A separatist alliance in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions said it would observe a three-day “safe travel passage” later this week to allow \u200bcivilians and visitors to move freely during a visit by Pope \u200cLeo.<\/p>\n
The pope left\u00a0on Monday for a tour of four African countries \u2013 Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea \u2013 aiming to urge global leaders to address the continent’s challenges. Africa is home to \u200bmore than a fifth of the world’s Catholics.<\/p>\n
A\u00a0simmering conflict\u00a0between secessionist \u200bmilitias and government troops has killed thousands in the English-speaking west \u2060of Cameroon since 2017.<\/p>\n
The alliance, which it said brings together the Ambazonia \u200bGoverning Council (AGovC), Ambazonian Prisoners of Conscience and several separatist movements, said the arrangement \u200bwould run from April 15 to April 17 across what it described as Ambazonian territory. The pope is expected in the Anglophone city of Bamenda on April 16 as part of \u200bhis whirlwind 10-day tour.<\/p>\n
In a statement sent to Reuters, the group said \u200bits forces had been instructed to ensure a secure environment for civilians, pilgrims, visiting dignitaries, the \u200cHoly \u2060Father and his entourage.<\/p>\n
The alliance described the move as a humanitarian and security measure aimed at safeguarding civilian life and allowing people to participate in the visit without fear, stressing that the papal trip was spiritual in nature.<\/p>\n
“This decision \u200breflects a deliberate \u200bcommitment to responsibility, \u2060restraint, and respect for human dignity, even in the context of ongoing conflict,” said Lucas Asu, spokesperson of AGovC, which \u200bruns one of the largest militias in western Cameroon \u2014 the \u200bAmbazonia Defence \u2060Forces.<\/p>\n
Cameroon’s government in the capital, Yaounde, did not immediately respond to the announcement. Calls to a government spokesperson were not answered.<\/p>\n
Separatist leaders also urged all parties to \u2060respect \u200bthe safe passage period.<\/p>\n
However, previous ceasefires and humanitarian \u200bpauses announced by Anglophone separatists have not always been observed by all armed factions operating in the \u200bCentral African nation’s restive regions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A separatist alliance in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions said it would observe a three-day “safe travel passage” later this week to allow \u200bcivilians and visitors to move freely during a visit by Pope \u200cLeo. The pope left\u00a0on Monday for a tour of four African countries \u2013 Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea \u2013 aiming to urge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":8,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","source_name":"Reuters","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2362,33],"tags":[240,275,193,1228,5027],"class_list":["post-20482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-central-africa","category-featured","category-politics","tag-algeria","tag-angola","tag-cameroon","tag-equatorial-guinea","tag-pope-leo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20482"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20484,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20482\/revisions\/20484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}