Kidnapped British missionaries in Cameroon regain their freedom

A British Mill Hill missionary who was kidnapped in Cameroon’s war-torn Northwest region on Tuesday, April 1, has been released.

Huub Welters, 83, and assistant Henry Kang were released Friday, April 4, according to a release by the missionary society.

“We’re relieved to be able to report the release from captivity this afternoon, Thursday April 3rd, of Brother Huub Welters MHM and his assistant Henry Kang,” Mill Hill Missionaries said in a statement.

“Both were returned safe and sound to Mill Hill House Bamenda,” the statement said.

The two men were taken in Bambui—a town located on the outskirts of the regional capital, Bamenda. They were en route to a site for the construction of a school for vulnerable children when the kidnappers swooped in on them.

The Missionary society condemned the kidnapping, especially as Brother Huub was already suffering from fragile health, having endured “multiple joint replacements, a back operation, and (…), the cruel mental and emotional suffering of being held hostage by those he only ever wanted to help.”

“No crime was committed. His only ‘crime’ was loving too deeply, giving too much, and refusing to turn his back on the poor.”

On Huub’s assistant, the statement qualified Kang as ”a man who left his family behind to help make Brother Huub’s vision a reality.”

The pair were released, but their kidnapping is a grim reminder of the grief and pain the Church has been suffering since the separatist conflict broke out in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions in 2017.

The crisis started as a strike by teachers and lawyers in the two English-speaking regions, demanding that the government stop the use of French in Anglophone schools and courts.

The peaceful protests, however, turned violent when the government adopted a hardline. The government’s violent response led to the growth of a separatist fringe that took up arms against the state, fighting for the independence of Cameroon’s Anglophone population, and the formation of a new country to be called Ambazonia.

What happened in 2017 is rooted in Cameroon’s colonial legacy. Originally, Cameroon was a German colony until World War I, when it was divided between Britain and France. The British-controlled regions, known as British Southern Cameroons, developed distinct legal and educational systems influenced by British governance, while French Cameroon followed a different path under French rule.

In 1961, British Southern Cameroon was given the choice to join either Nigeria or French Cameroon. It opted for union with French Cameroon under the promise of a federal system, but over time, the autonomy of the Anglophone regions was eroded, leading to growing dissatisfaction.

The marginalization of Anglophones in political, economic, and cultural spheres fueled tensions, eventually escalating into the current conflict.

Eight years of conflict have left at least 6500 people dead, according to the International Crisis Group. Nearly a million have been forced from their homes, and according to the UN, 1.8 million people need humanitarian assistance.

As the conflict continues with no end in sight, Church leaders are caught in the middle: targeted by separatists for various reasons, and perceived as supportive of the separatist agenda by the government.

“The Church only preaches peace,” said Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of the Bamenda Archdiocese.

“Because the Church remains neutral, both sides in the conflict sometimes mistakenly think we support their enemies,” he told CWR.

In September 2022, for instance, gunmen kidnapped five priests, a nun, and two churchgoers after setting St. Mary’s Church in Nchang ablaze.

On September 26, 2022, militants attacked St. Martin of Tours Kembong Parish of the Diocese of Mamfe, where they shot another Mill Hill missionary, Fr. Elvis Mbangsi, in both legs and his left hand. It was in the same location that Kenyan-born priest, Fr. Cosmas Ombato Ondari, was brutally murdered.

In May 2021, Monsignor Julius Agbortoko Agborof of the Diocese of Mamfe was kidnapped and freed 48 hours later. The Director of Communication for the Mamfe Diocese, Father Christopher Eboka told Crux at the time that the kidnappers weren’t paid any ransom to secure the release of the priest, although the kidnappers were asking for a $36.000 ransom payment.

On June 4, Father Sylvester Ngarba Nsah of St. Theresia of the Child Jesus Pastoral zone, in a town called Vekovi, was arrested by the military on accusations that he was “collaborating” with separatist fighters. The same priest had been kidnapped twice by separatists for daring to open Catholic schools, in violation of a school boycott enforced by the rebels.

On Oct. 12, 2020, Jesuit Father Ludovic Lado was briefly detained as he set out on a pilgrimage for peace in Cameroon.

Some bishops have suffered a similar fate. Bishop Michael Bibi of the Buea Diocese in the country’s Southwest region had been kidnapped twice within 48 hours as he braved the odds to visit Christian communities in some remote villages.

On July 4, 2020, the emeritus Archbishop of Bamenda, Cornelius Fontem Esua, was taken by gunmen near the village of Belo-Njikwe in the northwest region.

On November 5, 2020, the emeritus Archbishop of Douala, the late Cardinal Christian Tumi, was kidnapped by gunmen and released the next day.

Nkea told CWR that the Church is ready to mediate in case of any dialogue. According to the International Crisis Group, the Catholic Church is probably the only entity with the moral grounding to mediate.

“Other than the Catholic clergy, there are few prospective peacemakers,” the group stated way back in 2018.