By Arnold Neliba
DOUALA, APRIL 23, 2021 (CISA)– “Africa has had enough,” Philippe Cardinal Ouédraogo President of Symposium of Episcopal Conferences in Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) has said appealing for an end to violence in Cameroon and across Africa in honour of late Cardinal Christian Tumi.
The Archbishop of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso was speaking at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Douala during funeral Mass of Cardinal Tumi held on April 20.
“People hungry for blood like Cain kill their brothers without any reason. All violence against any human being is an attack on God himself because God made man in his own image,” the cardinal said acknowledging the contribution of Cardinal Tumi is pursuit of lasting peace in Cameroon.
Cardinal Tumi 91, who died on April 3, rooted for a just solution to the Anglophone fighting which according to the United Nations, has claimed about 3500 people in five years.
“Africa has lost a prized asset,” Cardinal Ouédraogo said terming him as a champion of democracy and human rights in the continent.
“He remained constant in his fight for justice and peace, and for the past four years, and almost in singular and monomaniac fashion, for reconciliation of Cameroonians involved in the Anglophone problem,” said Bishop Abraham Kome of Bafang, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Cameroon.
“He put his last energy into trying to resolve this conflict. Maybe he dies dreaming of a reconciled country, of a more just and fraternal country, perhaps he deserves in his memory, that we finally end this unnecessary war,” Bishop Kome added.
Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala challenged Cameroonians to help find solutions to the problems troubling the country noting that, “…the best homage we can pay to the cardinal is to continue the fight against inequalities, injustices, corruption in our country, and to try to create a society where everybody would, in a just manner, have access to the wealth of this country and where the rights of everyone are respected.”
“He dedicated all his life to fighting injustice. He fought for the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, those who suffer, those whose rights are abused and those who have lost all hope,” Archbishop Kleda said recognizing cardinal Tumi’s dream to see Cameroon a country where peace and justice reign.
President Paul Biya of Cameroon represented by Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute led the nation in bidding farewell to cardinal Tumi saying he, “…undoubtedly marked the history of our country, Cameroon that he deeply loved, and whose progress he tirelessly worked for.”
