Why the SDF Made a Mistake in Walking out on the Speech of Soro Guillaume, President of the National Assembly of Cote d’Ivoire.

By Nfor Susungi

Nfor Susungi

Let me start by telling you a true story.  In 1996 Chairman John Fru Ndi travelled through Abidjan to Mali to attend some socialist meeting there with President Alpha Oumar Konare and Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (who is now the President) (both of them socialists).  On his way back he got stuck at the airport in Abidjan because he did not have a visa to Cote d’Ivoire.  While killing time at the airport he was noticed by an Ivorian policeman because he was wearing his trademark traditional dress.  When the Chairman explained his visa status to the policeman, the officer reported the matter to his boss.  Before long, the matter had been transmitted through channels to the highest ranks of the police to the Minister of the Interior and finally to President Henri Konan Bédié.

President Bédié reacted by giving instructions that the Chairman should be given a visa and brought into Abidjan as a guest of the Ivorian government.  He was lodged at Hotel Ivoire.  Before long the Chairman was brought to President Bédié’s home in Cocody where he was received by the Ivorian President.

During his meeting “en tête a tête”, with Chairman John Fru Ndi, the Ivorian President called Laurent Gbagbo ( at that time President of the FPI) and said: “Hey Laurent, j’ai  ton ami  Fru Ndi avec moi dans mon bureau.  Je te l’envoie après”.    In spite of the fact that Henri Konan Bédié and Laurent Gbagbo were political adversaries, the strange camaraderie between them illustrates the fact that politics in Cote d’Ivoire was still being played at a certain level of parliamentary honour.

I speak as a witness to these events and to the fact that the FPI and the SDF are close political parties and that the relationship between the John Fru Ndi and Laurent Gbagbo has been close.   President Laurent Gbagbo came to power on 26 October 2000 following the presidential elections which were organized by Robert Guéi.  But the traumatic events which were to trail  Cote d’Ivoire for ten years started with the attempted coup of 19 September 2002 which gave rise to a rebellion that resulted in the country being split into two.  There is no question about the fact that Mr. Soro Guillaume Kigbafori was a central part of that rebellion.

Following a series of conferences and peace talks in various African cities, a Union Government was formed at the head of which Mr. Soro Guilllaume was named Prime Minister and head of a government by President Laurent Gbagbo himself and he occupied that position from 4 April 2007 to 4 December 2010.   This is the government composition which went to the contested presidential elections of November 2010 following which Soro Guillaume resigned as Prime Minister in the ensuing electoral dispute.  After Alassane Ouattara was sworn in as President on 6 May 2011, Mr. Soro Guillaume resumed the position of Prime Minister which he occupied till 13 March 2012 under Alassane Ouattara.

It is dangerous for us as foreigners (non-Ivorians) to go back to the question of who won and who lost that election of November 2010 because it is a historical fact that the electoral dispute was finally adjudicated  only after the French army pounded the residence of Ivorian President for over two weeks until President Laurent Gbagbo was taken out alive on 6 April 2011.   He was finally sent to the Hague to face charges at the ICC after the current President Alassane Ouattara had been sworn-in as the President of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire.

Subsequent parliamentary elections resulted in the emergence of Mr. Soro Guillaume Kigbafori as the new President of the National Assembly.  It is very dangerous for us as non Ivorians to go back to labeling anyone as “rebel”.  I need not remind you that for a long time certain countries called Nelson Mandela a “terrorist” because of what he had to do at a certain stage of his life.  This brings us to the question as to the moral and political justification of the position of the SDF in response to the invitation to the National Assembly in Cameroon.

