Cameroon’s leading prelate has condemned the “deteriorating” human rights situation in the African country.

Speaking during a Dec. 10 workshop on the state of human rights in Cameroon, Bishop Abraham Kome of Bafang, the president of the bishops’ conference, said freedom of political expression has been significantly limited.

“We have seen the difficulty with which political parties have to manifest. We see – and I say this with a lot of emotion – when we visit our country’s prisons, what we see there is poor infrastructure, poor treatment of inmates, and overcrowding in prison cells. When one sees that, one can only affirm, if one has to speak the truth, that human rights have deteriorated in our country,” he said.

The bishop’s comments came just days after the country’s National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms published its 2018 human rights report in Cameroon.

The report documented arbitrary killings, forced disappearances, and a crackdown on political freedom; as well as noting the limited access to justice for aggrieved persons.

Currently, the government is fighting two major internal conflicts: The first against separatists in the country’s Anglophone regions, and the second against Boko Haram militants in the north.

The report said that in these regions, human rights have been grossly violated, both by insurgents and the country’s military.

“The climate of insecurity degenerated into allegations of violations of the right to life and to physical and moral integrity of persons and property; violations of the right to education, health, private property and access to administrative services and to a fair trial of suspects and the deplorable detention conditions,” the report states.

It further indicated that between January and December 2018, “close to 200 civilians were killed by separatists and government soldiers in the Anglophone regions alone.”

The war that started in 2016 as a protest by Anglophone lawyers and teachers over attempts to destroy the education and common law systems practiced in English speaking regions quickly degenerated into an armed rebellion with many English speakers demanding for outright independence.

The Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, Chemuta Divine Banda, said Cameroon’s separatist war was fast becoming an enterprise, “with war lords stepping into the picture to make benefits through kidnappings and ransom taking.”

“There are people who don’t want this conflict to end,” he told Crux.

The report speaks broadly about poor prison conditions, limited access to justice for accused persons, the torching of schools that has forced about 800,000 children out of education, as well as attempts by the government to limit access to freedom of speech and assembly.

The country has come under increasing scrutiny by the international community, with Human Rights Watch stating in its 2018 report that in its fight against separatists in the country’s English speaking North West and South West regions, “government security forces have committed extrajudicial executions, burned property, carried out arbitrary arrests, and tortured detainees.”

Even the Trump administration has weighed in with a damning report on Cameroon’s human rights record.

Electoral code can’t guarantee free and fair elections

In his remarks, Kome also took aim at Cameroon’s electoral code with just weeks until the next legislative and municipal elections in Cameroon and called for its revision.

“The electoral code does not guarantee the transparency and authenticity of electoral results,” the bishop said.

Kome said a revision of the code was needed to “guarantee the peoples’ human right to freely choose the leaders they want.”

The opposition has consistently called for the introduction of a single ballot, the redistribution of electoral constituencies, as well as the complete computerization of the electoral process.

The secretary general of the opposition Social Democratic Front said his party will introduce legislation on the revision of the electoral code during the ongoing parliamentary session. It’s a similar stance taken by the party of Maurice Kamto who claims he won the last presidential election in Cameroon.

Cameroonians will go to the polls February 9 to elect municipal offices and members of the national legislature, but some observers say that election could be a recipe for violence especially in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.

Source: Crux

Dear Friends in Christ,

Deeply troubled by recent events in Cameroon, I would invite all Presbyterians to join me in praying for justice, peace, and security for the people of Cameroon.

I know that there are many in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who are painfully aware of the ongoing legacies of colonial rule in Cameroon, a modern nation created with regionally distinct French- and English-speaking communities. We have watched with alarm as initially peaceful protests by lawyers and teachers concerning the erosion of the Anglophone identity in the judicial and educational sectors were met with force. In the absence of dialogue, positions hardened and violence has intensified over the past three years with a call to create an independent nation and the formation of militias.

