Cameroon: Can Pope Leo’s visit end an ongoing genocidal war in Ambazonia?
Preparations Intensify at an Abandoned Bamenda Airport Ahead of Potential Papal Visit
Authorities in Cameroon’s North West Region have stepped up preparations at Bamenda Airport ahead of the anticipated visit of the Pope to Bamenda. an airport which has long been abandoned to grass, and an occupational military terrorising the population in a 10-year-old, senseless war
The Governor of the North West Region, alongside His Royal Majesty the Fon of Nkambe, who also serves as President of the North West House of Chiefs, visited the airport to assess the progress of ongoing renovation works. The facility is undergoing significant upgrades aimed at meeting international standards in preparation for the high-profile religious event.
A corrupt Cameroon government that has lost track of infrastructure development describes the facelift of the airport as timely and commendable, noting that the high-stakes visit in a war-ravaged zone— expected to attract thousands of faithful and visitors — represents a significant moment for both the region and the country.
However, the anticipated visit is unfolding against a tense political backdrop.
Several civil society organisations and prominent religious figures have reportedly submitted petitions challenging the timing of the papal trip. The concerns come in the aftermath of the highly contested October 2025 presidential election, openly rigged in favour of the incumbent.
The Catholic Church has been strongly criticized for colluding with the ruling CPDM, which rigged the polls, admitting publicly that the population should allow the catholic church alone if it cannot fight corruption and unseat a corrupt system. The catholic church failed as a moral voice during the electoral upheavals, refusing to publish the results of its own supposed neutral observers. The post-election period was marked by violence that resulted in at least 65 deaths and more than 2,000 arrests and imprisonments nationwide. As we report, the presumed winner of the October 2025 flawed election is at large, the country’s electoral bodies having declared the controversial polls in favour of the supposed loser.
The electoral conflicts just joined with an ongoing genocidal war in the Southern Cameroons – Ambazonia that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, burned hundreds of homes and villages, sent thousands to jails and close to 2 million to exile as refugees. All these, combined with the Boko Haram insurgency in the North of la Republique du Cameroun and the cankerworm of an endemic corruption, are indicators that the pope has business here, to make or mar.
BN
