World Crisis Chronology
×

























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 The Anglophone opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) has withdrawn from the ballot and called for a boycott.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.