A Decade of Cameroon

This ten-year review of Cameroon's economic, social and political events covers a delicate period in the recent history of this Central African country, rich in natural and human resources. It begins with a difficult year: 2008 was marked by serious socio-political unrest linked to the wish of President Paul Biya, in power since 1982, to change the constitution, by removing the limitation on the number of presidential terms. Once the constitution was amended, the president was re-elected in 2011 for seven years. But in a predictable way and while the economy was stagnating, the political situation slowly deteriorated in the following years, leading in 2017 to the beginning of a civil war in one part of the country. This decade allows us to see a locked political system, inherited from colonization, but which seems more and more at the end of the race.