The Visit of Soro Guillaume to Cameroon

I am of the opinion that the SDF made a mistake in taking such a public position against the visit of Soro Guilllaume in the capacity of the President of the Ivorian National Assembly and instructing its deputies to walk out on the speech of the Ivorian leader.  To characterize Soro Guillaume as a “Chief Rebel” is a mistake.  He is now the President of the National Assembly and an integral part of constituted authority in the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire.   This does not call on anyone to like him or to love him.  It calls on everyone to acknowledge and to respect the office because Cote d’Ivoire is a nation that is above Soro Guillaume, Alassane Ouattara, Konan Bédié and Laurent Gbagbo or any other person who might,  at one time or another,  be called upon by political circumstances to occupy any of the constitutional offices of the land.

It was not necessary for the SDF NEC to pass a resolution distancing itself from the visit of Soro Guillaume to the National Assembly.  There are certain political situations which call for a response at a statesman level rather than at a streetsman level. The SDF could have intervened with Cavaye Djibrill the President of the National Assembly to negotiate for a private visit to the Chairman by Soro Guillaume as a condition for the SDF MPs to remain in the Assembly Hall during Soro Guillaume’s speech.    This visit would have enabled Mr Soro Guillaume to brief the Chairman John Fru Ndi on the purpose of his visit and it would have also given the Chairman the opportunity to let Mr. Soro Guilllaume know what the SDF thinks about the events that took place in Cote d’Ivoire.  It would have been a very suitable occasion for the SDF to call for the release of all political prisoners in Cote d’Ivoire and to summon the Ivorian authorities to do more for reconciliation.  If all of this had been done, Mr. Soro Guillaume would have left Cameroon with a completely different view of Cameroonian democracy and the SDF would have emerged the real beneficiary of the visit of Soro Guillaume to Cameroon. Cameroon/ Cote d’Ivoire relations would have been put at a completely different level.

But the SDF decision has put them in a corner and they have emerged gaining nothing out of their approach in handling this event.   In fact they are the big losers.  I can state with full authority that Laurent Gbagbo will be of the opinion that the SDF made a mistake in handling the matter the way they did.   If consulted, Laurent Gbagbo would have encouraged Chairman John Fru Ndi to receive Soro Guillaume who is a mere 42 year old young man, holding a very important position in his country.  He wants to reach out and talk to people in a country like Cameroon where most senior positions in the country are still held by much older people.  That is why more and more Ivorian leaders are coming to Cameroon.  If the Chairman had remembered the way that President Henri Konan Bédié received him in 1996, I am sure that he would have handled the Soro Guillaume visit in a different way.

How to repair the damage

There are certain mistakes which are difficult to correct and we should strive to avoid making them.   But any mistake can be corrected once it is acknowledged that it was a mistake.  The SDF needs to move quickly to repair the damage.  If anyone is interested in knowing how to repair the damage, let them contact me.

Courtesy:chiefsusungi.com

Prophet T.B.Joshua and the Advent of This Century

By  Yangange  Martin  Wose* 

Prophet T .B. Joshua  is one  of  the  great men of God of our  time.  I may attempt  to  qualify  him as a Christian  in respect  of  the  so  many  dispensations  of  our  time.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  lord  and his  works  are  spiritual,  supernatural  ,omniscient  , omniscience and  omnipresent  that  is  why  in  an effort  to  show  his  greatness  the  Nigerian  singer  Agatha  Moses  described  him  as  Dr.  Jesus.

Others  have  called  our  Lord  Ancient  of  Days,  Elohin  ,Yeweh,  Jehovah Jiereh,  Jehovah  Nisi,  Elshadai,  Mokonzi,  Zambe,  Nkosi,  and  Father  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. Biblical  books  are  superfluous  in descriptions  on some  of  this  issues  which  confirm  the  abstract  infinite  knowledge  of  the  realm of God Almighty.

In  our  time,  there  are  several  men  of God  and  so  many  denominations  dispersed  in  all continents  of  the  world. I  might  not  be  in  a  position  to  determine  and  even  discuss  their  practices as  men  of  God  in  respect  of  the  scriptures  they  profess.

