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Home , Ahmadou Ahidjo, Kamerun, Kamerun campaign, Neukamerun

CAMEROON Africa in miniature

•Diversity of climate, geology, and culture •Natural features include: beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas

•Relative social and political stability •Area - slightly larger than the size of California •Mount , or Fako - active volcano and highest point Population - 20,549,221 (July 2013 est.) • Yaoundé - capital of Cameroon •Official language is French and English, 24 other major languages

•40% Christian, 20% Muslim, 40% indigenous beliefs •Cameroon is famous for producing petroleum, coffee, •250 different ethnic groups cocoa, cotton, bananas, and oilseeds

•Young population (est. 96.7% under 65, 40.9% •Tropical climate along coast, semiarid and hot in the under 15) north •Cameroon was first settled during the Neolithic period (10,200 BC)

•The longest continuous inhabitants are groups such as the Baka (Pygmies)

•Bantu speakers were among the first to settle (2,000 years ago)

•There are about 250 Bantu languages; the largest is Swahili Age of Discovery - 15th Century

•The Portuguese - first post-Middle Ages Europeans to firmly establish settlements, trade posts, permanent fortifications, and ports along the African coast

•1472 - Portuguese sailors reach the coast •They note abundant mud lobster, or “ghost shrimp” in the and name it Rio dos Camarões, “river of prawn, or shrimp”

•Over the following centuries, Christian missionaries arrive and push inland European Imperialism

•1868 - establishes their first trading post in the Duala area (present day )

•1881 - 1914 (approximately) - The (also the Race for Africa and Partition of Africa) - invasion, occupation, colonization, and annexation of African territory by European powers

•1884 - claims territory as the colony of •Germany initiates projects to improve the colony’s infrastructure, relying on harsh forced labor - 1914 - 1918

•1914 - 1916 - British, French and invasion of Kamerun

•Allied territories surround Kamerun on all sides

•1916 - Last German fort surrenders World War I Ends - 1918

•1918 - WWII ends, and Germany is defeated

* •1919 - Kamerun becomes a mandate territory and is split into French Cameroun and British

*1911 - prior to WWI, French is ceded to Germany World War II - 1939 - 1945

• integrates the economy of Cameroun with that of France •Tries to improve infrastructure with capital investments, skilled workers, and the continuation of forced labor •Unrest with Natives and indigenous peoples •1945 - WWII ends and The is formed •UN Trusteeship Council forms to oversee decolonization of dependent territories under the League of Nations mandate system

•Cameroun wants independence from France. British Cameroons questions joining Cameroun or neighboring Struggle for Independence

•1948 - Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) radical party forms

left-wing ideology, anti-imperialists. Majority of the participants of UPC are trade unionists.

•1955 - After a long guerilla war and after the assassination of the party’s leader, Ruden Um Nyobé, France outlaws the UPC. It’s dissolved by a decree, and its leaders go into exile.

•January 1, 1960 - Cameroon gains independence from France under President Ahmadou Ahidjo Cameroon Independence - 1960

•June 1, 1961 - Northern Cameroons becomes a region of Nigeria

•October 1, 1961 - British unites with French to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon Ahmadou Ahidjo as President - 1960

•September 1, 1966 - Ahidjo’s political party, the Cameroon National Union (CNU), becomes the sole legal political party until 1990.

•CNU was a combination of the pro-independence parties of the French and British territories

•African Nationalism ideology •Ahidjo’s economic policy was planned liberalism (socialism and capitalism), a shift from the previous economic policy of African socialism (sharing resources in the “traditional” African way) Ahmadou Ahidjo cont’d

•1972 - Federal system of government is abolished in favor of a United Republic of Cameroon, headed from the capital city of Yaoundé

•Ahidjo prioritizes cash crops and petroleum exploitation •Government uses oil money to create a national cash reserve, pay farmers, and finance major developments. However, many initiatives fail when Ahidjo appoints unqualified allies to direct them

•1982 - Ahidjo resigns, leaving presidency to his constitutional successor, (current president) Paul Biya becomes President - 1982 •Ahidjo is resigned, but still remains President of the CNU. Tries to keep running things from behind the scenes

•Biya pressures him to resign, and Ahidjo goes into exile •Biya, a month later, accuses him of plotting a coup •1984 - coup attempt - Presidential palace guards from Muslim north suspected of plotting a coup. Biya orders them to be transferred, and they rebel. Government says death toll is 71, but other reports say up to 1,000. 6 month state of emergency in Yaoundé and surrounding region. Widely believed Ahidjo masterminded it from exile. Biya back in full power after failed coup attempt. *Ahidjo is from the Muslim north, Biya is a Christian from the south Economic crisis & criticism 1980s - present

•Mid 1980s - late 1990s - Crisis as a result of international economic conditions, drought, falling petroleum prices, years of corruption, and mismanagement. Cameroon turns to foreign aid, cut government spending, and privatized industries.

•February 25 - 29, 2008 - Cameroon protests - Series of violent demonstrations in largest cities start after transport workers strike. They protest high fuel prices and poor working conditions. Protests also come just after Biya proposes a change to the constitution, which would remove term limits (his was up in 2011)

•Damages up to $23mill. Both government and protesters are killed. Government count of 40 deaths, but human rights groups claim closer to 100. Paul Biya criticism

•Authoritarian, dictator •2009 - During his trip to Southern France, he spent $40,000 a day on 43 hotel rooms •Average annual income in Cameroon is $1,000 •In 2009, about a third was living below $1.25 a day •Phony elections •Got National Assembly to vote to have term limits removed from constitution Women in Cameroon

•Customary law provides equal rights. However, men may limit women’s rights regarding inheritance and employment. Some traditional legal systems treat wives as the legal property of their husbands.

•Many women in Cameroon are economically empowered and active in civil society but often lack the opportunity to enter politics and participate in their country's male-dominated political sector.

•The 2009 Human Rights Report states that the Cameroonian law does not explicitly forbid discrimination based on race, language, or social status, but it does prohibit discrimination based on gender and mandates that “everyone has equal rights and obligations.” The government doesn’t enforce these provisions effectively.

•Still violence and discrimination against women, minorities, and homosexuals. http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/ Popular culture

First Lady Chantal Biya

BeBe Zahara Benet The Indomitable Lions