Cameroon: Pastoral Letter stresses sacredness of human life

"Since the beginning of the crisis of the Anglophone Problem which escalated on 21 November 2016 there has been increasing and rampant profanation and disrespect of human life and the dignity of the human person….Violence has become common place because of the frequent confrontations between the military and the secessionists" say Archbishop Cornelius Esua and Auxiliary Bishop Michael Bibi of Bamenda in a Lenten Pastoral Letter. "The dignity of the human being is rubbed in mud. Hospitals and health facilities are vandalised for reasons hard to explain."

Bamenda a city of two million people is the largest centre of the Anglophone region where there are armed secessionists and people have legitimate grievances about the Francophone dominated regime's restrictions on the use of the English language in the courts and education.

The bishops go on "we earnestly appeal to the competent authorities that the military should desist from the wanton killing of innocent civilians and the burning down of houses….We appeal to the separatists to put down their arms in favour of dialogue as the most appropriate way of solving the Anglophone Problem." They refer to the evil of torture and "acknowledge the heroic courage of our health institutions: doctors and nurses who continue to risk their lives to save human life."

The Bamenda archdiocese is twinned with Portsmouth diocese in England. There is a link to the full text of the Pastoral Letter on Portsmouth Diocese website, here: www.bamendaandportsmouth.com