Arrest of medical staff in Kumbo: CBC executive calls for fasting, prayer

By Ngala Hansel

The Executive President of the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC), the Reverend Dr. Nditemeh Charlemagne has called on CBC Christians to “observe three days of prayer and fasting for the CBC, Septemember 28-30, 2022…”.
In a public letter dated September 27, the executive of Cameroon’s largest Baptist denomination stated that the praying and fasting was necessitated by the “experiences of the CBC, and pointedly one of our health institutions in the course of the past week and counting…”.

The events refer to the arrest of three medical staff on September 22 (including the hospital administrator) at the CBC’s Banso Baptist Hospital (BBH) located in the town of Kumbo in the Northwest Region, one of the hotbeds of a deadly separatist clash that began in 2016.
Five more staff were later taken into “Amba” captivity on September 24, accused by the separatist fighters of “collaborating with the military”. Among them was a Field Pastor (the CBC designation of a head pastor in an association of churches).

Rev. Dr. Nditemeh in his letter stated categorically that the CBC is apolitical and regretted that the Church was a victim of harassment from both sides but that the CBC will “speak the truth, stand for the truth, and will remain on the side of the truth no matter what..”.

The CBC executive who was a former avionics engineer (an engineer that wires aircrafts) before answering the call to fulltime ministry and becoming an ordained minister, beckoned CBC Christians to pray without ceasing as the Bible urges Christians to do , so that even as God is being trusted to bring everlasting peace to the nation of Cameroon, there will be “respect of the sanctity of human life in our nation…”.
The staff taken captive by “Amba” were freed on September 27 while the three staff earlier arrested by the military still remain in custody seven days later.