Religious revival in the Roman Catholic Church and the autochthony-allochthony conflict in Cameroon

This article explores the reasons for, and the repercussions of, a virulent and protracted crisis in the South West Province of anglophone Cameroon during the 1990s caused by the emergence of a Pentecostalism-inspired revival movement within the Roman Catholic Church. The so-called Maranatha movement and main-line Catholicism were viewed by both parties as incompatible, almost leading to a schism within the Church. The originally internal Church dispute gradually became a particularly explosive issue in theregion when the politics of belonging, fuelled by the government and the regional elite during political liberalisation, became pervasive.