The bishops of Cameroon condemned the “horrible acts” of jihadists in the Lake Chad region.
In a statement on 13 January, the bishops said that killings since the start of the year were the work of “the Boko Haram sect in the northernmost region”, expressing their “deepest sympathy for the victims”.
The violence has driven at least 320,000 refugees into southern Cameroon, while many people have been kidnapped and ransomed as the wider security situation worsens.
Northern Cameroon has suffered Boko Haram attacks since 2014, when the jihadists, based in Nigeria, began expanding their campaign beyond its borders.
More recently, the Lake Chad region has been the site of clashes between Boko Haram and militants from the Islamic State – West Africa Province (ISWAP). Dozens of fighters from both factions were killed in a battle on 15 January.
Besides the Boko Haram insurgency, the Cameroon bishops’ statement, issued after their week-long plenary, condemned all violence in the country.
They cited atrocities committed by both separatist fighters and government soldiers in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions in the northwest and southwest, appealing for “greater justice, solidarity, hard work and continuous trust in God”.
In Nigeria, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has repeated its demand for justice after more than 300 people were massacred in Plateau State over Christmas.
The charity said that more than a month after extremists destroyed villages and their food supplies in coordinated attacks, none of the perpetrators have been held to account.
Thousands were displaced after losing their homes and property. Many of them are now staying on Church property, according to Fr Andrew Dewan, director of communications in the Diocese of Pankshin where most of the attacks took place.
“We have heard of some arrests but no prosecution, much to the frustration of survivors and victims’ families,” he told ACN.
Fr Dewan reported that the extremists targeted Christian communities. He said it was “ludicrous” to claim that the massacres were merely the result of conflict over land between herders and farmers, with no religious component.
Lord Alton of Liverpool called on the UK government to take action to identify and prosecute jihadists in Nigeria, in a debate in the House of Lords on 11 January, He asked “why no one has been brought to justice in this culture of impunity”.
Noting the Irish President Michael D. Higgins’ remark in 2022 that the Pentecost Sunday massacre that year was driven by climate change, Lord Alton said: “Climate change and cuts to aid certainly impact development, but so does jihadist ideology, and we should not be frightened in saying so.”
He continued: “Persecution and conflict are major drivers in the displacement of 110 million people worldwide. These drivers destroy lives, such as those that I have just mentioned, and set back development.
Where governments act to defend the freedom of religion, he said, “those countries are the most stable, the most harmonious and the most prosperous”.
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