The colonial government of La Republique is reported to have placed a ban, preventing the Catholic Church from making any humanitarian contribution toward people fleeing the ongoing conflict in Ambazonia.

As reported by investigative journalist Mimi Mefo of Equinoxe TV, a prominent clergy was questioned for giving out provisions and foodstuff to stranded people.

In a tweet picked up by BaretaNews, she wrote ”I am reliably informed that church leaders have been banned from assisting displaced anglophones who fled military brutality and burnings of their houses. A renown man of God has equally received a query from the state for distributing foodstuff to the people in despair”.

Ambazonians have fled their homes in their thousands. They’re camped out in forests as they escape from attacks by La Republique colonial forces. The homes of some villagers have been torched, some with their occupants still inside.

Just a few days ago, a video footage emerged and went viral, purporting how La Republique soldiers were caught in the act of burning property in broad daylight.

The UN Refugee Agency has recorded more than 20,000 refugees fleeing the heavy-handedness by colonial forces into neighbouring Nigeria. They are living in very deplorable circumstances while the UNHCR scramble for funding and humanitarian support for them.

Since the start of the crisis, the Catholic Church has taken a limited role as a civil society group. Having consistently called for a peaceful resolution and stressed the need for dialogue

The International Crisis Group seems to have recognized the church as a valuable political broker between the colonial government of La Republique and the Interim Government of Ambazonia.

Neba Benson,

BaretaNews Foreign Correspondent/Analyst