Cameroon, country: Independence to the Present

Independence to the Present

On Jan. 1, 1960, the French Cameroons became independent, with Ahmadou Ahidjo as its first president. The British-administered territory was divided into two zones, both administratively linked with Nigeria. In a UN-sponsored plebiscite in early 1961, the northern zone voted for union with Nigeria, and the southern for incorporation into Cameroon, which was subsequently reconstituted as a federal republic with two prime ministers and legislatures but a single president. Ahidjo became president of the republic.

National integration proceeded gradually. In 1966 the dominant political parties in the east and west merged into the Cameroon National Union (CNU). In 1972 the population voted to adopt a new constitution setting up a unitary state to replace the federation. A presidential form of government was retained, but Cameroon was a one-party state, with the CNU in control. Ahidjo resigned from the presidency in 1982 and named Paul Biya as his successor.

Biya established an authoritarian rule and implemented conservative fiscal policies. Opposition to his regime endured after a failed coup attempt in 1984, and his critics called for more substantive democratic reform. An increase in oil revenues resulted in greater investment in agriculture and education, but the collapse of world oil prices in 1986 prompted a variety of austerity measures. In 1985 the CNU changed its name to the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM). Following a prolonged nationwide strike in 1990, Biya ended one-party rule and initiated a multiparty system. In the nation's first democratic elections, held in 1992, Biya again won the presidency, but the result was tainted by widespread charges of fraud, and violent protests followed.

Various IMF and World Bank programs initiated in the 1990s to spur the economy met with mixed results, and privatization of state industry lagged. Critics accused the government of mismanagement and corruption, and corruption remained a significant problem into the 21st cent. In recent years the English-speaking inhabitants of the former British-ruled regions have sought autonomy or a return to federal government. In the 1990s, tensions increased between Cameroon and Nigeria over competing claims to the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula in the Gulf of Guinea, and clashes occurred in 1994 and 1996. Biya was reelected in 1997; however, his refusal to allow an independent board to organize the vote prompted the country's three main opposition parties to boycott the elections.

In 2002 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) awarded the Bakassi peninsula and certain areas in the Lake Chad region to Cameroon; another area in the latter region was awarded to Nigeria. The areas near Lake Chad were swapped late in 2003, and a new border established. The more politically sensitive Bakassi decision was slow to be implemented, but after a 2006 agreement transfer of the region to Cameroon was initiated in Aug., 2006; Nigerian administration of the peninsula ended in Aug., 2008.

Biya was returned to office in 2004 with 75% of the vote. Many foreign observers called the election democratic, but journalists said the turnout appeared low despite the government claim that it was 79%. Opposition politicians and other Cameroonians accused the government of vote-rigging. Elections in 2007 gave the governing party a landslide majority in the National Assembly, but the government was again accused of electoral fraud.

In Feb., 2008, anger over fuel price increases and over Biya's suggestion that he might seek to change the constitution so that he could be reelected again led to a transport strike and violent demonstrations in Yaoundé, Douala, and some other urban areas. In April, the National Assembly lifted presidential term limits. Biya again won reelection in Oct., 2011, against a divided opposition and, again, amid opposition accusations of fraud. In Apr., 2013, elections for the Senate were held for the first time since the constitution was amended (1996) to establish the upper house; Biya's party secured an overwhelming majority of the seats. The September elections for the National Assembly, which had been scheduled for July, 2012, but were postponed several times, resulted in a similar outcome.

Political instability in neighboring Central African Republic led to border tensions and incursions into Cameroon beginning in the latter part of 2013. There also have been recruitment and attacks in areas of Cameroon bordering NE Nigeria by members of Boko Haram; second half of 2014 saw significant fighting between Cameroon's military and Boko Haram in N Cameroon. In 2015 Cameroon and Benin, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria agreed to form an African Union–authorized regional military force to combat Boko Haram, but its organization and operation have been marred by disagreements. Fighting continued in following years, with the army, which was accused of sometimes wanton violence, gaining the upper hand by 2018.

Tensions in Cameroon's English-speaking regions over the use of French led to demonstrations in Oct., 2016; the two regions also have suffered from decaying infrastructure and government neglect despite being economically important. Ongoing tensions and government suppression led a year later to guerrilla attacks by some separatists. The violence by the security forces and armed English-speaking separatists escalated and worsened in subsequent months. By the end of 2018 more than 400,000 had been displaced by the fighting, with that number increasing in subsequent years, and the commercial agricultural economy of the English-speaking regions was crippled. In the Oct., 2018, presidential election Biya was reelected; the vote was marred by irregularities and by a lack of voters in the English-speaking regions, where separatists had threatened violence.

Subsequently tensions increased between the government and the opposition, and Maurice Kamto, an opposition presidential candidate in 2018 who claimed the election had been stolen, was arrested and charged (Feb., 2019) with rebellion; he was released in October on Biya's orders as part of a national dialogue called to address Cameroon's crisis. In Dec., 2019, a law granting special status but no real autonomy to English-speaking areas was passed; it was far from the restoration of the federal republic desired by most English speakers.

The Feb., 2020, National Assembly elections were marred by low turnout, a partial opposition boycott, and accusations of fraud against the governing party. The constitutional council ordered a rerun of the elections in most of English-speaking areas, finding that there had been fraud and other irregularities; threats of separatist violence had led to extremely low turnout there. Also in 2020, Boko Haram's resurgence in NE Nigeria led to increasing attacks in neighboring areas of Cameroon.

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