Pope Leo XIV was welcomed with popular enthusiasm on Wednesday in Cameroon for a three-day visit, where he is expected to deliver a message of peace to the English-speaking region, torn apart by a deadly conflict for almost ten years.

The American pope arrived in the capital Yaoundé from Algeria, where the start of his tour was partly overshadowed by a double suicide bombing some forty kilometers from Algiers and a diatribe against him by Donald Trump, who notably accused him of being "incompetent in foreign policy".

Welcomed in a rousing atmosphere in Yaoundé, Leo XIV, surrounded by a security convoy, blessed from a car with a sunroof the thousands of faithful gathered along the airport roads who welcomed him with songs and percussion, waving flags of the country and the Vatican under a blazing sun.

"It feels so good that the Pope is coming to see us because there are so many problems in this country," 19-year-old Hélène Ebogo, who waited for the pontiff at the airport, told AFP.

In the capital of this multi-faith country with a Christian majority, the Pope is due to meet in the afternoon with President Paul Biya, 93, the oldest head of state in the world, and deliver a speech to the authorities at the presidential palace.

"We hope that as soon as he sets foot on Cameroonian soil, the war will stop," Bénédicte Bélinka, dressed in a loincloth bearing the image of the Pope, told AFP.

Tatah Mbuy, a priest in Bamenda, sees this visit—the first by a pope since Benedict XVI in 2009—as "a golden opportunity. Every Cameroonian hopes the pope will come to preach peace." He intends to do everything he can to reach Bamenda before Thursday, where the pope will celebrate a highly anticipated mass.

Bamenda is the epicenter of violence in the English-speaking northwest between government forces and separatist groups that has left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands displaced for almost a decade.

In this Central African country where approximately 37% of the roughly 30 million inhabitants are Catholic, the Church plays a mediating role and manages a vast network of hospitals, schools and charitable works - a lever of influence that the Holy See wishes to consolidate.

- Three-day truce -

However, some faithful have expressed fears that this visit will serve to polish the image of the head of state, who has been in power since 1982 and was re-elected in October following a contested election marred by demonstrations that were violently suppressed.

Leo XIV, aged 70, will then visit a Catholic orphanage before a private meeting with the country's bishops.

On Monday, separatist groups announced a three-day truce in the north, where nearly 20% of the population lives, to allow the Pope to be welcomed safely.

Following violently repressed peaceful demonstrations, a conflict arose in 2017 opposing separatists, who proclaimed the "Republic of Ambazonia", to the government of Yaoundé.

Caught in the crossfire, civilians have become targets of extortion, violence, kidnapping for ransom, and assassinations. At least 6,000 of them have died since 2016, according to the UN.

Leo XIV will deliver a speech and celebrate a mass at the city's airport, which has been renovated for the occasion.

- "Peaceful solution" -

"The Pope's visit will soften the hearts of the extremists so that we can find common ground (...) and reach a peaceful solution," hopes Andrew Fuanya Nkea, Archbishop of Bamenda and President of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon.

The Pope will travel to the economic capital, Douala, on Friday, where he will celebrate Mass in a stadium, an event expected to draw hundreds of thousands of faithful. He will then meet with representatives of the labor movement in this city, which was a major theater of the post-election crisis in October.

"We are experiencing a kind of crisis. Many people are suffering, many people have lost their jobs," lamented Samuel Kleda, the Archbishop of Douala, on Thursday. "This is an opportunity for us to show, by receiving the Pope, that we are capable of transforming our country."

The leader of the 1.4 billion Catholics will continue this 18,000 km African journey at a frenetic pace in Angola and Equatorial Guinea until April 23.