Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
The Cameroon Constitution, promulgated in 1972 and amended in 2008, recognises in its Preamble that “the human person, without distinction as to race, religion, sex or belief, possesses inalienable and sacred rights”. No person, the text continues, “shall be harassed on grounds of his origin, religious, philosophical or political opinions or beliefs, subject to respect for public policy.” Articles 13, 14 and 15 in the Preamble state that: “the state shall be secular”; the “neutrality and independence of the State in respect of all religions shall be guaranteed” and; “freedom of religion and worship shall be guaranteed.”
The law requires that religious groups receive government approval to operate and “may suspend the activities of unregistered groups.” Registration, granted by presidential decree, allows groups to acquire property and brings tax benefits; it also facilitates the work of foreign missionaries who are allowed to apply for longer term visas.
Private schools, unlike public schools, are allowed to provide religious education. Private religious schools, on the other hand, can only operate if they meet the same educational and infrastructure standards as public schools.
The main Christian and Muslim holidays are also public holidays, including Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, the Ascension, the Assumption, Eid-al-Fitr, Eid-al-Adha, and the Prophet´s Birthday.
Incidents and developments
Cameroon faces a number of external and internal ethnic, political and religious challenges.
Since 2014 the country has been destabilised by a serious external threat, namely violence from radical Islamist groups spilling over from the neighbouring countries of Nigeria and Chad. Urged by Wahhabist Islamic conservatism, competing armed extremists such as Boko Haram and the rising presence of a dissident branch, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), spread terror and erode security in Cameroon’s Far North region. As of 2020, the conflict with Boko Haram has caused the displacement of approximately 250,000 with at least 3000 killed. International observers also criticise the government for human rights violations. The 2021 consolidation of ISWAP’s power (also as a consequence of the May 2021 death of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Sheka), has also altered the nature of the violence with a trend to more military and less civilian attacks. ISWAP, in contrast to Boko Haram’s “excessive use of force against civilian populations, including Muslims”, seeks rather “to establish a new social contract with communities by presenting itself as an alternative to the state”. Complicating the situation is the rise of self-defense vigilante groups, “with approximately 14,000 members, implicated in criminal activities like cattle stealing, smuggling and banditry”.
Internal challenges are focused on the Anglophone crisis, sectarian violence between anglophones and francophones in Cameroon’s North-West and South-West regions as separatists seek an independent state of “Ambazonia”. As in such situations, civilians suffer the burden of the violence. Since late 2016, the conflict between the separatist militias and Cameroon’s security forces “has killed about 6,000 people, displaced more than 500,000 and severely disrupted access to government services in the Anglophone regions”. According to human rights groups, armed separatists are reported to have kidnapped, tortured and killed civilians considered government collaborators, or those perceived as unwilling to support insurgent activities “such as economic and political boycotts”, while government forces have been involved in “arbitrary arrests and unlawful murders in response to the armed conflict” with troops committing “human rights violations, including burning homes and entire villages as well as torture, detention and killings”.
While religious fault lines are just one dimension of Cameroon’s current turmoil, it is nevertheless an important consideration. Often violent attacks have a religious element, as faith groups are targeted regularly for political reasons, both by formal and informal forces. The conflict has also intensified religious divisions.
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Amongst the various traditions, the Christian community is recognised as the most targeted group. For example, according to the local media outlet L’Oeil du Sahel, Boko Haram and ISWAP “abducted numerous civilians, including Christian women and girls who were often sexually abused and forced into marriage with Muslim men”.
The following are only a selection of incidents:
In January 2021, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, undertook a five-day visit to Cameroon to encourage peace and unity in the country. Anglophone separatists “threatened reprisals to those who did not boycott the papal envoy’s visit”. Notwithstanding this, thousands of people welcomed the cardinal at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Bamenda in defiance of the intimidation efforts.
On 4 May, a Christian preacher was shot and killed by government military forces in Batibo town.
On 7 May, an exchange of fire between government troops and separatist rebels disrupted a Mass at which Bishop George Nkuo marked the 40th anniversary of his priestly ordination. On 8 May, a “pro-separatist media outlet Bareta News said the separatists opposed the presence at the event of the Northwest Region governor, Adolphe Lele Lafrique, and viewed his presence as evidence that the Church was collaborating with the government”.
On 25 May, Boko Haram fighters attacked the Galta-Gatari village. One person was killed in the assault.
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In June, security force members “from both the regular army and elite Rapid Intervention Battalion”, entered the village of Ndzeen breaking into residences and shops including the home of a local traditional authority (a fon). According to the fon: “They desecrated my palace, damaging traditional artifacts, including the ancient royal throne and an ancestral chair, and entered into the sacred and secret areas of the palace, where none have access to”.
Also in June, a religious centre in Mamfe was attacked by an armed group. A 12-year-old boy was killed, and a 16-year-old boy was injured.
In July, five Cameroonian soldiers and one civilian were killed by Boko Haram Islamists in the Far North region.
On 24 October, Ambazonian separatists kidnapped an Elder of the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon in a church in the Ntamulung neighbourhood of Bamenda town. She was released 24 hours later.
In October at least seven persons were killed in the majority Christian town of Wum in Cameroon’s Northwest Region. According to witnesses, government forces with Muslim Mbororo herders “burned one of the victims alive and burned 13 houses”. Residents state that “the involvement of Muslim Mbororos in military campaigns against local populations, who are mostly Christian, significantly worsened traditionally tense relations between the two communities”.
