1983 Edition

Agriculture

major cash crops — coffee, cotton, tea; main food crops — manioc, yams, corn, sorghum, bananas, haricot beans; marginally self-sufficient

commercial and food crops — cocoa, coffee, timber, cotton, rubber, bananas, peanuts, palm oil and palm kernels; root starches, livestock, millet, sorghum, and rice

Airfields

8 total, 7 usable; 1 with permanentsurface runways; 1 with runways 2,4403,659m

57 total, 52 usable; 7 with permanent-surface runways; 3 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 19 with runways 1,2202,439 m

Branches

Army (including naval and air units); paramilitary Gendarmerie

executive (President), legislative (National Assembly), and judicial (Supreme Court)

Army, Navy, Air Force

Budget

(1982) revenue $126.5 million, expenditure $23.9 million

(1981-82) revenues $1,002 million, current expenditures $644 million, development expenditures $275 million

Capital

Yaounde

Civil air

1 major transport aircraft

7 major transport aircraft

Coastline

402 km People

Communists

no Communist party or significant number of sympathizers

Elections

parliamentary elections held May 1983; presidential elections held January Political parties and leaders: single party, Cameroon National Union (UNC), instituted in 1966, Paul Biya, president

Electric power

27,000 kW capacity; 4 million kWh produced (1983), 30 million kWh imported from Zaire, 1 kWh per capita (1983)

575,000 kW capacity (1983); 1.7 billion kWh produced (1983), 185 kWh per capita

Ethnic divisions

about 200 tribes of widely differing background; 31 % Cameroon Highlanders, 19% Equatorial Bantu, 11% Kirdi, 10% Fulani, 8% Northwestern Bantu, 7% Eastern Nigritic, 13% other African, less than 1% non-African

Exports

$86 million (f.o.b., 1982); coffee ), tea, cotton, hides, skins

$12.64 million (f.o.b., 1982); crude oil, cocoa, coffee, timber, aluminum, cotton, natural rubber, bananas, peanuts, tobacco, and tea

Fiscal year

calendar year Communications

1 July-30 June Communications

Fishing

109,500 metric tons (1980/81); fish and shrimp

GDP

about $1.2 billion (1982), $272 per capita; 6% real growth rate (1982)

$7.0 billion (1981), about $845 per capita; real annual growth rate, 6.0-7.0% (1981)

Government leader

Paul BIYA, President

Highways

5,950 km total; 2,500 km gravel, or laterite; 3,000 km improved or unimproved earth

approximately 59,000 km total; including 2,682 km bituminous, 7,000 km gravel and earth, 7,400 km improved earth, 42,000 km unimproved

Imports

$214 million (c.i.f., 1982); textiles, foodstuffs, transport equipment, petroleum products

$1.198 billion (f.o.b., 1982); consumer goods, machinery, transport equipment, alumina for refining, petroleum products, food and beverages

Inland waterways

Lake Tanganyika navigable for lake steamers and barges; 1 lake port at Bujumbura

2,090 km; of decreasing importance

Labor force

(1983) 83% agriculture, 14% industry and commerce, 3% tertiary sector

Land boundaries

4,554 km Water

Language

English and French (official), 24 major African language groups

Legal system

based on French civil law system, with common law influence; unitary constitution adopted 1972; judicial review in Supreme Court, when a question of constitutionality is referred to it by the President of the Republic; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Limits of territorial waters (claimed)

50 nm

Literacy

65%

Major industries

light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, soap; assembly of imports; public works construction; beverages

crude oil; small aluminum plant, food processing, and light consumer goods industries; sawmills

Major trade partners

US, EEC countries

most trade with France, other EC countries, and the US

Member of

AfDB, EAMA, EGA, FAO, G-77, GATT, IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, INTERPOL, ITU, NAM, OAU, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO Economy

Af BD, KAMA, EGA, EIB (associate), FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB— Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, ISO, ITU, Lake Chad Basin Commission, NAM, Niger River Commission, OAU, OIC, UDEAC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO Economy

Military budget

for fiscal year ending 31 December 1983, $50 million; about 22.1% of central government budget Land 475,439 km2; 50% forest; 18% meadow; 13% fallow; 4% cultivated; 15% other

for fiscal year ending 30 June 1984, $85.4 million; 10.7% of central government budget

Military manpower

males 15-49, 1,070,000; 556,000 fit for military service; 52,000 reach military age (16) annually

males 15-49, 2,115,000; 1,064,000 fit for military service; about 88,000 reach military age (18) annually

Monetary conversion rate

90 Burundi francs=US$l (October 1983)

397.45 Communaute Financiere Africaine francs=US$l (October 1983)

National holiday

National Day, 20 May

Nationality

noun — Cameroonian(s); adjective — Cameroonian

Official name

United Republic of Cameroon

Organized labor

under 45% of wage labor force Government

Other political or pressure groups

Cameroon People's Union (UPC), remains an illegal group with its factional leaders in exile

Political subdivisions

10 provinces further divided into departments, arrondissements, districts

Population

9,506,000 (July 1984), average annual growth rate 2.7%

Ports

1 major (Douala), 3 minor

Railroads

none

1,173 km total; 858 km 1.000meter gauge, 145 km 0.600-meter gauge

Religion

about one-half indigenous beliefs, one-third Christian, one-sixth Muslim

Suffrage

universal over age 21

Telecommunications

sparse system of wire and low-capacity radio-relay links; about 6,000 telephones (0.1 per 100 popl.); 2 AM and 2 FM stations; no TV station; 1 Indian Ocean satellite ground station Defense Forces

good system of open wire and radio relay; 30,000 telephones (0.3 per 100 popl.); 10 AM, 1 FM, and no TV stations; 1 Atlantic Ocean satellite station; planned TV network Defense Forces

Type

unitary republic; one-party presidential regime