Southern Cameroons Crisis: Father John Berinyuy Tatah is freed ⁰

Father John Berinyuy Tatah, parish priest in Babessi, who was abducted on November 15 along with his vicar in southwestern Cameroon, has been freed.

His release on December 2 came a few days after the deadline set by Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda, who had threatened to close Catholic institutions in the region if the priest was not released by November 26.

Last week, the archdiocese organized a peaceful march to demand his release.

Father John and his vicar were abducted on November 15 on their way home from Mass for the inauguration of the PAX Institute at the University of Ndop.

According to Archbishop Fuanya, the two priests were captured in Baba I (a village about 60 km from the town of Bamenda, on the Bamenda-Nkambe ring road, near the town of Babessi) by armed men claiming to be separatist fighters from Ambazonia and taken to an unknown location.

On November 18, four priests and a layman were also captured; they were supposed to negotiate the release of the two priests. The vicar, the four other priests, and the layman were released on November 20, while Father John remained in the hands of his captors.

The circumstances of the priest’s release have not been disclosed. Meanwhile, the Ambazonian rebels who had captured him posted a video on Facebook in which Father John called for dialogue to resolve the crisis in the English-speaking region.

Source: fides.org