Crisis Chronology

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CAMEROON

12/10/2021

More than 30,000 people flee to Chad amid fighting between herders, farmers, and fishermen over water rights.

12/06/2020

First regional elections. However, the opposition says they are only a semblance of transfer of power. The Anglophone opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) has withdrawn from the ballot and called for a boycott. The governing People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is therefore likely to dominate the voting.

09/20/2020

Military put on alert for the next week in response to demonstrations called by Kamto.

09/08/2020

Government announces that regional elections will be held 12/6, including in the restive regions.

04/22/2020

Cameroon has 1163 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

04/17/2020

Biya appears in public for the first time in several weeks.

03/07/2020

Government sets 3/22 date for regional election in Anglophone states.

03/05/2020

Cameroon confirms its first case of COVID-19.

02/09/2020

Parliamentary elections. The adherents of the Ambazonia group call for a boycott.

02/03/2020

Anglophone regions are tense as parties campaign for 2/9 election.

12/21/2019

National Assembly approves legislation that allows Anglophone regions to determine their own education and justice policies. Separatists reject this as a solution.

11/10/2019

Government sets 2/9/20 for legislative elections.

10/05/2019

In a surprise, opposition leader Maurice Kamto is released from prison after Biya requests that the military tribunal drop its charges against Kamto.

10/04/2019

At the national dialogue, delegates adopt a resolution recommending “special status” for the English-speaking areas that will give them more autonomy. Rebel groups have boycotted the conference.

10/03/2019

Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute announces that Biya has ordered the release of more than three hundred people who have been arrested during the unrest in the Northwest and the Southwest regions. Secessionist leader Julius Ayuk Tabe remains in prison.

09/10/2019

Biya announces that the prime minister will lead a national dialogue to resolve the separatist crisis, beginning by the end of this month. Details are scanty; it is not clear if the separatist leaders will be included.

08/27/2019

New surge of departures from Anglophone regions as the government begins jailing separatist leaders after trials in military courts. Switzerland is trying to broker negotiations between the separatists and the government.

07/08/2019

Continued tension between separatists and military in the northwest and southeast.

06/03/2019

Hundreds of opposition arrested as they try to hold protests.

06/02/2019

300 protestors arrested in demonstrations organized by the Cameroon Resistance Movement calling for the release of Kamto and others.

02/06/2019

US withdraws military support due to Anglophone crisis.

01/28/2019

Kamto is arrested for “illegal protests.”

01/22/2019

China forgives a portion of Cameroon’s debt, $7.8 million of $1.9 billion out of Cameroon's total debt of $5.7 billion. China is heavily involved in many areas of Cameroon's economy, including gold mining that has damaged the environment. But it is most deeply involed in building a new deepwater port at a fishing village, Kribi, which was finalized in 2011 and is due to be finished in 2035. China sees Cameroon and Kribi as its west African end of its Silk Road project, and a crucial strategic outpost.

01/15/2019

Kamto announces a nationwide protest on 1/26. Thirty-six people are abducted in the anglophone southwest region.

01/15/2019

Chad and the Central African Republic threaten to end traffic with Cameroon port of Doula because of rampant corruption.

01/04/2019

Leader of opposition Cameroon Resistance Movement Maurice Jamto announces plans for a protest march in mid-January to denounce regime’s policies Anglophone areas and corruption. Refugees are leaving Anglophone areas as military battles separatist forces.

11/07/2018

Kidnapped students are released, though teacher and principal are still being held. Officials for Ambazonia separatists deny being responsible and accuse the government. A student reports that the kidnappers talked like separatists. This is the second recent kidnapping. The previous one occurred on 10/31, and a ransom was paid.

11/05/2018

Seventy-nine students and three teachers and administrators are kidnapped in Bamenda, capital of the North-west region.

11/01/2018

Closed trial of secessionist leaders, Julius Ayuk Tabe and nine others, begins.

10/22/2018

Biya elected to a seventh term

Biya confirmed the winner of the election with 71% of the vote.

10/20/2018

Sectarian violence increasing. An aspiring priest is shot to death near the provincial capital Bamenda, and an archbishop accuses the army of it.

10/17/2018

Constitutional Council rejects almost all opposition petitions about the vote.

10/15/2018

Initial results showing Biya winning handily are dismissed by the opposition. The election commission has until 10/22 to report official results.

10/11/2018

Election commission fails to publish results of the voting. The MRC files to annul the vote in six regions, and the SCF, led by Joseph Osih, files to annul the entire election.

10/08/2018

Opposition leader Maurice Kamto claims victory, but counting continues.

10/07/2018

Presidential elections. Official results must be announced by 10/22.

10/06/2018

Election commission denies request by presidential candidate Akere Muna to end his campaign because he has formed a coalition with Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement party. The commission said the request had no basis in law and was made very late. A third candidate, Serge Espoir Matomba of the United People for Social Renovation (PURS) rejects joining the proposed coalition.

09/24/2018

Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Front is the main challenger to Biya in elections 10/7/18.

09/01/2018

Cameroon asks China for $3 million for “humanitarian assistance” just as it recruits 2600 more troops.

07/19/2018

China provides Cameroon with $8 million to buy more weapons. Cameroon is one of the largest buyers of weapons in Africa.

01/05/2018

Separatist leaders are arrested.

12/30/2017

Pres Keita names former defense minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga to be prime minister. Elections are scheduled for 7/18; peace remains fragile.

12/29/2017

Prime minister Idrissa Maiga and cabinet resign without explanation.

12/27/2017

Attempted coup thwarted. Instigation is variously placed on mercenaries from Chad, Sudan, Cameroon and/or the Central African Republic, organized by Guinean opposition groups.

12/26/2017

Secessionists increasingly militant about leaving Cameroon.

12/02/2017

Government says that the Anglophone separatist movement will be “eradicated.”

04/17/2015

Cameroon and Russia sign agreement to boost Cameroon military in the fight against Boko Haram.