Anglophone Crisis:

Archbishop Nkea Says Church for Peace and Reconciliation

The  crisis  in  Cameroon,  which  began  five  years  ago between separatist forces and the government, has plunged the English-speaking regions of the country into a deadly conflict.

The crisis has claimed thousands of lives, displaced millions, destroyed properties and is creating a growing humanitarian crisis.

The immediate origins of the crisis stemmed from legal and educational grievances in 2016 which rapidly escalated  into  a  secessionist  political  conflict  with separatists calling for the creation of an independent state they call “Ambazonia.”

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

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

Archbishop Andrew Nkea of Bamenda spoke to Vatican News on the sidelines of the 10th World Meeting of Families in Rome, highlighting the Church’s role in the service of peace and dialogue in the country.

Archbishop Nkea notes that the Church’s major difficulty in its advocacy during the crisis is navigating “the thin line of neutrality” in the sense of not belonging to  any  side  of  the  conflict  between  the  government and the separatists, while trying to advocate for peace and reconciliation.

In fact, he explains, “sometimes the government thinks we are not condemning the separatists enough,and most of the time the separatists think that we are not taking a tough enough stance against the government.”

However, the Archbishop insists that the focus is “the People of God” – the suffering people, the students out of school and those who have been displaced by the conflict  and  forced  to  flee  to  neighbouring  countries including Nigeria. For these people, he insists, “I am ready to give my life – not for separatists, not for the government!”

The Church in service of peace, dialogue

Since the start of the conflict, the Church has channeled her efforts towards restoring peace and reconciliation in the country, explains the Archbishop, who is also the President of the Bishops’ Conference of Cameroon.

These efforts have also been complemented with humanitarian assistance to those affected by the fighting,  including  medical  care  backed  by  aid  from international organizations including the WHO and the UN refugee agency.

According to the UN, about two million people affected by the crisis in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon need humanitarian assistance and 1.4 million of the most vulnerable are targeted by humanitarian partners for assistance.

The  UN  Office  for  the  Coordination  of  Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says over $139.9 is needed to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable and limited funding has been a major constraint in this regard.

The Archbishop further reiterates the Church’s conviction that “the only way to resolve the conflict in Cameroon is through dialogue” which the Church has been trying to facilitate between the separatists and the government, in spite of challenges.

“We focus on what is right and we go on with what is right even to the point of death. We will talk to both parties and make sure that at some point they are able to dialogue and bring this crisis to an end.”

Violence begets more violence

The crisis in the English-speaking regions has led to the deaths of more than 4,000 civilians and hundreds of members of security forces. Archbishop Nkea strongly condemns the killings, stressing that we “cannot get peace and justice by killing each other.”

“Let us realize that we are not killing ourselves to arrive at good. We can only kill ourselves and arrive at more killing and more violence.”

Source: cameroonconcordnews.com