Since the presidential elections in October 2018, violence and armed attacks have spread from rural areas into cities such as Buea and Bamenda, regional capitals for areas that are home to the country’s Anglophone minority. At least 200 villages have been raided, and farms, hospitals, and schools have been burned and partially or entirely destroyed. Children are unable to attend school as more than 80 percent of the Presbyterian schools in Northwest and Southwest regions are not operating for the fourth year now. Presbyterian World Mission and Presbyterian Hunger Program have provided strong accompaniment to our partners in Cameroon who are caught in this crisis.

According to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, roughly half a million people have been internally displaced in Cameroon, while more than 35,000 have fled across the border into neighboring Nigeria. Those displaced struggle to survive. Often, they sleep outdoors or live in makeshift shelters in forests and other remote locations. Some find temporary accommodation with friends or family members, but their presence imposes additional strains on vulnerable households with limited resources.

Humanitarian agencies, including ecumenical bodies, have been working diligently to address the underlying tensions and to provide security and relief to those displaced. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, in particular, seeks to address basic needs for food, clothing, bedding, and hygiene among those who have fled to Nigeria.

Let us pray for our sisters and brothers in Cameroon and, in particular, for those who have been forced to flee their homes. Let us remember, too, our global partners in both communities in Cameroon — the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC), the Eglise Presbytérienne Camerounaise (EPC) and RELUFA, and ecumenical bodies working in the region. May God grant them gifts of wisdom, compassion, and discernment that they may find ways, together and separately, to advance justice, peace, and reconciliation for all of Cameroon’s people. Please pray further for Cameroon’s political leaders and security personnel, that they may put aside personal interests and prejudice to provide equal protection and opportunities for all citizens, regardless of their backgrounds.

I would also invite those who feel able to do so to contribute to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s support for Cameroonian refugees through gifts to account DR000168. Please designate your gift for “Humanitarian Assistance Cameroon.”

Let us look to God, our help, our hope, and our salvation.

Source: PCUSA

Catholic prelates are leading two “peace caravans” to inform the people of Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of the resolutions of the Oct. 29-Nov. 4 “Major National Dialogue” aimed at ending a secessionist rebellion in the country.

Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions have been experiencing a civil conflict since 2016, when demonstrations broke out after there were demands to use French – the majority language in Cameroon – in their common law courts and English-modeled schools.

English speakers make up around 20 percent of the country’s population and have long complained about being marginalized by the French-speaking ruling class.

After Cameroon’s security forces’ heavy-handed response – including using live ammunition on demonstrators – rebel movements arose calling for the independence of Anglophone Cameroon, saying the new country would be called Ambazonia.

The conflict has left at least 3,000 people dead and over 500,000 displaced.

Cardinal Christian Tumi, the emeritus Archbishop of Douala, has been leading the caravan to the North West region, and Bishop Andrew Nkea of Mamfe has been heading the caravan to the South West region.

The two prelates have been outspoken in their condemnation of the abuses by both sides in the conflict and have both also been strong advocates for the rights of the Anglophone community in Cameroon. Their participation should lend credibility to the national dialogue, which was boycotted by the rebel groups.

In separate meetings to kick-start their tour, the cardinal and the bishop both made it clear that violence can never be a solution to any problem.

“It’s a campaign to promote peace between us; you cannot have peace without love,” Tumi said.

“Peace is the key word. Without peace, there is nothing,” the cardinal added, before describing the pains inflicted by separatists on some citizens.

“I know of a young man whose hands were chopped off. He is now handicapped for life,” he said.

“It’s our children, our brothers and sisters who are fighting, cutting the hands off those who are going to school,” Tumi said, and called on separatists not to be fighting “their brothers and sisters.”

Drawing parallels with the peace efforts made after World War II, the cardinal said that “violence will never lead us anywhere; World War II ended up in dialogue, and the United Nations was founded precisely to make sure it never happens again.”

The cardinal also denounced attacks on local plantation workers that have crippled the economy of the two Anglophone regions, and condemned the fact that separatists made a school boycott a corner stone of their fighting strategy.

