions for various reasons,” he said, and added, “Thanks be to God the Catholic Women Association exists in all the 10 regions of this country and practically all the 26 dioceses of this country.”

“Women, you are the ones to save this country,” he emphasized during the Eucharistic celebration that was presided over by the Apostolic Nuncio in Cameroon, Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt.

The 58-year-old Catholic Archbishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in August 2013 as the Coadjutor Bishop of Cameroon’s Mamfe Diocese encouraged CWA members in Cameroon to be “prophets, the ones to lead us from hopelessness to hope through your prayers and your witnessing.”

“Dear mothers of the church, you are ambassadors of hope to our society, and you have become ambassadors of hope through the painful experiences and the sufferings that many of you have gone through,” the Archbishop of Bamenda said.

He added, “You have been prominent in all occasions of the Church from Episcopal or Priestly ordinations to final professions of Religious men and women, and any other occasions that are organized by the church at any level. You have promoted the Marian spirituality and you have done your best to imitate the virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is your mother and your model.”

“May God bless you abundantly, forever and ever,” Archbishop Nkea implored.

CWA Cameroon was founded in 1964 under the initiative of Mrs. Anna Foncha with the ecclesiastical approval of the then Local Ordinary of Buea, Bishop Jules Peeters.

Starting off as a small group of women, CWA in Cameroon has grown to about 20,000 registered women all over Cameroon. The association exists in many other parts of the globe.

In his remarks during the event, the Apostolic Nuncio in Cameroon recognized the vital role of CWA in the Church.

“You are important; you are the heart of the Church; you are the arms of the Church,” Archbishop Bettencourt told CWA members in Cameroon on July 24.

Source: aciafrica