U.S. Department of State Background Notes: Cameroon, March 1996 Bureau of African Affairs Prepared and released by the Bureau of African Affairs, Office of Central African Affairs March 1996 Official Name: Republic of Cameroon PROFILE Geography Area: 475,000 sq. km. (184,000 sq. mi.); about the size of California. Surrounding Countries: Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea. Cities: Capital - Yaounde (population: 900,000). Other major cities - Douala (1.4 million), Garoua (170,000), Maroua (150,000), Bafoussam (140,000), Bamenda (130,000), Nkongsamba (110,000), and Ngaoundere (100,000). Terrain: Northern plains, central and western highlands, southern and coastal rain forests. Mt. Cameroon in the Southwest is the third highest peak (13,353 ft.) in Africa. Climate: Northern plains (the Sahel region) - semiarid and hot (7- month dry season). Central and western highlands, where Yaounde is located - cooler, shorter dry season. Southern rain forest - warm, 4- month dry season. Coastal rain forest, where Douala is located - warm, humid year-round. People Nationality: English noun and adjective -- Cameroonian(s); French noun and adjective: camerounais(e). Population (mid-1994 est.): 12.5 million (65% in rural areas). Annual growth rate: 2.9%. Ethnic groups: About 250. Religions: Christian (40%), Muslim (20%), indigenous African (40%). Languages: English and French (official), and about 270 African languages and dialects, including Fulfulde, and Ewondo. Education: Compulsory between ages 6 and 14. Attendance - more than 70%. Literacy - 65%. Health: Infant mortality - 5.5% Life expectancy - 57 years. Work force: Agriculture - 70%. Industry and Commerce - 13%. Government Type: Republic - strong central government dominated by president. Independence: January 1, 1960 (for areas formerly ruled by France) and October 1, 1961 (for territory formerly ruled by Britain). Constitution: June 2, 1972. Branches: Executive - President (chief of state) 7-year term, renewable once; appointed Prime Minister (head of government). Legislative - unicameral National Assembly (180 members, 5-year terms, meets briefly twice a year, in June and November); a new Senate is called for under constitutional changes made in early 1996. The judiciary, part of the Executive's Ministry of Justice, is to become more independent under new legislation in early 1996. Administrative subdivisions: 10 provinces (to be renamed regions under new legislation in early 1996), 56 departments or divisions, 276 subprefectures or subdivisions. Ruling political party: Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) or its predecessor parties have ruled since independence. Opposition parties, banned in 1966, were again legalized in 1990. Suffrage: Universal at 20. Flag: Green, red, and yellow vertical bands with one yellow star in center. Economy GDP: (1994 est.): $6.6 billion (FY 93/94 Est.) Annual growth rate: Rate declined at a 6% annual rate between 1986 and 1993. Growth of 3% was recorded in 1994. Per capita GDP: $532 (FY 93/94 Est.) Natural resources: Oil (6% of GDP), timber, hydroelectric power, natural gas, bauxite, gold, diamonds. Agriculture: 35% of GDP (1994 est.). Products - wood, coffee, tea, bananas, cocoa, rubber, palm oil and cotton. Arable land - 13%. Manufacturing: 20% of GDP (1994 est.). Products - petroleum production and refining, food processing, light consumer goods, textiles, saw mills. Trade: Exports (est.) - $1.6 billion: crude oil, wood and wood products, coffee, bananas, cocoa, rubber, cotton, and palm oil. Major markets - Nigeria, France, Netherlands, Italy. Imports (est.) - $1.4 billion: alcohol and tobacco, other consumer goods. Major suppliers - France, Germany, U. S., Japan. Official exchange rate: 100 CFA (Communaute Financiere Africaine) Francs to 1 French Franc, which floats against the U. S. dollar. Current rate is between 400 and 500 CFA to one U.S. dollar. PEOPLE Cameroon's estimated 250 ethnic groups form five larger regional- cultural groups: (1) western highlanders (or grasslanders), including the Bamileke, Bamoun, and many smaller entities in the Northwest (est. 38% of population); (2) coastal rain forest peoples, including the Bassa, Douala, and many smaller entities in the Southwest (12%), (3) southern rain forest peoples, including the Beti, Bulu (subgroup of Beti), Fang (subgroup of Beti), and Pygmies (officially called Bakas) (18%); (4) Predominantly Islamic peoples of the northern semi-arid regions (the Sahel) and central highlands, including the Fulbe, also known as Peuhl or Fulani (14%); and (5) the "kirdi," non-Islamic or recently Islamic peoples of the northern desert and central highlands (18%). The people concentrated