He said the approach of the “peace caravan” was aimed at changing hearts and minds.

“To these our children who are hiding in the bushes and in the forests, the way of talking to them matters,” Tumi said.

“We should talk to them with understanding, talk to them with gentleness. Why not invite them to your table and offer them a cup of coffee and then you talk with them,” the cardinal explained.

In the country’s South West region, Nkea expressed his concerns that the conflict had led to the dehumanization of the local population, the destruction of local businesses, the crippling of the education sector, and the significant loss of human life.

As part of efforts to ensure that the peace caravans gain legitimacy, the Mamfe bishop said local leaders who had failed the people should not be part of the caravans and went as far as to call on them to resign.

Nkea noted that most elected officials in the Anglophone regions – members of parliament, senators and mayors – have fled the area since the fighting began, which the bishop called a dereliction of duty.

“This caravan is people-oriented … If people elect you to represent them and you are disconnected from them, then you don’t have any reason to be representing them,” the prelate said.

Nkea said the peace caravans have a duty to explain the resolutions of the Major National Dialogue to the people and warned against making unkeepable promises that could raise expectations too high.

“We should be realistic. We should not invent. We are going, not to please the people, but to explain,” he said.

Explaining the “special status”

As part of efforts to resolve the Anglophone problem, Cameroon’s government has proposed a special status for the two English-speaking regions. The arrangement would give more autonomy and protect their identity as a people.

“The issue of special status must be well explained. As we go around talking, this special status has to be made for everyone to understand what it is,” Nkea said.

The peace caravans have their work cut out for them. Separatist rebels have been targeting clergy, accusing them of collaboration with the government for participating in the peace process.

One priest was murdered by rebels on Nov. 1 in a kidnapping for a ransom gone wrong.

Crux

Every Christian is a “rebel against evil,” according to Cameroon’s lone cardinal.

Speaking during a program on Cameroonian state television, Cardinal Christian Tumi also called on Christians to become more involved in politics.

“Every Christian is a rebel against all that is not good-that is morally evil. A Christian is a rebel against lies,” Tumi said.

“Politics is part of the world and Christ has told us: Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel message. Wherever there is man acting; the Church has to be present,” he said.

“We are therefore called to evangelize the politicians and politics, because their activity also is preparing them for the kingdom of God. There is no activity that is out of the region of the church,” Tumi continued.

The program brought together Christian leaders from different denominations to discuss relations between Church and State in the West African country, which is currently experiencing a number of crises, including a rebellion in the country’s two English-speaking provinces. Cameroon is 80 percent French-speaking, and the Anglophone minority has long complained about discrimination and marginalization by the Francophone majority.

Around 70 percent of the country’s population is Christian, almost evenly divided between Catholics and Protestants.

During the program, the President of the Cameroon Baptist Convention, Reverend Godwill Ncham, said he believed in the separation of Church and State, but insisted it doesn’t mean that “the Church or Christians cannot be involved in politics.”

“It is intended to create boundaries so that as a Christian when you get involved in politics, you don’t turn the political platform into a Church,” the Baptist minister said.

“So I believe the dichotomy of Christians not involved in politics is not true to scripture, because the Christian life calls the Christian to engage all of life. There is also the false dichotomy of circular and sacred. I am first a Christian before a pastor; and my Christian life calls me to engage the traditional sinful background from which I come unto transformation, and I am supposed to engage others and bring them to transformation as well .So to say that a Christian should not be involved in politics because he would dirty himself is inadequate. A Christian should be involved in politics in order to clean up the politics,” Ncham continued.

Tumi even said that if had not become a Catholic priest, he would have become a politician.

“Politics is good. Take for instance; President Paul Biya. He will answer for the role he has played as the head of state of a people of God. The people in every country are the people of God, created by Him. Every power comes from God, and therefore they must exercise power with fear, and look at their power as occasions to serve,” the cardinal said.