Africans mostly  fall amongst the  peoples  of  the  world  who  have had  teachings   and  education  about  Christianity  from  their  colonial  peers. I dare  say  we have  no  option  on  this  matter  because  it came  side by  side  with colonialism ,  politics  and  economics. Our  issue  here is  Christianity and one grew up to  see Jesus  Christ in books  as a  white man. 

 The  Jews  are  white and  there is  no  problem  about  colour though detractors may  use that as a  fact  to  give  Christianity a  negative  imperialist  outfit. Whatever the  negatives  Christianity extols concrete values like  other religious  bodies  with some  variations. Therein ,  we find   values  like  peace,  love and justice  for  all  men.  These  values constitute  the  basis  for  all  humanity’s  sustainable  effort s   which  the  whole  world  emulates  .  The  coming  of  prophet  T. B. Joshua  is  worth- emulating  when  a  birds-eye-view is pecked on   the  SCOAN,  Emmanuel  TV and  the  outreach including  Anointing  Water  and  Stickers .

The  Miracles  that  have  been  happening  at  the  SCOAN , Synagogue  Church Of  All Nations  have  been  accompanied  by  testimonies  of  the very  beneficiaries  from  so  many  countries  all over  the  world and  from  amongst  all  the  races  of  the  world.  The  Television  has  never  been  known  to  make  caricatures  of  men  in  such  diversity  and  quantum  thus  confirming  this  as true.

Wonderful  happenings  have  taken  place  far  beyond  the borders  of Nigeria  in  this  connection .   

  A  man  was  shipwrecked  in  Delta  State  and by  supernatural   effort  held  a  jug  to  his  body  and  on him  was  anointing  water  and  a  sticker  . The  jug  kept  him afloat  scientifically but  how  he  sustained  the  grip  on  the jug  for  three days  on the  cold  wide  Atlantic  ocean  with  such  consternation is  a  matter  for the  Holy  spirit.    Cures  for  chronic  sores and highly  disenabling  ailments  have  achieved  on - the - spot  solutions  by  prayers  and  intervention of  the  Holy  Spirit.

A  Ghanaian  girl  died  and  came  back  to  life  because  a  recorded  Mass  Prayer  recorded  on her phone  was  replayed to  her  ear.  When  she  revived  she  confessed  having seen Prophet  Joshua  on her  bed  side.  People  from all  continents  of  the  world  have  received  deliverance,  breakthrough  and  blessings through  prayers.

If  all kinds  of people amongst  almost  all the  races  of  the   world  come  to  a  prophet,  and  if all  of  them receive  their  hearts’  desires  by  faith,  then  it  must  be  certain  that  the  Lord  God  has  decided to  send  his  servant, a  likely   flag bearer  of  our  lord  Jesus  Christ.  In  our  time Prophet  Joshua  has  attached  elaborate  charity  to  his  works  and  he  donates  food  and  money  to  as many  under -privileged  people as  he  can  touch. In short   Charity is a major feature of His Ministry.

There is no room for detractors today.  The Word of God is happening in Africa.  To   buttress  this argument   there  is  a  black  US  president(Barack Obama)  and  Madiba  Nelson Mandela(first-ever democratically elected black South African President-now late) has arguably  been  the  most  popular  human  being  of this century.  Pope  Francis  and   Prophet  Joshua  have  the  same  position  on the  beleaguered  Syria.

My proposal  is  very  simple.   Any   Thomas   on   this   issue will have to prove the contrary. In  any  case,  the  world  has  accepted  the  fact  that  colour  in  not a  barrier  and  the  prophet  himself  in  his  lavish  mass prayer  calls  out  ‘ Touch  the  screen wherever  you  are ,  where can  you  go from  his  presence…’  and  you  will  have  deliverance,  breakthrough by  faith.