in the Southwest and Northwest Provinces (around Buea and Bamenda) use standard English and "pidgin," as well as their local languages. In the three northern provinces (around Adamaoua, Garoua, and Maroua), either French or Fulfulde, the language of the Fulani, is widely spoken. Elsewhere, French is the principal second language, although Pidgin and some local languages, such as Ewondo, the dialect of a Beti clan from the Yaounde area, are also widely spoken. Cameroon is still the only African nation where French and English are both official languages. Although Yaounde is Cameroon's capital, Douala is the largest city, main seaport, and main industrial and commercial center. The western highlands are the most fertile in Cameroon and have a relatively healthy environment in higher altitudes. This region is densely populated and has intensive agriculture, commerce, cohesive communities, and historical emigration pressures. From here, Bantu migrations into eastern, southern, and central Africa are believed to have originated about 2,000 years ago. In this century, many western highlanders have migrated to towns elsewhere in Cameroon, such as the coastal provinces, where they form much of the business community. About 14,000 non-Africans, including over 7,000 French and 1,000 U. S. citizens, now reside in Cameroon. HISTORY The earliest inhabitants of Cameroon were probably the Pygmies. They still inhabit the forests of the South and East Provinces. Bantu speakers from equatorial Africa were among the first groups to invade. During the late 1770s and early 1800s, the Fulani, a pastoral Islamic people of the western Sahel, conquered most of what is now northern Cameroon, subjugating or displacing its largely non-Muslim inhabitants. Although the Portuguese arrived on Cameroon's coast in the 1500s, malaria prevented significant European settlement and conquest of the interior until the late 1870s, when large supplies of the malaria suppressant, quinine, first became available. The European presence in Cameroon during the earlier years of contact was primarily devoted to coastal trade and the acquisition of slaves. The northern part of Cameroon was an important part of the Muslim slave trade network. The slave trade was largely suppressed by the mid-19th century. Christian missions established a presence in the late 19th century and continue to play a role in Cameroonian life. From the late 1880s, all of present-day Cameroon and parts of several of its neighbors became the German colony of Kamerun, with a capital first at Buea and later at Yaounde. After World War I, this colony was partitioned between Britain and France under a League of Nations mandate on June 28, 1919. France gained the larger share, transferred outlying regions to neighboring French colonies, and ruled the rest from Yaounde. Britain's territory, a strip bordering Nigeria from the sea to Lake Chad, was ruled from Lagos. In 1955, the outlawed Union of Cameroonian Peoples (UPC), based largely among the Bamileke and Bassa ethnic groups, began an armed struggle for independence in French Cameroon. This rebellion continued, with diminishing intensity, even after independence. Estimates of death from this conflict vary from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. In 1960, French Cameroon achieved independence as the Republic of Cameroon. In 1961, the largely Muslim northern half of British Cameroon voted to join Nigeria; the largely Christian southern half voted to join with the Republic of Cameroon to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The formerly French and British regions each maintained substantial autonomy. Ahmadou Ahidjo, a French- educated Fulani, was chosen president of the federation in 1961. Ahidjo, relying on a pervasive internal security apparatus, was able to outlaw all political parties but his own in 1966. He also successfully suppressed the UPC rebellion, capturing the last important rebel leader in 1970. In 1972, a new constitution replaced the federation with a unitary state. In 1982, Ahidjo resigned as President of Cameroon and was constitutionally succeeded by his Prime Minister, Paul Biya, a career official from the Bulu-Beti ethnic group. Ahidjo remained leader of the ruling party, but his influence waned. His supporters failed to overthrow Biya in a 1984 coup, and Biya won single-candidate elections in 1984 and 1988. Biya also won a multi-party election in 1992 which was considered seriously flawed by international observers. GOVERNMENT The 1972 constitution provides for a strong central government dominated by the executive. The president, without consulting the National Assembly, names and dismisses cabinet members, judges, generals, provincial