Cameroon
Cameroon exhibits low-range performance in Representation, Rights and Rule of Law, and it performs in the mid-range in Participation. The country falls among the bottom 25 per cent of countries with regard to most factors of democracy. Over the past five years, Cameroon has experienced notable advances in Basic Welfare but has also experienced significant declines in Credible Elections. It is classified as a lower-middle income country and has a diversified economy, which includes agriculture, mining, services, and production of oil and gas, timber and aluminium. Crude oil is its largest export.
Cameroon’s political system has been dominated by the hegemonic Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) under President Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982. Over the past four decades, Biya has used constitutional and electoral manipulation, co-optation of opponents, political patronage and the development of a robust and loyal state security and intelligence apparatus to gradually assert virtually total control of the political landscape. Opposition movements are institutionally weak, and divided into more than 300 political parties. Since 2018, the regime has become increasingly authoritarian, a trend marked by state security agencies’ repression of perceived political opponents. This has been most evident regarding the routine arrest and abuse of leaders and members of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM), as well as activists and perceived sympathisers of Anglophone separatist groups. Furthermore, anti-government protests are categorically banned.
Cameroon is an ethnically diverse country, home to almost 250 ethnic groups. Biya has established a multi-ethnic coalition by incorporating most ethnic groups into the ruling framework. Regardless, Biya is accused of using his extensive discretionary powers to appoint members of his native Beti-Bulu ethnic group to key positions. Language is a more significant political cleavage than ethnicity, and Cameroon’s English-speaking regions in the northwest and southwest, which were administered by the British as part of Nigeria and only joined Cameroon in 1961, are opposed to the state’s abolition of the previous federal system. Longstanding perceptions of multifaceted discrimination toward Anglophones led to calls for the establishment of an independent English-speaking state. This in turn led to the outbreak of a conflict between Anglophone separatist groups and the army in 2016. The conflict is multi-layered and has called into question the notion of national unity and has challenged the current nature of governance and form of the state. Female representation in parliament has grown in the past four elections, yet women continue to face discrimination, with high levels of gender-based violence and lower literacy and labour force participation rates than their male compatriots.
Biya’s succession is the country’s most significant near-term political issue. His current mandate is set to finish in 2025. He has not chosen a successor and open lobbying to replace him is taboo within the CPDM. The military has stayed largely out of political activity, but the army has demonstrated significant loyalty to Biya. It will also be important to see if the government will enact any electoral reforms before the 2025 election and to evaluate how this might impact the credibility of the electoral process. Pursuing effective decentralisation, which is ongoing, at the local and regional levels will be an important step towards improving overall governance and resolving issues pertaining to political exclusion voiced by the opposition and minority groups.
Last updated: June 2024
https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/
March 2025
Violence against lawyers by security forces prompts strike by Bar Association
On 5 March, Cameroon’s Bar Association (CBA) launched a three-day strike over what it described as ‘recurrent violence’ by the country’s security forces against lawyers. In its statement announcing the strike, the Bar Association referred to two recent cases, the first of which was brought to light by videos posted to social media on 1 March, capturing what it described as ‘police officers carrying out violence and other degrading and inhumane acts on a lawyer.’ The previous day, the CBA had been informed that another lawyer had been unlawfully detained by authorities in a bid to force him to retract a statement denouncing violations of his clients’ rights. Similar incidents were reported in September and November 2024 and the CBA claimed at the time that attacks by the police and gendarmerie against lawyers were becoming the norm.
Sources: Conférence Internationale des Barreaux/Cameroon Bar Association, Jeune Afrique, Human Rights Watch
February 2025
Cameroon closes dozens of unauthorised churches
Cameroon’s government has closed dozens of churches in the country’s capital, Yaoundé, as part of a major operation to shut down unauthorised places of worship. The operation was launched in the fourth district of Yaoundé in mid-February, and by the end of the month 188 of the 615 churches in the district were reported to have been closed, with revivalist churches particularly affected. In justifying the action, officials cited public complaints about noise pollution, fraud and abuses against congregants. Under a policy of ‘administrative tolerance’, the government had previously allowed hundreds of unregistered churches to operate. The power to approve the registration of religious associations in Cameroon lies with the president and, according to the Ministry of Territorial Administration, only 48 denominations have been registered since 1952, with the most recent of these occurring in 2020. Hundreds of registration applications are thought to be pending presidential approval.
Sources: Jeune Afrique, Voice of America, US State Department, Ministry of Territorial Administration, Actu Cameroun
December 2024
Cameroon halts the work of four CSOs
On 6 December, Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, signed orders halting the work of four civil society organisations, citing ‘illicit financing’, threats to the ‘integrity of the national financial system’ and a ‘lack of authorisation’. Two organisations were suspended for three months, another was permanently banned and a fourth, the Central Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (Réseau des Défenseurs des Droits Humains en Afrique Centrale, REDHAC), was the subject of both a suspension and a permanent ban. Nji said the moves were part of an effort to strengthen the country’s fight against financial crime. However, several rights organisations alleged that the orders were illegal and further undermined civic space in the country. REDHAC is one of Cameroon’s most active CSOs and, like Reach Out Cameroon (one of the suspended organisations), it has a strong international reputation for defending human rights and publishing reports critical of the government.
Sources: Ministry of Territorial Administration (1), Ministry of Territorial Administration (2), Jeune Afrique, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International
October 2024
Cameroon bans media discussion of President Biya’s health
On 9 October, Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, issued a communique prohibiting discussion of President Paul Biya’s health in the media and stating that offenders would ‘face the full force of the law’. It also instructed the country’s governors to establish monitoring units to identify the ‘authors of biased comments’ in the private media and social media. The communique came amid growing speculation about the well-being and whereabouts of the 91-year-old Biya, who had not been seen in public since 8 September. He returned to Cameroon from Europe on 21 October. Human Rights Watch noted that the ban is part of a broader pattern of free speech restrictions in the country ahead of the 2025 elections, including a decree issued by a senior local government official in July, threatening to expel anyone from the capital who insulted Biya or state institutions.
Sources: Ministry of Territorial Administration, Africa Confidential, British Broadcasting Corporation, Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon, Human Rights Watch, Prefect of the Department of Mpoundi
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