The  SCOAN  is  located  at  Ekotun in  downtown  Lagos.  When   I  visited it,  I  noticed  a  chapel  of  wondrous  capacity  perhaps  a  stadium  capacity,  filled  to its  tether  and  an overflow  congregation  out in  massive  canopies ; if put  together  would outnumber  the  interior  membership-  and  even  then  packed  to  capacity.  Men  and  women of all nations keep  a  gushing  incessant  traffic  like  the  Atlantic  ocean  taking  positions  for  an  unintended  tsunami.

Long  live Prophet T.B.Joshua  and  the Synagogue  Church  of All  Nations.

NB: Yangange  Martin  Wose is a Cameroonian Freelance journalist and Fellow, London School of Journalism   Email:  yangangemm@yahoo.com

Cameroon:Football and Simplistic Patriotism

By Asonganyi Tazoacha

The flag is like the identity card of a country. More importantly, it is a symbol of certain national ideals; it is an expression of the principle of freedom and inclusiveness. It is not an instrument for the promotion of stage-managed patriotism. It is not a symbol of repressive state power. It is not a tool with which demagogic politicians play games of simplistic patriotism, or puppets and puppeteers grandstand with the concept of patriotism.

Human progress and achievement is anchored on the rights of spirit and mind – freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, association, and petition for redress. These freedoms can also be expressed through symbolic actions like the memorable corner-flag dance of Roger Miller, or the recent symbolic actions of Eto’o Fils, in response to the gossips of Mourinho about his age. When such symbolic expressions are played out, opponents jeer, while friends and supporters cheer. That of course is their right.

The National Football Team is an effective form of political association; it is a team of individuals united in common purpose. Like every association, its members enjoy political expression. The refusal - in protest - of the Captain of the National Football Team to take the Cameroon flag from the Prime Minister was a supreme act of political expression. It is a statement about corruption, crooked management practices, high-handedness, one-upmanship and many other ills that have plagued football and the team for a long time. Again, opponents are jeering while supporters are cheering. Individuals may disagree with the message; even society may find it offensive or disagreeable. However, toleration of such political expression is a sign of strength. It is patriotism at its best. Patriotism is not just saying that you love a country, or about touting its flag around, or mouthing the national anthem while daily bleeding the country through profligacy and brigandage.

It is interesting that many people are acting as if this act of political expression by the “Indomitable Lions” is the most threatening problem faced by the team prior to the Brazil football fiesta. They are wrong. The act was an expression of the mood of the team that is going to represent Cameroon in Brazil. We should be thankful that it was here on Cameroon soil, not faraway in Brazil where the problem would have been more difficult to resolve, and probably too late. Whatever the outcome of their representation in Brazil, they leave the rest of us with the message that patriotism is about living in truth and telling the truth about the country. It is about standing up to power with courage and integrity.

Each and every one of us may think differently about the act; my one word to Eto’o is -Thanks! Please know that Cameroonians look up to your team with a mixture of confidence and anxiety.

At Swearing-In, Ex-General Vows ‘Inclusive’ Egypt

   By David D.KIRKPATRICK

The inauguration of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who led Egypt after a military takeover, was celebrated in Tahrir Square. Credit Thomas Hartwell/Associated Press

CAIRO — Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former general who led the military takeover here nearly one year ago, was sworn in as president on Sunday, testing the bet that a new strongman can overcome the economic dysfunction and political polarization that bedeviled Egypt’s three-year experiment with democracy.

In an address to dozens of visiting heads of state gathered in a gilded presidential palace, Mr. Sisi pledged to work for security and stability in Egypt and the region.

“It is time for our great people to reap the harvest of their two revolutions,” he said, referring to the 2011 uprising that forced out President Hosni Mubarak and the 2013 protests that preceded the military takeover.

 Mr. Sisi, 59, now takes formal responsibility for a nation racked by three years of turmoil, scarred by the new government’s bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and riven by deepening loathing between rival Islamist and nationalist factions of the population. Without billions of dollars in continuing aid from Persian Gulf monarchies glad to be rid of the Brotherhood, Egypt’s Treasury would empty and its economy collapse.