governors, prefects, subprefects, and heads of Cameroon's parastatal (about 100 state-controlled) firms; obligates or disburses expenditures; approves or vetoes regulations to implement newly enacted laws; declares states of emergency; and appropriates and spends profits of parastatal firms. The judiciary is subordinate to the executive branch's Ministry of Justice. The Supreme Court may review the constitutionality of a law only at the president's request. The 180-member National Assembly meets in ordinary session twice a year (June/July and November/December), and has seldom, until recently, made major changes in legislation proposed by the executive. Laws are adopted by majority vote of members present or, if the president demands a second reading, of a total membership. All local government officials are employees of the central government's Ministry of Territorial Administration, from which local governments also get most of their budgets. While the president, the minister of justice, and the president's judicial advisers (the Supreme Court) top the judicial hierarchy, traditional rulers, courts, and councils also exercise functions of government. Traditional courts still play a major role in domestic, property, and probate law. Tribal laws and customs are honored in the formal court system when not in conflict with national law. Traditional rulers receive stipends from the national government. Following government pledges to reform the strongly centralized 1972 constitution, the National Assembly adopted a number of amendments in December 1995. Among the major features were the establishment of a Senate as part of a bicameral legislature, the creation of regional councils, and the fixing of the Presidential term to seven years, renewable once. Whether implementation of the revised constitution satisfies calls for government decentralization, independence of the judiciary, or greater balance among the branches of government remains to be seen. Cameroon's 25,000-person military, including a 13,000-member security force, and a 3,000-person presidential guard, is oriented chiefly toward internal security; there is also a national police force of 15,000 and a domestic intelligence network. As of 1995, military and security forces receive 30% of the government's operating budget disbursements, as well as unknown amounts of off-budget funds. Principal Government Officials President - Paul Biya Speaker of the National Assembly - Djibril Cavaye Yeguie Prime Minister - Simon Achidi Achu Ambassador to the United States - Jerome Mendouga Ambassador to the United Nations - Paul Bamela Engo Cameroon maintains an Embassy in the United States at 2349 Massachusetts Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008 (telephone: 202-265-8790). POLITICAL CONDITIONS The government adopted legislation in 1990 to authorize the formation of multiple political parties and ease restrictions on forming civil associations and private newspapers, but formalizing press censorship as well. Within three years, Cameroon's first multiparty legislative and presidential elections were held. Multiparty municipal elections were finally held in January 1996, the first time since 1987. Although some opposition parties boycotted the March 1992 legislative elections, the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement succeeded in winning 88 of 180 seats in the National Assembly, entering a coalition with other parties to obtain a parliamentary majority. In a presidential election that raised substantial concerns about its honesty, President Biya claimed re-election with 40% of votes cast. Opposition leader John Fru Ndi was subsequently placed under house arrest for a brief period as the government also cracked down on the independent press. Constitutionally-mandated terms of the President and National Assembly will end in 1997. The President has the option of calling earlier elections, however. An election schedule for the new Senate and regional councils has yet to be determined. While Cameroon has a number of independent newspapers and the government tolerates some criticism, it continues to censor and sometimes seize or suspend papers. Although a 1990 law authorizes private radio and television stations, the government has not granted any licenses as of January 1996. Opposition parties receive only limited access to government media. The U.S. Government expressed its concern over the Cameroon Government's intimidation of the press in September 1995. The 1994 "Country Report on Human Rights Practices" reports a number of human rights abuses, including limitations on political activity by opposition parties, restrictions on the press, numerous