YAOUNDE, Cameroon – In a surprising gesture ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit to the Central African nation, coalitions of English-speaking separatist insurgents have declared a 72-hour pause in hostilities to open secure passage for civilians, religious pilgrims, and official delegations during the papal trip.
The Unity Alliance, a umbrella organization bringing together multiple separatist factions operating in Cameroon’s restive western regions, released an official statement late Monday confirming the ceasefire. The announcement notes the temporary halt to fighting honors the “profound spiritual importance” of Pope Leo XIV’s visit, prioritizing the safety of all those planning to participate in papal events.
As of Tuesday, Cameroon’s national government has not issued an immediate formal response to the ceasefire declaration, following a request for comment from the Associated Press. Last week, government spokesperson René Sadi reaffirmed that state officials had completed “all necessary arrangements” to guarantee a safe and successful visit for the pontiff.
Decades of underlying tension erupted into open armed conflict in 2017, when separatist groups launched an independence rebellion seeking to carve out a sovereign state for Cameroon’s English-speaking minority, separated from the country’s French-speaking majority. Since the conflict began, fighting has plagued the North-West and South-West regions, leaving more than 6,000 people dead and forcing more than 600,000 residents to flee their homes, according to data from the International Crisis Group, an independent non-profit conflict analysis organization.
Pope Leo XIV launched a four-nation tour of Africa earlier this week, starting his journey in Algeria before moving on to Cameroon, where he is scheduled to land in the capital Yaoundé on Wednesday. On Thursday, he will lead a high-profile peace gathering in Bamenda, the urban center that has become the epicenter of the separatist conflict.
Unity Alliance spokesperson Lucas Asu emphasized in the statement that the ceasefire “reflects a deliberate commitment to responsibility, restraint, and respect for human dignity, even in the context of ongoing conflict.” Asu also clarified that the papal visit should be framed exclusively as a spiritual event, and should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any Cameroonian political faction or governing authority.
While the frequency of deadly separatist attacks has declined in recent years, the long-running conflict remains far from resolved. Brokered peace talks mediated by international third parties have stalled in recent months, with both the Cameroonian government and separatist leaders repeatedly accusing one another of negotiating in bad faith.
The roots of the current crisis stretch back to Cameroon’s colonial legacy. After World War I, the former German colony of Cameroon was split into two administrative zones, controlled by France and the United Kingdom respectively. In a 1961 UN-supervised referendum, the British-administered English-speaking regions voted to reunify with French Cameroon to form a single independent nation. Separatist leaders argue that since unification, English-speaking communities have faced systematic political and economic marginalization at the hands of the Francophone-dominated national government.
This report includes contributions from correspondent Banchereau, who reported from Dakar, Senegal.