Bombay Durpun - Pope heads to Cameroon with message of peace for conflict zone

After his historic visit to Algeria, marred by two suicide attacks and a spat with President Donald Trump, the pontiff is expected later in mainly French-speaking Cameroon, which has been ruled by President Paul Biya since 1982.

In the central African country where more than a third of the around 30 million people are Catholic, the Church plays a key mediation role and runs a large network of hospitals, schools and charities.

At a cathedral in the capital Yaounde ahead of the visit, people scrambled to get hold of tunics bearing the pope's image.

Posters, banners and flags festooned the city in honour of the visit, the fourth by a pope but the first since Pope Benedict XVI came in 2009.

Leo is due meet 93-year-old Biya, the world's oldest head of state, later on Wednesday, in a meeting that has divided Catholics in the country.

Clergy members have voiced fears it will enable Biya to burnish his image, six months after protests against his disputed re-election to an eighth term were violently suppressed.

The 70-year-old pope will later visit a Catholic orphanage and hold a private meeting with Cameroonian bishops.

Under high security, he heads on Thursday to a conflict zone where English-speaking separatists are fighting the army.

The violence has seen civilians become the target of killings and kidnappings.

Earlier this week, separatist groups announced a three-day truce starting on Wednesday to allow the highly symbolic visit in the western anglophone region, where nearly a fifth of the population lives.

The pope will give a speech and celebrate mass in the main city of Bamenda, the epicentre of the conflict that erupted after demonstrations in 2016 were put down by the authorities.

The crackdown led to a full-blown rift between the army and English-speaking separatists that has yet to be resolved.

The violence had caused more than 6,000 deaths by 2024, according to rights NGOs.

"As the pope puts his feet on the soil of Bamenda, we should have peace. All the killing, the kidnapping should stop," Giovanni Mbuna, 36, who was abducted by separatists in 2023, told AFP.

- 'Blessed are the peacemakers' -

Archbishop of Bamenda Andrew Nkea has voiced hopes the visit will help bring peace to the region.

"The pope's visit will soften the hearts of the extremists so that we can find common ground... and reach a peaceful solution," Nkea said.

On Friday, Leo holds mass for hundreds of thousands in a stadium in the economic capital Douala.

He leaves Cameroon for Angola on Saturday.

In Algeria, the first visit by a pope to the north African country, Leo visited the birthplace of Christian theologian Saint Augustine and celebrated mass at a basilica that draws 18,000 pilgrims each year, including Muslims and Jews.

He urged Algeria's Christians to "bear witness to the Gospel through simple gestures, genuine relationships and a dialogue lived out day by day".

His stay was marred by twin suicide attacks in the city of Blida, southwest of the capital Algiers, on Monday.

Authorities have yet to comment but an informed source confirmed the bombings, which were not presumed related to the pontiff's presence in the mainly Muslim country.

No deaths have been confirmed, other than those of the bombers.

Leo's first international tour initially risked being overshadowed by Trump's remarks that he was "not a big fan" of the pope after the American pontiff called for peace in the Middle East.

US Vice President JD Vance also weighed in, urging the Vatican to "stick to matters of morality... and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy".

Leo brushed the jibes aside, telling reporters on the papal plane as he headed to Algiers on Monday: "The Gospel says... blessed are the peacemakers."

"I have no fear, neither of the Trump administration, nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel," he continued.

burs-gil-kjm/st

T.Deshpande--BD