Cameroon Anglophone Crisis: Bishops Request The Return Of IDPs

This is one of the major points of the final communiqué of their 43rd Plenary Assembly, completed on April 14 in Mvolyé, Yaounde.

In search of an oasis of peace, some people in the northwest and southwest have taken refuge in neighboring Nigeria. Others, with relatives in neighboring communities where the delights of peace are still savored. This is at least the observation made by Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi, Auxiliary Bishop of Bamenda. Gathered in Yaoundé, specifically at Mvolyé from April 8 to 14, 2018, on behalf of their 43rd Plenary Assembly, the bishops of Cameroon are asking for the return of displaced populations.

To do so, the prelates appeal to the guarantors of security to ensure favorable conditions of peace in Bamenda and Buea. That, they concluded, goes through a thorough analysis of the causes of the crisis.

Cameroon Anglophone Crisis: Bishops Request The Return Of IDPs

Speaking about the situation of students in the English-speaking part of the country, the prelates ask the parents to send their children to school, pledge of their future, insist the men of God. Another social subject that has attracted the attention of the bishops, gathered in Yaounde, is that of migrants.

Thinking about it, the prelates decided to appoint in their dioceses, permanent officials in charge of the pastoral care of migrants. These social problems did not overshadow that of the evangelization of the faithful. This being an essential task of the church, the bishops invite the priests to invest themselves personally in their respective parishes.

"The people are unfortunately no longer catechized," regrets Bishop Damase Zinga Atangana. The Bishop of Kribi declares that it is urgent to invest in this mission, since it is the very basis of the transmission of faith, he says. In leaving each other, the bishops remain united in prayer for the repose of the soul of Bishop Jean Marie Benoit Bala. They also urged the people of God and men of good will to pray in communion with the faithful of the diocese of Bafia, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the death of this prelate. Which will take place on Saturday 02 June 2018 in Bafia.

The 43rd Plenary Assembly of Bishops, opened on April 8, 2018 in Yaounde, in the presence of the Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji, representative of the Head of State. The work was presided over by Bishop Samuel Kleda, Archbishop of Douala and President in office of the Cameroon Episcopal Conference.