Cameroon - The Catholic Bishops of the Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference, in Northern Cameroon, express “shock and utter horror” at an arson attack against a parish church in the Diocese of Mamfe, where nine people, including five priests and a nun, have been abducted by unknown gunmen.

The St. Mary's Catholic Nchang Parish in the Diocese of Mamfe was attacked by dozens of unknown gunmen, around sixty as per media, on Friday evening, September 16. The abductees haven’t yet been released and their whereabouts still remain unknown.

An unprecedented attack
In a statement the Bishops of the Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference (BAPEC) express “shock and utter horror” at what they term as an umprecedented “heinous attack against the house of God and the Messengers of God” and call for the immediate release of those abucted.

According to Radio Evangelium of Mamfe Diocese, the nine abductees also include a catechist, a female cook, and a teenager living with the sisters. After the news broke out, the local ordinary, Bishop Aloysius Fondong Abangalo, rushed to the site to take away the Blessed Sacrament and the Crucifix in the church.

The attack is the latest violent incident targeting local Church members in the conflict-ridden Anglophone regions where separatists have been fighting the Francophone-controlled central government since 2017.

Enough is Enough

In their statement the Bishops of the Bamenda Province say the attack “has now crossed the red line” and that “Enough is enough”, calling upon the perpetrators and those who support them to repent for their act, because, they say, “no one ever fights against God and wins”.

The prelates decry the fact in the ongoing separatist conflict is now targeting all Churches, whether Catholic, Presbyterian or Baptist, noting that some of those who attack them are people who are either members of these Churches, or who have benefitted from their generosity.

The bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province, which includes Bamenda Archdiocese and the Dioceses of Kumbo, Kumba, Mamfe and Buea Dioceses, express their “solidarity and prayerful wishes” to Bishop Abangalo, the Clergy, women and men religious, and the Catholic laypeople “and especially to the Christians of St. Mary's Parish Nehang, during this trying moment.”

For his part Bishop Abangalo called upon the faithful in his diocese to say a Rosary of reparation throughout the month of October for what he termed as “an act of abomination”. In a video published on Facebook , he also announced that at the end of that month a Mass is going to be celebrated “to seek God’s blessings on our land”.

The ongoing conflict in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon
The ongoing armed conflict in Northwest and Southwest Cameroon, which in 2022 entered its sixth year, has claimed thousands of lives, displaced millions, destroyed properties and, and created a severe humanitarian crisis in the region.

The immediate origins of the crisis stem from a year-long protest in Anglophone regions in 2016, following incessant complaints about their neglect and marginalisation of the English-speaking community at the hands the Francophone elites who have been leading the country since independence in the early sixties. Tensions rapidly escalated into a secessionist political conflict in 2017 with separatists calling for the creation of an independent state called “Ambazonia”.

The violence has taken a heavy toll on the civilian populations in the Northwest and Southwest regions, with attacks against schools, extrajudicial killings, kidnappings and a general sense of insecurity forcing millions of Cameroonians to flee to neighbouring countries.

The Church's stance on the conflict
In all this, the Church has been vocal, calling for an end to the violence and for reconciliation between the sides in conflict.

Though it has insistently maintained a neutral stance, while trying to advocate for peace and reconciliation, it has been criticized by both conflicting parties for not taking a tough enough position against the other and several Church members have been attacked or harassed. These include late Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi, former Archbishop of Douala, who was abducted by separatists on November 5 2020 and released on the next day.
-VN