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Cameroon Rejects Separatist Calls to Boycott Pope Envoy

Moki Edwin Kindzeka

   YAOUNDE - English-speaking Cameroonians have ignored calls by
   separatists to close their businesses and protest a visit by an envoy
   of the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal Pietro Parolin called for
   reconciliation among disgruntled Cameroonians and their government,
   though separatists accuse the church of being indifferent to their
   plight.

   Several hundred civilians turned out Saturday in Cameroon's
   English-speaking northwestern town of Bamenda to welcome Cardinal
   Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state.
   Forty-three-year-old Roman Catholic Christina Anong says she turned out
   despite threats from separatists because she thinks her Church can help
   resolve the crisis. She says she wants Cardinal Parolin to ask Roman
   Catholics who are separatists, in the military or state officials to
   put down their guns so peace can return to the region.

   "There have been abductions, there have been killings, there have been
   people who have been maimed for life, and so we are reinforcing our
   prayers that we can just have peace," Anong said. "Our prayers have
   revolved around the theme that calls us to do good, to shun evil and to
   pursue peace."
   The Roman Catholic Church in Cameroon says it has more than 6 million
   followers, with more than 2 million in the restive English-speaking
   northwest and southwest.

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