Mr. Sisi vowed to lead an “inclusive” national journey, “where each party listens to the other with impartiality, where we disagree for the sake of our homeland and not over it, where our differences are enriching and diversifying, and bestowing the spirit of cooperation and love on our shared patriotic labors.”

In a televised speech at a second celebration, however, Mr. Sisi also pointedly ruled out any reconciliation with those who “committed crimes” or “adopted violence as a methodology” — charges understood here as a clear reference to any of the Islamist supporters of the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi was sworn in Sunday as Egypt’s president.

“There is no place for them in this march forward,” he added. “I say it loud and clear: no cooperation or appeasement for those who resort to violence and those who want to disrupt our movement to the future.”

Mr. Sisi singled out for appreciation one foreign leader, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Sisi’s chief international sponsor, whose government is donating several billion dollars to bankroll the military takeover and keep the government afloat.

 Mr. Sisi and the departing interim president, Adly Mansour, sitting at two gleaming writing desks, signed a document commemorating what they described as Egypt’s first peaceful transition of power. But Mr. Sisi’s inauguration effectively makes formal his exercise of the power he has already wielded as the nation’s paramount decision maker since he deposed and jailed Mr. Morsi last July 3.

Mr. Mansour, a senior judge, was named interim president by Mr. Sisi himself, so in a sense he is merely returning the chair. Shaking hands, the two men leaned in to kiss each other on the cheek.

Only a few scattered protests across the country were reported on Sunday. Thousands of people in Cairo celebrated late into the night in Tahrir Square, the center of the 2011 uprising, currently surrounded by tanks and barbed wire.

Mr. Sisi, who received more than 95 percent of the votes in a pro forma election last month, now holds direct responsibility for confronting challenges as formidable as any Egypt has faced in the six decades since the overthrow of the British-backed monarchy.

The economy was a sieve of unaffordable fuel subsidies and rampant corruption even before the tumult of the past three years, and it has been devastated by the collapse of its vital tourism business. Since the ouster of Mr. Morsi, the military-backed government has killed more than a thousand of his Islamist supporters during street protests. It has jailed at least 16,000 others, reinforcing distrust and division.

The suppression of both Islamist and liberal dissent has shut down political debate and extinguished hopes for reconciliation. Attacks on soldiers and police officers by militants seeking revenge for the ouster of Mr. Morsi have undermined public security.

The inaugural ceremony on Sunday, however, suggested that Mr. Sisi was in full control of the Egyptian state, with little to fear from legislative, judicial or bureaucratic obstruction of his power — a sharp contrast to Mr. Morsi’s troubled year in the presidential palace.

On the eve of Mr. Morsi’s victory as Egypt’s first democratically elected leader in June 2012, the Supreme Constitutional Court — its members all appointed under Mr. Mubarak — abruptly dissolved the newly elected and Islamist-led Parliament on a procedural technicality. The court ordered the transfer of legislative and budgeting power to Egypt’s top generals, who refused to allow the new president to be sworn in before either a crowd of citizens or an assembly of elected officials, as Mr. Morsi preferred.

Instead, he was forced to stand, teeth clenched, before the judges of the same court as they lectured him about their own importance. And continuous judicial battles, police insubordination and unchecked street protests vexed his administration for the 12 months until the military takeover.

Mr. Sisi, in contrast, was welcomed into the court as a national savior who had already revived Egypt at a time when “some had declared it dead,” as Maher Sami, the court’s deputy chief, declared in a lavish tribute to the president.

The new president can expect sympathy from the constitutional court in part because Mr. Mansour, his close ally, is returning to his previous role as its chief. And in his final days before leaving office, Mr. Mansour issued a law governing parliamentary elections that all but ensures that the new Parliament will be a rubber stamp for Mr. Sisi, excluding the Islamists who had dominated Egypt’s free elections and minimizing the hopes of upstart liberal parties.

