CAMEROON

officially Republic of Cameroon, French Rpublique du Cameroun, country lying at the junction of western and central Africa. The capital is Yaound. The country faces the Gulf of Guinea to the southwest and is bordered by Nigeria to the northwest, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea to the south. Area 183,569 square miles (475,442 square km). Pop. (1987) 10,516,232; (1997 est.) 14,678,000. officially Republic of Cameroon, French Rpublique du Cameroun, country lying at the junction of western and central Africa. Triangular in shape, it covers an area of 179,714 square miles (465,458 square kilometres) and is bordered by Nigeria to the northwest, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, Congo (Brazzaville) to the southeast, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest. Its ethnically diverse population is among the most urban in western Africa. The capital is Yaound. The country's name is derived from Rio dos Camares (River of Prawns)the name given to the Wouri River estuary by Portuguese explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries. Camares was also used to designate the river's neighbouring mountains. Until the late 19th century, English usage confined the term the Cameroons to the mountains, and the estuary was called the Cameroons River or, locally, the Bay. In 1884 the Germans extended the word Kamerun to their entire protectorate, which largely corresponded to the present state. Additional reading Descriptions of the physical and cultural environment are given in Aaron S. Neba, Modern Geography of the Republic of Cameroon, 2nd ed. (1987); and J.A. Ngwa, A New Geography of Cameroon, new ed. (1978). Michael G. Schatzberg and I. William Zartman (eds.), The Political Economy of Cameroon (1986), is a collection of essays. Mark W. DeLancey and Peter J. Schraeder (comps.), Cameroon (1986), is an annotated bibliography of recent publications on history, politics, and economics. George Benneh The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica Administration and social conditions Government By the constitution of 1961, the states of West Cameroon and East Cameroon were linked together into a federation. The constitution of 1972, subsequently revised, replaced the federation with a centralized government, the United Republic of Cameroon. Executive powers are conferred on the president, who is the head of the government and chief of the armed forces and appoints all ministers. The president is elected for a period of five years by direct and secret universal suffrage. A constitutional reform in 1984 changed the name of the country to the Republic of Cameroon. Legislative power is held by a unicameral National Assembly. It has 180 members, directly elected for five-year terms. The National Assembly shares with the president the initiative for proposing legislation, which it adopts on a simple-majority basis. The republic is divided into 10 provinces, each administered by a governor. Each province is further divided into departments. Cameroon was a de facto one-party state from 1966 and was dominated by the Cameroon National Union (UNC), a merger of six political parties; it was renamed the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement in 1985. After much political unrest and many violent clashes, a constitutional amendment in 1990 established a multiparty system. Other constitutional reforms in 1993 sought to decentralize the government. The main opposition is the Social Democratic Front. A Higher Judicial Council, which along with the president is responsible for guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary, advises the president on the nomination of magistrates and judges and acts as a disciplinary body. The legal system of Cameroon consists of the Supreme Court, two courts of appeal, and high courts as well as circuit courts. The Supreme Court decides whether a bill is receivable by the National Assembly in the event of a dispute between the president and the legislature. It also passes judgment on appeals concerning administrative actions of the government and decisions of the Court of Appeal. The Court of Impeachment passes judgment on the president in case of high treason and on other government ministers in the event of a plot against the government. Education Educational services have expanded. About three-fourths of all children of primary-school age are enrolled either in government or in Christian mission schools. This attendance rate is not constant throughout the country, however, because the availability of school facilities varies regionally; virtually all children in the south may attend school, but adequate facilities exist for only about two-fifths of the children in the north. There are general-education secondary schools, vocational schools, and teacher-training schools. Manual labour is compulsory in secondary and technical schools as a means of encouraging graduates to take up farming instead of seeking white-collar jobs in the cities. The University of Yaound was established in 1962 and in the early 1980s added four regional campuses. Cultural life Each major ethnic group of the country has developed its own culture. The vigorous rhythms played on the drums by the people of the southern forest region contrast with the flute music of northern Cameroonians. In the Adamawa area, the Muslim Fulani produce elaborately worked leather goods and ornate calabashes (gourds used as containers), and the Kirdi and the Matakam of the western mountains produce distinctive types of pottery. The powerful masks of the Bali, which represent elephants' heads, are used in ceremonies for the dead, and the statuettes of the Bamileke are carved in human and animal figures. The Tikar people are famous for beautifully decorated brass pipes, the Ngoutou people for two-faced masks, and the Bamum for smiling masks. L'Institut Franais d'Afrique Noire (French Institute of Black Africa) maintains a library in Douala that specializes in the sociology, ethnology, and history of Africa. Of the several museums, the Diamare and Maroua Museum has anthropological collections relating to the Sudanese peoples, and the Cameroon Museum of Douala exhibits objects of prehistory and natural history. Cultural organizations include the Cameroun Cultural Association, the Cameroun Cultural Society, and the Federal Linguistic and Cultural Centre. There are also numerous women's associations, youth organizations, and sporting associations. George Benneh