Pope blasts ‘tyrants’ ravaging the planet during his visit to Cameroon

Bamenda, Cameroon – Pope Leo

Liu traveled to the city of Bamenda in western Cameroon, where cheering crowds blocked roads, honked horns and danced. They were thrilled that the Pope had gone this far to see them and shine a global spotlight on the violence that has traumatized this region for nearly a decade.

Liu chaired a peace meeting that included a traditional Mancunian leader, a Presbyterian mediator, an imam and a Catholic nun. The goal was to highlight the interfaith movement that seeks to end the conflict and care for its many victims.

In his remarks at St. Joseph’s Cathedral, on land donated by the Mancunians, Liu praised the peace movement and warned against allowing religion to get into conflicts. This is a topic he kept repeating amid the American-Israeli war in Iran and the religious justifications for it by American officials.

“Blessed are the peacemakers!” He said. “But woe to those who manipulate religion and in the name of God for their military, economic and political gains, and drag the sacred into darkness and filth.”

He called for a “decisive change in course” away from conflict and exploitation of land for military or economic gains.

“The world is being destroyed by a handful of tyrants, yet held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters!” He said.

Liu’s comments were directed at the separatist conflict in Cameroon. But Vatican officials explained that on this trip he is preaching the evangelical message of peace that transcends borders and continents, and is directed to all those responsible for the wars and exploitation sweeping the earth.

Liu said Bamenda was a model for the rest of the world. “Bamenda, today you are the city on the hill, shining in everyone’s eyes!” Liu said in English, using a phrase often taken to refer to American exceptionalism.

It was not immediately clear whether any of Cameroon’s separatist fighters, who announced a three-day cessation of fighting to allow the Pope safe passage to Bamenda, had attended.

A conflict rooted in colonial history

The roots of the conflict in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions go back to Cameroon’s colonial history, when the country was divided between France and Britain after World War I. The English-speaking regions later joined French Cameroon in a UN-backed vote in 1961, but separatists say they have been marginalized politically and economically since then.

In 2017, Anglophone separatists launched an insurgency with the stated aim of separating from the French-speaking majority and establishing an independent state. The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced more than 600,000 others, according to the International Crisis Group.

Leo arrived to a raucous reception in Bamenda, where music blaring from speakers gave the event a concert-like atmosphere.

“We’re thrilled, we’re thrilled,” said Felicity Cali, a Catholic student. “Say thank you, God, for this extraordinary day and for making us alive to see this day.”

Liu continued this theme in his sermon to an estimated 20,000 people gathered for an afternoon mass at Bamenda Airport, who went wild as he drove around the crowd in his covered papal car. Liu pointed to the “moral, social and political corruption” that Cameroon suffers from and which stifles its development.

He added that to these internal problems of conflict and corruption are added “the damage caused externally, by those who, in the name of profit, continue to lay their hands on the African continent to exploit and plunder it.”

It was a cry that echoed the words of Pope Francis when he traveled to Congo in 2023. “Hands off Africa!” He urged foreign interests to plunder the continent.

The separatist movement in Cameroon is believed to be supported by many actors abroad. In December, a US federal jury convicted two people of conspiring to provide money and equipment to separatist fighters. The Belgian authorities also announced in March that they had arrested four people as part of investigations into Belgian citizens suspected of being among the separatist leaders and collecting money for them there.

“Those who steal your land’s resources generally invest most of the profits in weapons, perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilization and death,” Liu said. “It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that every honest conscience must denounce and reject.”

Cameroon has significant reserves of oil, natural gas, cobalt, bauxite, iron ore, gold and diamonds, making resource extraction one of the pillars of its economy.

While French and English companies have long dominated Cameroon’s extraction industry, Chinese companies have established a significant presence in recent years, especially in gold mining areas in the east.

Although the number of deadly attacks by separatists has declined in recent years, the conflict shows no sign of resolution. Peace talks with international mediators have faltered, with both sides accusing each other of acting in bad faith.

Maureen Ngom, a mother of three whose husband was shot dead in 2022 by Cameroonian soldiers while fighting as a separatist, expressed doubts that the pope’s visit and peace meeting would lead to tangible change. She said that any real progress must start with those in power.

“Nothing will change,” said 30-year-old Nujoom. “This conflict has turned my children into orphans and me into widows. Many families have become homeless.”

Testimony to the Pope about the toll of the conflict

The Archbishop of Bamenda, Andrew Nkya Fwanya, told LEO that people there suffered “a situation they did not create”, losing their livelihoods, homes and education: children had not been allowed to go to school for years.

He said: “Holy Father, today your feet stand on the soil of Bamenda, which has drunk the blood of many of our children.”

The Rev. Funke Samuel Forba, honorary superintendent of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, said the Vatican joined other religious groups in trying to bring the separatists to the negotiating table with the government, and to meet with their supporters abroad.

Biya’s government was accused of avoiding dialogue with the separatists.

“There is a saying in Africa that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers,” Forba said.