Bamenda (Cameroon) (AFP) - Pope Leo XIV made a vigorous call for peace on a visit Thursday to a “bloodstained” region of Cameroon that has been gripped by an English-speaking separatist conflict for nearly a decade.

Under military escort, the US-born pope blessed joyful crowds gathered in the northwestern city of Bamenda from a vehicle with bulletproof windows.

Singing, blowing horns and making music, people greeted Leo waving Vatican and Cameroonian flags while dressed in traditional outfits bearing the pope’s image.

“Let us serve peace together!” Leo urged, in a solemn speech at Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in the city in a “bloodstained yet fertile land that has been mistreated, yet is rich in vegetation and fruit”.

“Those who rob your land of its resources generally invest much of the profit in weapons, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilisation and death,” he said.

“They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found,” Leo added.

After his arrival in the central African country on Wednesday, the pope appealed to Cameroon’s leaders to examine their “conscience” and tackle corruption and rights abuses.

“Security is a priority, but it must always be exercised with respect for human rights,” he said in an uncharacteristically pointed speech at the presidential palace attended by President Paul Biya.

Leo’s trip, the fourth to Cameroon by a pope and the first since Pope Benedict XVI in 2009, comes six months after the authorities violently put down protests against 93-year-old Biya’s disputed re-election for an eighth term.

His landmark four-nation African tour kicked off earlier this week under the shadow of broadsides from US President Donald Trump in response to Leo’s calls for an end to the conflict in the Middle East.

- Bolstered security -

Security measures had been stepped up on the main routes through Bamenda for the visit.

Cameroon’s two anglophone regions have suffered almost a decade of armed violence following attempts to secede from the rest of the mostly French-speaking central African country.

Conflict erupted after Biya, who has ruled the central African country since 1982, violently repressed peaceful demonstrations in 2016 by English speakers who felt marginalised.

Civilians have been targeted with killings and kidnappings. At least 6,000 people have been killed since 2016, according to the United Nations.

Separatist fighters declared a Republic of Ambazonia in the two regions, which account for around a fifth of the population.

On Monday, separatist groups announced a three-day truce to allow for a safe welcome for the pontiff.

The separatists also have high hopes for the visit.

The Unity Warriors of Ambazonia told AFP it hoped Leo would press the government to restart talks “where the origins of the conflict could be discussed”.

Teacher Vivian Ndey, 60, from Bamenda, welcomed the pope carrying a “plant of peace” as a symbol of hope.

She spoke at the cathedral of the difficulty of teaching during the crisis, saying teachers were afraid to come to class and students had vanished.

Bamenda airport, which has been shut since 2019 due to the violence, has been renovated for the pope’s visit and is due to remain open.

- Dialogue -

“This is the first time since the beginning of the conflict that everyone is speaking the same language: everyone is welcoming the Holy Father,” Archbishop of Bamenda Andrew Fuanya Nkea said.

In a country where more than a third of the approximately 30 million people are Catholic, the Church plays a key mediation role and runs a large network of hospitals, schools and charities.

After the Bamenda trip, Leo is hold a mass at a stadium in the economic capital Douala on Friday, before leaving Cameroon for Angola on Saturday. He then travels on to Equatorial Guinea.

Leo’s first major international tour had risked being overshadowed by Trump’s comments that he was “not a big fan” of the pope, who has called for peace in the Middle East.

US Vice President JD Vance – a Catholic – weighed in, urging the Vatican to “stick to matters of morality”.

Leo has brushed the jibes aside.

“I have no fear, neither of the Trump administration, nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel,” he told reporters aboard the papal plane on Monday.