On 15 November, a military force invaded the St. Elizabeth Catholic General Hospital’s Heart Centre in Shisong disrupting medical services. The soldiers said they were looking for separatist fighters from the “Amba Boys” (armed militants from separatist groups) who arrived that morning for medical treatment. A week later, thousands of Catholics marched on the streets of Bamenda protesting the government’s heavy handed military response to the current situation.
On 24 November, the Bilingual High School Ekondo Titi was attacked by gunmen and three students were killed. The assaults were denounced by the Catholic Bishops stating: “We, the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda, condemn these barbaric acts, which violate all International Laws and Conventions safeguarding the inviolability of schools and the protection of learners (pupils and students), and teachers, offend against the fundamental right to education, and breaks the Fifth Commandment of God.” According to observers there have been “more than ten armed attacks on schools in the English-speaking regions in the last few months alone. The exact figure is unclear, but more than 10 children have been killed and several teachers and students wounded”. The attacks on schools not only cause death and destruction, but also undermine the educational system, frightening teachers and students from attending schools and depriving children of educational opportunities. This has been worsened with the separatist enforcement of a boycott of schools.
In January 2022, Boko Haram attacked Mozogo village killing one person; homes and a mosque were looted in the attack.
On 9 March, residents of Essu (Fungom, Menchum) set fire to a mosque in response to the murder of Fon Kum Achuo II, the chief of the village, and his wife. They also allegedly demolished additional properties belonging to Mbororos suspected of being involved in the chief’s murder.
In a 28 June interview, Msgr. Michael Miabesue Bibi, the Bishop of Buea, explained that although traditionally locals in Buea - the second largest city and the second most populated in Cameroon – were previously afraid of soldiers and their invasions into the countryside, they were now more afraid of the Amba Boys (separatist groups). The Amba Boys have committed murders, caused local schools to close, forced people to flee their homes and on some occasions blocked the passage of humanitarian aid.
In late 2017, the Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian and other churches, in view of the developing crisis, formed a body uniting representation. In a 21 July interview, the Baptist Christian Pastor Ncham Godwill Chiatoh stated: “I believe that the Churches must unite now to mobilize the population so that they are granted their essential rights, with meekness and justice. The leaders of the Churches are in a position to dialogue with the leaders of the Amba Boys […] to promote unity among the thousand factions that comprise them and thus be able to negotiate. The State respects the united Churches and knows that the Churches draw strength from God and the support of the people. The Churches are tireless promoters of peace and reconciliation. They also represent a voice to request a general amnesty and to build a climate of trust.”
During the period under review, several Christians were the victims of kidnapping, though most were released after some time. Incidents include:
On 8 April 2022, 32 members of the St. John Paul II Major Seminary were abducted on their way to Mass but were released 24 hours later unharmed.
On 29 August, separatist fighters kidnapped Msgr Agbortoko, a Catholic priest, in Mamfe, asking for a ransom of over 20 million Francs CFA. He was released three days later. This abduction follows the kidnapping three months prior of Fr Christopher Eboka, who was also released after nine days.
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On 17 September, five Catholic priests, one consecrated sister, and three lay people were kidnapped by unknown assailants in Nchang village in the Diocese of Mamfe, located in southwestern Cameroon. The kidnappers also set fire to the parish church of Saint Mary the day after the abductions. The Mamfe diocese is in one of two restive regions where separatists have waged war against the federal authorities since 2017. The victims were released one month later. A ransom is said not to have been paid, the Catholic Bishops expressly refused “so as not to create dangerous precedents”.
On 5 October, Fr Humphrey Tatah Mbuy, Director of Social Communications of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon in an interview with Cameroonian television stated: “The separatist conflict has now become a question of money”. Fr Mbuy clarified saying that, “the conflict arising from the violent repression of the claims of English-speaking teachers and lawyers has turned into ‘what the French call’ L'economie de la Guerre; a war economy” in which “not only the separatists participate, but also the military and government officials”. Fr Mbuy explained “there are reports of soldiers detaining people only to release them on payment of a bribe; while kidnapping for ransom has become one of the main ways of raising funds for separatist forces […] and “that priests and religious are being targeted by both sides of the conflict, both for their peacemaking efforts and for kidnappings for extortion purposes”. Fr Mbuy closed by saying, “the Church right now, and I can say this without any fear, possesses the only moral force capable of helping to resolve the armed conflict in the Northwest and the Southwest”.
In November, Bishop Bruno Ateba, Catholic Bishop of Maroua-Mokolo in the northern region of Cameroon bordering Nigeria, denounced the rising violence noting that the population, victims of recurring attacks by Boko Haram Islamists “is powerless against the apparent invincibility of the terrorist group originating from Nigeria.” Bishop Ateba added, “The kidnappings and executions of peasants have led to a real reign of terror!”
Prospects for freedom of religion
Historically and still today, religious freedom in Cameroon is generally respected and lived. External threats to religious freedom such as that of the Islamist group Boko Haram, have resulted in a persecution of Christians, and Muslims who don’t adhere to the fundamentalist agenda. A more divisive challenge, however, is that of the Anglophone separatist movement with violations of human rights, including religious freedom, perpetrated by both the separatists and the military. The prospects for religious freedom are therefore negative as violence increases, and the positions of the separatist movement and the government response, become more entrenched.
Cameroon