Work crews had toiled through the weekend to beautify the area along the Nile facing the court for Mr. Sisi’s arrival on Sunday morning, and two wide red carpets were draped down the court’s long, neoclassical steps. (Mr. Sisi, in a blue suit and sunglasses, entered by a side door.)

In his tribute before he administered the oath, Judge Sami portrayed Mr. Sisi as both heir and redeemer of the original 2011 revolt. The initial uprising against “tyranny and corruption” had fallen “captive” to the Muslim Brotherhood — the Islamist group whose party had won the most votes in parliamentary and presidential elections — and the Brotherhood had “pounced on it, decimated it and ripped it to bloody shreds just like they ripped apart the body of the whole state, just like they ripped apart the body of the entire homeland,” Judge Sami said.

Although the term “revolution” typically refers to the overturning of one legal order to establish another, Judge Sami argued that Egypt’s revolution had violated the country’s constitutional traditions, and thus “a revolution against the revolution” had become necessary.

 That, he said, was what happened last summer. “It was not a military coup,” he said. “It was the revolution of a people.”

Addressing Mr. Sisi as a “revolutionary soldier, Egypt’s devout son,” Judge Sami told him, “In spite of the dangers and perils of this difficult choice, you made it for the sake of rescuing Egypt.” Grateful Egyptians, the judge said, saw in Mr. Sisi “a bright tomorrow and a new birth.”

--------------

Mayy El Sheikh and May Kamel contributed reporting.

 Courtesy:The New York Times

Boko Haram militants slaughter at least 200 civilians in Nigeria, witnesses say

                                             By ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 21, 2014: In this file photo, Red Cross personnel search for remains at the site of one of a car bomb in Jos, Nigeria. Boko Haram militants are taking over villages in northeastern Nigeria, killing and terrorizing civilians and political leaders, witnesses say, as the Islamic fighters make a comeback from a year-long military offensive aimed at crushing them.AP/Sunday Alamba/Fil

     MAIDUGURI, Nigeria –  Boko Haram militants dressed as soldiers slaughtered at least 200 civilians in three villages in northeastern Nigeria and the military failed to intervene even though it was warned that an attack was imminent, witnesses said on Thursday.

    A community leader who witnessed the killings on Monday said residents of the Gwoza local government district in Borno state had pleaded for the military to send soldiers to protect the area after they heard that militants were about to attack, but help didn't arrive. The killings occurred in Danjara, Agapalwa, and Antagara.

  "We all thought they were the soldiers that we earlier reported to that the insurgents might attack us," said a community leader who escaped the massacre and fled to Maiduguri, Borno state capital.

    The militants arrived in Toyota Hilux pickup trucks — commonly used by the military — and told the civilians they were soldiers "and we are here to protect you all," the same tactic used by the group when they kidnapped more than 300 girls from a school in the town of Chibok on April 15.

     After people gathered in the center on the orders of the militants, "they begin to shout 'Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar' on top of their voices, then they begin to fire at the people continuously for a very long time until all that gathered were all dead," said the witness who didn't want to be named for fear for his safety.

    The slaughter was confirmed by both Mohammed Ali Ndume, a senator representing Borno and whose hometown is Gwoza, and by a top security official in Maiduguri who insisted on anonymity because he isn't allowed to speak to the media.

    It took a few days for survivors to get word of the massacres to Maiduguri, the provincial capital, because travel on the roads is extremely dangerous and phone connections are poor or nonexistent.

   The community leader wasn't shot because "I was going round to inform people that the soldiers had come and they wanted to address us," he said. As people were fleeing, other gunmen lurked outside the villages on motorcycles and mowed them down, he said.

