Algiers/Dakar, April 15, (dpa/GNA) – Pope Leo XIV arrives in Cameroon on Wednesday, where he will meet President Paul Biya in YaoundĂ© on the second leg of his African trip.
Biya, 93, has been president of the West African country since 1982 and was prime minister before that.
More than half of Cameroon’s 30 million population are Christian, with a quarter being Catholics, according to the World Religion Database. Independent churches are growing. Around 20% are Muslim.
Once a German colony, the country was divided up between France and the United Kingdom after World War I. Thousands have been killed in a civil war that has raged since 2017 between the Francophone-dominated government and Anglophone separatists. Islamist terrorist groups are active in the north of the country.
The country is heavily indebted and plagued by corruption. Crumbling infrastructure and high youth unemployment are other problems.
Around 40% of the population is estimated to be living in poverty. Political opposition and freedom of the press are restricted.
Leo visited Algeria at the start of his trip. After Cameroon, he travels to Angola and Equatorial Africa.
GNA