Tumi criticized politicians for telling lies and making promises they never intend to keep, and said Christian politicians should be able to inject truth into politics.

“The Truth is the agreement between what I am saying and what I am thinking. If what I am thinking contradicts what I am saying, I am telling a lie. And we pastors have been called and sent by God to promote the truth. Christ is the truth. ‘I am the Truth, I am the light, I am the way,’ says Christ. The truth is objective. If it is not objective, it’s not true,” he explained.

Tumi said the Christian’s mission should also be to sanitize politics, because “Christ came to save the sinner, not the saint.”

“So where sin abounds, the Grace of God also abounds. So therefore, wherever a human being is found-be he or she good or bad, we have to be there to try to bring the lost child back to the fold,” he said.

The Christian leaders were unanimous that the state was “at war” against the Church.

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rt. Rev. Samuel Fonki Forba, accused the government of undermining religious studies.

“Religious studies in our schools should not be mocked and treated as a side issue,” he said.

“What is happening in our country is because the morals of our society have gone down the drain, and we must do something to keep those morals. When things are bad, that’s when they (political leaders) call on religious leaders to come and have an ecumenical prayer session for the nation,” Forba continued.

“When things are moving the way they want them to move, the Church is not recognized. And so we are saying that we have a lot to offer; to partner with the state of Cameroon to change the present dispensation. They must recognize the role of the Church in all of this,” he said.

Tumi was even more harsh in his criticism of the government, reprimanding the state for excluding religious studies in competitive examinations for professional schools.

“It’s a fight against us. It’s a fight by the government against us,” the cardinal said.

“You are telling the children that religion is not so important, and it betrays your ignorance. The highest university in England is Oxford University and the highest degree you get in Oxford University is DD – Doctor of Divinity, and that’s religion,” he said.

The animosity of the Cameroonian government against the Church reached a head in 2017 when the Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua of Bamenda, his auxiliary Bishop Michael Bibi, Bishop George Nkuo of Kumbo, two priests – Fathers Michael Kintang and William Neba – and ministers from other denominations were dragged to court for  statements made in connection with the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon’s North West and South West regions.

Ncham said such extreme measures by the state are to be expected.

“The Church being taken to court is expected, because if you look at the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those who thirst after righteousness’; and he says those who are peacemakers and who thirst after righteousness will be persecuted. So we consider the being taken to court as being part of the persecution of the Church trying to fill its role in the community,” the Baptist minister said. “And it shouldn’t hurt us to produce wounds that will not heal, it should fortify us to be resilient to continue to play our role in the community.”

Source: Crux

“Raise not your hand against the Anointed of Yahweh”(1Sam.26:11)

(Pastoral Letter to all the Christians and People of Good will in the Diocese of Mamfe about the recent Kidnapping of Priests in Central Ejagham Area, in Mamfe Diocese)

My dear People of God,

1. When the Diocese of Mamfe was created on the 9^th of February 1999, it was a moment of grace and great joy to all the people of God in Manyu Division, Lebialem Division and Nguti Subdivision in Kupe Muanenguba Division whose territory corresponds to the territorial circumscription of the new Diocese of Mamfe. It is an indisputable fact that   this territory of the Diocese of Mamfe has known a lot of spiritual growth, economic development and social progress since the creation of the Diocese. Of all the parishes of the Diocese, there is no one that has not felt the motherly hand of the Diocese in its growth, especially through the instrumentality of the young and dynamic priests of the Diocese who sacrifice and work through the very difficult terrain of the Diocese to ensure that the Gospel reaches all the corners of the Diocese.

