Pope Leo XIV was expected to pray for peace on Thursday in Cameroon's troubled northwest region, plagued by a nearly decade-long separatistism.
Following two days in Algeria marred by two suicide attacks in Blida, southwest of the capital Algiers, merely hours after the Catholic leader’s arrival and a spat with US President Donald Trump, Leo will travel under high security to a conflict zone where English-speaking separatists have been fighting the regular army.
Leo's speech and mass on Thursday before an expected 20,000 worshippers in the city of Bamenda, the epicentre of the insurgency, have been keenly anticipated by locals hoping for an end to the fighting.
"The pope's visit will soften the hearts of the extremists so that we can find common ground... and reach a peaceful solution," Archbishop of Bamenda Andrew Nkea said.
Singing crowds had already greeted the US-born pontiff on arrival in the central African country on Wednesday.
Leo's trip is the fourth to Cameroon by a pope and the first since Pope Benedict XVI's in 2009.
Speaking alongside Biya -- the world's oldest head of state -- Leo on Wednesday called for an end to the separatist conflict and urged Cameroon's leaders to root out abuses carried out in the name of order.
"Security is a priority, but it must always be exercised with respect for human rights," he said in a speech at the presidential palace.
'No fear'
The Anglophone conflict erupted in 2017 after protests launched the year prior against the French-speaking majority were suppressed by the authorities.
The crackdown led to a full-blown rift between the army and English-speaking separatists that rights groups say killed more than 6,000 people by 2024.
Separatists declared a Republic of Ambazonia in the two anglophone regions, which account for around a fifth of the population.
On Monday, separatist groups announced a three-day truce in the two regions to allow for a safe welcome of the pontiff.
"As the pope puts his feet on the soil of Bamenda, we should have peace. All the killing, the kidnapping should stop," Giovanni Mbuna, 36, who was abducted by separatists in 2023, told AFP.
After his Bamenda trip, Leo will hold mass for hundreds of thousands in a stadium in the economic capital, Douala, on Friday before leaving Cameroon for Angola on Saturday.
Leo's first major international tour initially risked being overshadowed by Trump's remarks that he was "not a big fan" of the pope after Leo called for peace in the Middle East.
US Vice President JD Vance -- a Catholic himself -- also weighed in, urging the Vatican to "stick to matters of morality".
Leo 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.
