Seeking Lasting Solutions In NW/SW Upheavals:Inter-Religious Leaders Render Peace Prayers

As part of efforts to see a return to peace in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon, an interreligious prayer service was held at the Presbyterian Church Buea Station on June 22, 2019, organised by the National Council for Peace in Cameroon. The National Council for Peace in Cameroon is made up of the Council of Protestant Churches in Cameroon, Islamic Superior Council of Cameroon, National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon and the Orthodox Church of Cameroon. Designed on the theme “Christians and Muslims Together for Dialogue, Peace and Reconciliation in the North West and South West Regions,” it seeks to lay a foundation in solving what has become the Anglophone crisis. The clerics offered prayers on dialogue, peace, reconciliation and social cohesion.

In a press release by the religious leaders, they condemned the rampant attacks on educational institutions and the deprivation of children of their rights to education, the manipulation of youths by various groups within Cameroon and diaspora and the use of hate speech emanating from the diaspora that encourages violence on Cameroonian people. They decried threats, blackmailing, kidnappings and extortion orchestrated by separatists. Among other things, the clerics called on the government to promptly initiate and announce a national plan for resolving the crisis, taking into account its real and profound causes, in view of establishing veritable peace.

In his homily, the President of the Islamic Superior Council, Sheikh Oumarou Mallam called on the people of both regions to prioritise the education of their children. Citing from the Ho...