• This year 2019 marks exactly 20 years since the creation of our beloved Diocese of Mamfe, and again, it is a moment of immense gratitude to God for all that we have achieved so far. We render  thanks to God for the blessings he showered upon Bishop Frnacis Teke Lysinge, pioneer Bishop of the Diocese of Mamfe for the first fifteen years of the Diocese, especially for the solid foundation he laid and the way he sacrificed himself for the smooth take off of the Diocese. I also thank God for the short time I spent with him as Co-Adjutor Bishop and for the blessings he has bestowed upon me during the last five years that I have led the diocese of Mamfe as the Local Ordinary. We have every reason to thank God. However, it is clear that we could not organize a grand celebration of  the 20^th Anniversary of the Diocese because of the prevailing socio-political crisis that has rocked the southwest and northwest regions in the past three years. Mamfe was one of the first places to be hit very badly by the crisis, as it was one of the first places where violence escalated and resulted to deaths, loss of property, grave insecurity, many internally Displaced Persons and many refugees who ran into Nigeria.

• In all these difficulties, the priests stood with their people and made sure that they consoled and comforted them through the words of the Gospel and the daily celebration of the Sacraments. Through the heavy gun shots, the fire and the dangers to life, our heroic priests remained among their people as true shepherds who would never abandon their sheep in times of danger. Like Jesus the Good Shepherd, the priests of the Diocese of Mamfe were ready at all times to “Lay down their lives for their sheep”(Jn.10:15). This pastoral consciousness and commitment even ended up in  the tragic death of Rev. Fr. Cosmas Ondari Omboto, the Parochial Vicar of Kembong Parish. Yet the priests did not feel discouraged and they did not abandon their flock, not even in Kembong.

• I am addressing this pastoral letter to all of you about some unfortunate recent events  that have happened in our Diocese in the last two weeks, especially in the Central Ejagham Area. In the morning of  20^th of October, 2019, some unknown Gunmen who claim to be members of the restoration forces of Ambazonia, abducted Rev. Fr. Felix Sunday, a Nigerian “Fidei Donum” Priest and Parish priest of Afap, when he had just celebrated Mass in a Mission station and was returning to Afap for the second Mass. They kept him overnight and only released him on Monday the 21^st of October, 2019. On that same Sunday, 20^th October, another group of young men with guns waited on the road between Ewelle and Ajayukndip to abduct the Assistant Priest of Kembong Parish, Fr. Gabriel Romeo Foukwa, but the Angel of God intervened and Father missed the road and arrived his parish through a different route. The same fateful day, 20^th October, there were plans by again another group of armed young men to kidnap the Parish Priest of Eyumojock, the Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Dzesinyuy in Tabor. But the innocent priest celebrated Mass without knowing anything and left before his kidnappers arrived. On Friday, 1^st November, 2019, four gunmen went into the Presbytery of Kembong Parish where the young Fr. Cosmas Ondari was brutally murdered, and surrendered the parish priest and his assistant at gun point and requested that they must be given one million Francs CFA before they are released. Eventually they released them without any ransom paid. What was painful about these abductions is that some of the Christians knew either hours or days before hand that this would happen and never warned the priests.

• What is the crime of these priests? The young men who have been perpetrating these heinous acts against the priests claim that they are venting their anger against the Bishop of Mamfe because he attended the Grand National Dialogue in Yaounde, and that all those who attended the Dialogue from Manyu must pay a fine of 500.000 frs CFA each. Therefore, they told the Priests that their target was the Bishop and until he paid his fine, they would track him down and kidnap him. The truth is that I don’t have this kind of money to pay to anybody.

• It is clear that it is not only the priests who are suffering in the hands of some of these armed boys in various villages, but the entire population is not getting it easy in their hands either. The boys claimed that they took up guns to protect the population and it is a great contradiction that these guns are now being used to terrorize the very population they claimed to be protecting. We all joined to decry the brutality of the military against the people but now it is our own children who have turned against their own people and they think it is normal?

• When  David found out that King Saul was helpless and sleeping, his servant Abishai urged him to kill him, but David said, “Yahweh Forbid that I should raise my hand against Yahweh’s anointed”. He warned Abishai in the following words, “For who can lift his hand against Yahweh’s anointed and be without guilt?”(1Sam.26:9). Touching the anointed one of God never goes without a guilt and this guilt follows such a person right into the grave. The priest is a man of God and all those who lay hands on such an anointed incur a malediction upon themselves.

