Cameroon Timeline by BBC

Timeline: Cameroon

A chronology of key events:

1520 - Portuguese set up sugar plantations and begin slave trade in Cameroon.

1884 - Germans extend protectorate over Cameroon.

1916 - British and French troops force Germans to leave Cameroon.

1919 - London Declaration divides Cameroon into a British administrative zone (20 %) and a French one (80 %).

Independence

1960 - French Cameroon granted independence and becomes the Republic of Cameroon with Ahidjo as president.

1972 - Cameroon becomes a unitary state and is renamed the United Republic of Cameroon.

Paul Biya era

1982 - Prime Minister Paul Biya succeeds Ahidjo, who resigns.

1984 - Biya elected to his first full term as president, changes the country's name to the Republic of Cameroon.

1986 - Discharge of poisonous gases from Lake Nyos kills nearly 2,000 people.

1992 October - Biya re-elected in Cameroon's first multiparty presidential election.

1994 - Fighting between Cameroon and Nigeria flares up over disputed oil-rich Bakassa Peninsula.

1996 May - Cameroon and Nigeria agree to UN mediation over Bakassa Peninsula.

1997 October - Biya re-elected president in ballot that is boycotted by main opposition parties.

1998 - Cameroon classed as the most corrupt country in the world by business monitor Transparency International.

2000 June - World Bank approves funding for oil and pipeline project in Cameroon and Chad despite strong criticism from environmental and human rights activists.

2000 October - Roman Catholic Church in Cameroon denounces corruption, saying it has permeated all levels of society.

2001 June - Fears for Cameroon's environment increase, with Global Forest Watch reporting that 80% of the country's indigenous forests have been allocated for logging.

2001 October - Growing tension between Biya government and separatists lobbying on behalf of country's 5m English-speakers. Unrest results in three deaths, several arrests.

2002 July - Parliamentary and municipal elections; opposition claims fraud and vote-rigging.

Bakassi ruling

2002 October - Ruling by International Court of Justice (ICJ) gives sovereignty of oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon. But Nigeria, whose forces occupy the area, rejects the ruling.

2003 December - Nigeria hands over 32 villages to Cameroon as part of the 2002 ICJ border deal. In January 2004 both countries agree to mount joint border patrols.

2004 November - Paul Biya wins new seven-year term as president.

The Paris Club of major lending nations agrees to cancel almost all of Cameroon's $3.5bn debt.

2006 August - A ceremony marks the transfer of the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon after Nigeria completes its troop withdrawal from the area.

2006 December - Up to 30,000 refugees fleeing conflicts in Chad and the Central African Republic have crossed into east Cameroon over the past 18 months, the UN refugee agency UNHCR reports.

2007 May - A Kenya Airways plane crashes, killing all 114 people on board.

2007 July - Legislative elections. President Biya's party retains a majority in parliament.

2007 November - Suspected Nigerian militants kill 21 Cameroon soldiers in Bakassi Peninsula.

Nigerian senate rejects Nigeria-Cameroon agreement for hand-over of Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.

2008 January - Opposition leaders slam President Biya's New Year message hinting at changing constitution to extend president's term in office.

2008 February - A nationwide transport strike in protest at fuel costs turns into a series of anti-government demonstrations in the capital, Yaoundé, leaving at least 17 dead.

2008 April - Parliament amends the constitution to allow President Biya to run for a third term in 2011. The opposition condemns the move as a "constitutional coup".

2008 August - Nigeria hands over the potentially oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon, bringing an end to a long-standing dispute over the territory.

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1021488.stm
Published: 2008/11/07 10:54:40 GMT © BBC MMIX