Challenge for Biya after euphoria of Pope's visit.

It was in Bamenda, more than in Yaounde or Douala where international media attention was intensely forced. Why? The city is the epicentre of a separatist conflict that has been raging in the North West and South West Regions of the country for nearly a decade.

"The voices in the bushes", to quote the Catholic News Service after the Bamenda visit, “is the fear that defines daily life for many residents of this city in Cameroon’s troubled Anglophone regions".

The media reported further that at a community meeting in Bamenda, Carine Tangiri Mangu, a Sister of St. Anne, told Pope Leo XIV that she and a priest were taken "into the bush" in November 2025 and held for three days.

"We went on hunger strike and explained to our captors that we were just doing our work for the poor people and had nothing to do with politics," she said at the meeting, which included local representatives from different faiths and traditions.

"They demanded us to give telephone numbers so that they could collect ransom," she said, adding that they prayed the rosary continuously and were eventually freed after local Christians negotiated their release.

Other residents at the meeting with the Pope shared similar accounts with Catholic News Service, describing abductions for ransom and beatings carried out while family members listened over the phone.

Recognising both the pain and resilience of the people at the meeting, the Pope had soothing words not only to the community but the entire people of the two regions with identical cases of kidnapping for ransom, killings and burning of their villages,

"How beautiful are your feet as well, dusty from this bloodstained yet fertile land that has been mistreated yet is rich in vegetation and fruit? Your feet have brought you this far, and despite the difficulties and obstacles, they have remained on the path of goodness," the Pope said.

Earlier on his arrival in Yaounde, he delivered a message of peace at the Presidency, which directly confronted the suffering the people face every day in Cameroon.

Throughout his visit in the country, the Pope spent his time denouncing violence, corruption, injustice and exploitation, while calling for reconciliation and credible leadership.

He repeatedly framed peace not as an abstract ideal, or slogan, but as a responsibility to be shared by political leaders, communities and individuals alike. He urged leaders to move beyond paralysis and fear. 

"We are living at a time when hopelessness is rampant and a sense of powerlessness tends to paralyse the renewal so deeply desired by peoples...There is such a hunger and thirst for justice! A thirst for getting involved, for a vision, for courageous choices and for peace!" he stated. 

As Archbishop Nkea, President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, who hosted Pope Leo in Bamenda reportedly told the visitor later, the people "shall not waste the chance that your presence offers us to continue to work for peace and justice and reconciliation". 

But it is easier said than done, especially in a regime that has been criticised for inertia and accused of governing through proxy.

But translating that Papal call for peace into reality for a country shaped by years of violence and distrust remains a daunting challenge.

For the Vice President of the Episcopal Conference, Bishop Philippe Alain Mbarga of Ebolowa, the Pope’s visit is not a "magic wand" and the "walls of tribalism, the walls of hate", must be torn down.

"The people are calling on us to be responsible, to recognise that the destiny of humanity, of the country, is entrusted to us," he told the Catholic News Service.     

"They have called on political leaders, religious leaders and civil society to be responsible. Therefore, it is up to each of us to be aware of what is at stake," he added.

The Guardian Post is aware that no one, especially the political leaders, mayors, parliamentarians, senators, members of government, can pretend to be alien to the high level of tribalism, corruption, embezzlement and impunity that is pervasive in the country,

The judiciary, which should be independent and above board, has also been criticised for being mired in corruption and subservient to the executive realm.

If the ecstasy, jubilation, hopes and prayers that swirled in the national atmosphere during the four days the Pope was in Cameroon should have any iota of positive impact, President Biya should take immediate actions to bring peace through reconciliation, forgiveness and prosecution of all those implicated in the COVID-gate, AFCON-gate and resolve the fighting in the North West and South West Regions with an inclusive dialogue.

Without those actions, the visit of Pope Leo would just be a public relations pitch that gave more international attention to the Anglophone conflict, injustice and corruption in Cameroon that are fabricating a ticking time bomb of unemployment.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3766 of Monday April 20, 2026