    Militants of Boko Haram, which wants to establish Islamic state in Nigeria, have been taking over villages in the northeast, killing and terrorizing civilians and political leaders as the Islamic fighters make a comeback from a year-long military offensive aimed at crushing them. The death toll from Monday's attacks is among the highest. Thousands of people have been killed in the 5-year-old insurgency, more than 2,000 so far just this year, and an estimated 750,000 Nigerians have been driven from their homes.

    Nigeria's military has insisted that the big influx of troops and a year-old state of emergency in three states which gives them the power to detain suspects, take over buildings and lock down any area has the extremists on the run.

    But while Boko Haram has in large part been pushed out of cities in the northeast, they have been seizing villages with thatched-roof huts in the semi-arid region where they once held sway, boldly staking their claim by hoisting their black flags with white Arabic lettering, and making large swaths of Nigeria no-go regions for the military.

  The villages attacked on Monday are in the Gwoza local government, a regional political center whose emir was killed in a Boko Haram ambush on his convoy last week. Emirs are religious and traditional rulers who have been targeted for speaking out against Boko Haram's extremism.

   Borno Gov. Kashim Shettima traveled on Saturday to Gwoza to pay his respects to the fallen emir and was quoted as saying it was a terrifying ride.

  "If I say I was not petrified travelling through that ... road to Gwoza I would be lying because that road had been designated a no-go area for about two months now due to the incessant attacks and killings that occur there," the governor was quoted as saying by Information Nigeria, a web site. A local journalist who was in the convoy that was escorted by 150 soldiers counted at least 16 towns and villages that were deserted along the 135 kilometer (85 mile) route, according to the local media report.

Kidnapped Italian priests and Canadian nun freed in Cameroon

By Ann Mereille Nzouankeu

Yaounde- (Reuters) - Two Italian priests and a Canadian nun kidnapped in northern Cameroon nearly two months ago by suspected Boko Haram gunmen were released on Sunday, smiling and apparently in good health as they arrived in the capital.

Giampaolo Marta and Gianantonio Allegri, missionaries from the diocese of Vicenza in northeast Italy, and Canadian Gilberte Bissiere were seized on the night of April 4 from the parish of Maroua, close to the border with Nigeria.

There has been no claim of responsibility for their kidnapping but Cameroonian officials have pointed the finger at the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, which has become active in a region that it had for some time used as a logistical base.

State television showed images of the priests and the nun arriving at Yaounde airport on Sunday in the company of heavily armed Cameroonian special forces.

The Cameroonian presidency said the captives had been "handed over last night to Cameroonian authorities", and thanked those who had worked for their release. Authorities declined to give further details of the release, or to say whether any deal had been done to secure it.

The clerics, looking tired but smiling, were greeted by the ambassadors of Italy and Canada, local church authorities and an envoy sent by Pope Francis, state television said.

They were taken to their respective embassies and were expected to meet Cameroonian President Paul Biya later on Sunday, officials said.
In Rome, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the pope had been informed immediately of the release, which "fills us with joy".

The priests had been working on improving water supplies and fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS in the impoverished region, as well as their religious duties, according to their diocesan website.

One of the priests had said in a letter to his diocese - posted on its website - that local authorities had advised him to travel with a police escort due to the deteriorating security situation in northern Cameroon.
Countries across West Africa are increasingly concerned that Boko Haram, which has killed thousands in a fight to carve out an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria, poses a threat to the entire region.

Boko Haram, whose name means 'Western education is sinful' in the Haussa language, stirred an international outcry with the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria on April 14.

Cameroonian security forces killed some 40 Boko Haram militants in clashes in the country's far north, state radio said on Sunday. A presidency source confirmed the clashes, which took place west of the town of Kousseri, in the region bordering Nigeria and Chad.
Cameroon, which has been criticised by Nigeria for not doing enough to fight Boko Haram, deployed some 1,000 troops to the far north this week.
(Additional reporting by Tansa Musa in Yaounde and Gavin Jones in Rome; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Andrew Roche and Kevin Liffey)