• The gospel of John tells us that when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and he asked them who they wanted, at the mention of his Name, “Jesus of Nazareth”, they all went back and fell on the ground. It did not dawn on them that they were going to commit the most atrocious act in history, by laying hands on the Son of God(cf John 18:1-10). When they brought Jesus to Pilate and questioned him, Jesus ended his dialogue with Pilate by stating that “the one who handed me over to you has the greater guilt”(Jn.19:11).  Let us not make the mistake of the killers of Jesus who said to Pilate, “Let his blood be on our heads and on our children”. These are words that carry heavy and very lasting consequences.

• The Code of Canon Law states the following sanctions upon those who lay violent hands upon clerics and religious: “A person who uses physical force against the Roman Pontiff incurs a latae Sententiae Excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See…”(Can.1370 par.1);  “One who does this against a Bishop incurs a latae sententiae interdict and if a cleric, he incurs also a latae sententiae suspension”(Can.1370 par.2); “A person who uses physical force against a cleric or religious out of contempt for the faith, or the church, or ecclesiastical authority or ministry, is to be punished with a just penalty”(Can.1370 par.3).  This is the teaching of the Church and it is important that all those who violate these law either knowingly or unknowingly, be aware of the consequences.

1. Because of the constant threat to the lives of priests coming from the very people they are risking their lives to serve, I have decided on the following action:
   1. I have withdrawn all the priests from the Parishes of Kembong, Ossing and Eyumojock and they will be out of the Parishes till further notice. This will hold good for any other parish where the people decide to harass their priests.
   1. These boys who harass the priests are from these villages, and until the population dialogues with their children and give me a written guarantee  of the safety of the pastors who work for them, the parishes will remain without pastors.
   1. I have suspended all development projects in these parishes because the very people for whom the projects are meant, have made the areas unsafe for any development, and even those who work on these projects are not safe.

1. I appeal to the boys who have caused this embarrassment to the entire Christian community and their villages, to change their hearts and work towards the growth and progress of their various communities. They should collaborate with their village and Christian leaders, so that their priests can return soonest to their parishes and continue to work in peace. I appeal equally to those who give them orders to do such acts against the people, to stop from pushing these our brothers into calling malediction upon themselves.

1. As I round up this letter, I invite all the Christians to appreciate and value their priests, especially for the services they render to them. Your priests love you and they are ready to continue serving you with all their hearts, their minds and their energy. Yet in these prevailing unfortunate circumstances, each priest can sorrowfully look at his people and echo the adapted words of the Reproaches during the  Good Friday Liturgy saying:

“My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me.

I pray for you everyday and celebrate Masses for you; but you have wished evil on me.

In the confessional I bring you freedom from sin; but you have led me to captivity with your guns.

Through Caritas I bring food to your hungry, bring medication to those who are sick, and bring the pregnant women to the hospital; but you threaten me with death.

I have suffered with you to protect you, cried with you for the dead; but now you turn round to destroy me.

I have built churches for you, presbyteries, schools etc, but today you pull me out of the mission house and turn me to an Internally Displaced Person without shelter.

My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me.”

1. In conclusion, I want to assure all the Christians of these parishes of my pastoral solicitude and my prayers. Like the Chief Pastor of the Diocese of Mamfe, I wish to borrow the words of Christ and pray for these boys who are disturbing our priests and say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”(Luke 23:34). I will never stop loving the people of Mamfe Diocese and giving my all for them. There is no family without difficulties, but the Christian faith helps us to solve our problems peacefully without violence and move ahead as one family.

May Mary the Queen of Peace intercede for us and may God bless the people of Mamfe Diocese.

Given in Mamfe, this 9^th Day of November, 2019, the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.

+Andrew NKEA,

Bishop of Mamfe