[20190312]IF10279_喀麦隆.pdf

https:/crsreports.congress.gov Updated March 12, 2019CameroonCameroon is a diverse, resource-rich, majority Francophone country bordering the Gulf of Guinea. President Paul Biya, age 86, is one of Africas longest-serving leaders. He was reelected in 2018 and has no clear successor. Cameroon faces security and humanitarian challenges on three fronts: the Nigerian-origin Boko Haram insurgency in the north, a separatist conflict in the Anglophone provinces in the west, and cross-border threats from the Central African Republic (CAR) in the east, where some 275,000 CAR refugees reside. The states militarized response to Anglophone unrest has inflamed that conflict, while an early 2019 crackdown on Biyas top Francophone political rival may spark a broader crisis. Cameroon also faces wildlife poaching and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. U.S.-Cameroon relations came to emphasize counterterrorism cooperation as the Boko Haram crisis expanded regionally in 2014-2015. Cameroon has become a major recipient of U.S. security assistance in Africa, and U.S. military personnel have deployed there to conduct regional surveillance operations. Since 2018, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has signaled pla