The violence in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions continues to spiral, as government and separatists have been unable to find common ground. Despite a visit to the two regions by the Prime Minister Dion Ngute, more lives are still being lost on a daily basis.
With the figures rising to the thousands, many have reiterated the view that the Vatican now stands a greater chance to mediate between the warring parties.
Among those who strongly believe Vatican intervention will bring about the much needed paradigm shift, if Dr Christopher Fomunyoh, head of the US-based National Democratic Institute.
To Dr Fomunyoh, “the Vatican has moral authority worldwide, including with government leaders in Cameroon.”
“… How can it afford not to leverage those relationships to bring peace and social justice to a bleeding nation where 20 percent of its population constituted of the minority Anglophones face an existential threat now and for future generations?” he quizzed.
Reports quote British politician and lawmaker, David Patrick Paul Alton, Baron Alton of Liverpool, as also expressing a similar concern, remarking over the recent shift in the trend of events.
“I have followed events in the troubled Anglophone regions of Cameroon since violence broke out, and local contacts believe that circumstances are now changing. This is the moment for the Vatican to once more offer itself as an impartial mediator, trying to get all parties to the conflict to participate in peace talks,” he stated.
Describing the current situation as a stalemate between separatist forces and the Cameroon government, “unarmed civilians,” he stated, are “… suffering intolerable conditions, caught in the middle.”
To him, “the Church’s renewed participation could be a game changer – bringing about a ceasefire and offering much needed hope to Cameroon’s Anglophone citizens.”
