BAMENDA, Cameroon (AFP)—Pope Leo XIV condemned “an endless cycle of destabilisation and death” on a visit Thursday to a “bloodstained” region of Cameroon that has been gripped by an English-speaking separatist conflict for nearly a decade.

“Those who rob your land of its resources generally invest much of the profit in weapons, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilisation and death,” the pontiff said in a message of peace in the northwestern city of Bamenda, the epicentre of the insurgency.

Under military escort, the US-born pope arrived at Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in a vehicle with bulletproof windows, blessing the joyful crowds which had gathered to greet him.

Singing, blowing horns and making music, people waved Vatican and Cameroonian flags while dressed in traditional outfits bearing the pope’s image.

Cameroon’s two anglophone regions have suffered almost a decade of armed violence following attempts to secede from the rest of the mostly French-speaking central African country.

Conflict erupted after President Paul Biya, who has ruled the central African country since 1982, violently put down peaceful demonstrations in 2016 by English speakers who felt marginalised.

Civilians have been targeted with killings and kidnappings. At least 6,000 people have been killed since 2016, according to the United Nations.

In a solemn speech, Leo, who arrived in Cameroon on Wednesday on the second leg of a landmark African tour, condemned those who manipulate religion and the name of God “for their own military, economic and political gain”.

Separatists who have been imprisoned called via their lawyer, Joseph Awah Fru, for talks under the aegis of the Vatican “to discuss the root causes of the conflict with the participation of the UN”.