Persecution of Christians in Cameroon: as in many other countries, the fact that Christians are a majority in Cameroon does not save them from persecution. About 70% of Cameroon’s population is Christian.
Orthodox Christianity is a recent presence there, arriving in the country in 1951. Greek merchants at that time immigrated to Cameroon and established Orthodox churches. In the 1980s, Holy Orthodoxy began spreading to the native population, under the auspices of the Church of Alexandria. The Archdiocese of Cameroon was established in 1959 and is under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.
Now the Christians of Cameroon are facing persecution and many Christians have fled their homes. As this Catholic Bishop indicates, attacks against Christians are now a regular occurrence. Please pray that Almighty God would restore peace to Cameroon and provide for a flourishing of Orthodoxy there.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in Cameroon, see here.
“Cameroon – New frontier for Boko Haram attacks,” by John Newton and Maria Lozano, Independent Catholic News, January 24, 2020:
An upsurge of Boko Haram attacks in Cameroon since the start of 2020 has caused terror among local inhabitants – according to a bishop in the country.
Bishop Bruno Ateba of Maroua-Mokolo, northern Cameroon, told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that 13 attacks over the last fortnight were the work of the extremist group.
Bishop Ateba said: “Not a day passes without attacks on the villages on Cameroon’s frontier with Nigeria.”
He added: “Boko Haram is like the beast of the Apocalypse, or a many-headed Hydra – whenever you cut off one of its heads, it seems simply to grow another. Just at the moment when people thought that the beast of Boko Haram had been completely decapitated, the horror has resurfaced in northern Cameroon. Within my own diocese there have been 13 attacks in the last weeks.”
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has claimed that, since he took office in 2015, Boko Haram’s terror activities have been “curbed” but the Islamist militants continue to carry out atrocities in rural districts as well as in neighbouring Cameroon and Chad.
A number of attacks on Christians took place over the Christmas period – including the Christmas Day murder of 11 Nigerians by the Boko Haram faction Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
The Islamist militia is also suspected of torching a church in Cameroon on the feast of the Epiphany.
Bishop Ateba said: “We are still investigating who was behind the incident, but everything points to the fact that it was a terrorist attack.”…