beatings of suspected criminals by the police and government interference in the judicial process. Ethnic strife and widespread banditry in the Far North Province led to a number of violent confrontations with government security forces in 1994 but these eased in 1995. Incidents of road banditry continue in the Far North. ECONOMY Real per capital GDP fell by more than 60% from 1986 to 1994, but Cameroon's economy is still one of the largest in Africa. It grew steadily from independence until 1986, when real per capita income peaked at more than $1,000. However, during the mid-1980's, Cameroon's terms of trade rapidly deteriorated, due to falling world prices for major exports (oil, coffee, cocoa, rubber, cotton) and adverse exchange rate movements. Oil production declined, and the government increased borrowing abroad to compensate. This created large current and capital account deficits, loss of international competitiveness, and sharp declines in investment. The government's adjustment to these changes has been slow. Two successive International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs (in 1988 and 1991), designed to respond to these altered circumstances, went off track as the government faced the harsh realities of economic reform. Civilian government employees' salaries were cut by 65% during 1993. A third IMF stand-by agreement was concluded in 1994 following devaluation of the CFA franc (the common currency of Cameroon and 13 other African states) by 50% in January, 1994. Although the devaluation had a positive impact on the economy, the 1994 Stand-By Agreement was not successful and a fourth stand-by accord was negotiated in October, 1995. This is a test of the Cameroonian Government's commitment to the political and economic reform required to revitalize its faltering economy. With much unused arable land, abundant energy resources, and one of the best educated populations in Africa, Cameroon has great development potential. Economic observers agree that prospects for economic recovery would be enhanced by greater macro-economic planning and financial accountability; privatization of most of Cameroon's nearly 100 remaining non-financial parastatal enterprises; elimination of state marketing board monopolies on the export of cocoa, certain coffees, and cotton; privatization and price competition in the banking sector; implementation of the 1992 labor code; a vastly improved judicial system; and political liberalization to boost investment. France is Cameroon's main trading partner and source of private investment and foreign aid. Cameroon has an investment guaranty agreement and a bilateral accord with the U. S. U. S. investment in Cameroon is about $1 billion, most of it in the oil sector. For further information on Cameroon's economic trends, trade, or investment climate, contact the International Trade Administration, U. S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230, and Commerce Department district offices in any local Federal building. FOREIGN RELATIONS U.S.-CAMEROONIAN RELATIONS U.S.-Cameroonian relations have been affected by concerns over human rights abuses and the slow pace of political and economic liberalization, as well as U.S. budget realities. There is no longer a bilateral USAID program in Cameroon. However, some 135 Peace Corps volunteers continue to work successfully in agro-forestry, community development, education, and health. The United States Information Agency organizes and funds diverse cultural, educational, and information exchanges. It maintains a library in Yaounde and helps to foster the development of Cameroon's independent press by providing information in a number of areas, including U.S. human rights and democratization policies. The U.S. and Cameroon work together in the United Nations and a number of other multilateral organizations. The U.S. Government continues to provide substantial funding for international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, IMF, and African Development Bank, that provide financial and other assistance to Cameroon. Principal U. S. Embassy Officials Ambassador - Charles H. Twining, Jr. Deputy Chief of Mission (designate) - Mark Boulware (arrives 8/96) Economic/Commercial Officer - Aubrey V. Verdun Political Officer - Peter A. O'Donohue Consular Officer- Kimberly Murphy Public Affairs Officer - Gerald Huchel Defense Attache - Lt. Col. James L. Cobb Peace Corps Director - Walter Ogrodnick The U. S. Embassy in Cameroon is located on Rue Nachtigal, Yaounde (tel:[237]22-25-89/23-05-12; fax:[237]23-07-53, B. P. 817, Yaounde. The U. S. mailing address is American Embassy Yaounde, Department of State, Washington, D.C. 20521-2520. (###)