The Place of Cameroon in US Policy toward Central Africa after the Events of September 11 2001

4. Geographical location: a country strategically opened to the sea with Useable airfields

Cameroon occupies a central position in central Africa in particular and Africa in general. Located at the crossroad between West, North, East and Southern Africa, it offers several geostrategic and geopolitical advantages. It is for this reason that the US-Africa website says that «Cameroon lies at the intersection of West Africa and Central Africa.»^147(*) As a general information site linking Africa and the US, and generally visited by Americans, this description of Cameroon has a strong bearing upon the role Cameroon plays and can play in Africa - US relations. Within the Central African Economic and Monetary Union (CEMAC), Cameroon stands as the `natural and legitimate leader.'^148(*) As the only country bordering the other states of the sub-regional community, Cameroon plays a major role in the political and economic affairs of Central Africa.

The fact that Cameroon is opened to the sea is not specific to 9/11. But the events leading to 9/11 and the consequent re-definition of US policies and strategies around the world gave a new meaning to useable sea and air ports. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were all done with the help of aircraft carriers stationed in the sea, and marines penetrating through seaports. Cameroon has two main seaports, Douala and Limbe, with the Limbe port being a deep-sea port or natural harbor.^149(*) The Douala port is one of the busiest in Central and West Africa. While recent works on the Limbe port are geared at making it one of the most competitive in the region. These two ports are opened to the Atlantic Ocean, and useable round the year. The opening to the Atlantic Ocean means that transactions between the US and Cameroon could be direct since the two countries share the same ocean. This ocean, the second largest in the world and the busiest, opens to important seas such as the Mexican Gulf, the Gulf of Guinea, the North Sea, the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas and the Antilles Sea. In its vast form, the Atlantic Ocean stretches from the Arctic in the north to the Antarctica in the south; with a surface area of about 82 millions km sq. An opening to this very important water body is therefore an inviting asset for foreign powers.

The importance of these ports must not be undermined in post-Westphelian territorial states of land-locked/ ice-locked countries. The Douala ports (air and sea) are likely to provide access to the entire sub-region, either to countries where no such ports exist, or to those where there are not enough facilities. The American Embassy of Yaoundé maintains a branch office in Douala, because of its capacity as a port city, to be an entry point for shipments for the Embassy in Yaoundé and nearby countries.

The country's big and bustling seaports that serve as points of entry for goods sent to destinations all over Central Africa and the growing US energy and security interests in the region partly explains recent intensification of Cameroon US relations. This geographical location at the center of Africa, between tropic/equatorial forests, between Central and West Africa further explains this phenomenon. Added to this is the fact that Cameroon is surrounded by oil and mineral rich countries like Nigeria, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, and the CAR. Therefore, Cameroon's role as leader of the sub-region's integration body is a role that satisfies both Cameroon and the US. These sub-regional factors of US interest in Cameroon will be studied in the next chapter.

Analyzing geographical position and US energy supplies, Colonel Daniel Smith of the US Army concludes that «Fourteen of the fifteen main sources of brut oil for the first two months of 2004 either came from territories with direct access to the US soil or an opening to the sea for direct transportation.»^150(*) As for Chad, which is the fifteenth country, Colonel Smith concludes that since it is land-locked, its oil is exported through Cameroon. This completes the chart of supplies of American oil through countries with direct access to the sea. In this way, the American `easy rider' gets the best oil at very low prices. This Cameroonian location adds to the advantages of African oil. Much of it lies beneath the Atlantic or near the West African coast, which makes it simpler to transport to the United States than oil from the Persian Gulf or the Caspian Sea.

* ¹⁴⁷ The US-Africa Foundation maintains a website at http://us-africa.tripod.com/cameroon.html

* ¹⁴⁸ Awoumou, C. D. G., «Le Golfe de Guinée face aux convoitises», in CODESRIA Annual Meeting on Re-thinking African Development : Beyond the Stalemate, Alternatives,  Maputo, December 2005, p. 5.

* ¹⁴⁹ The Limbe harbor, formally called Victoria, is famous for the role it played both during the slave trade and European colonization of the Cameroons, as well as nearby lands. We should also note that minor ports exist in Cameroon in places such as Tiko and Kribi. The Kribi sea port serves presently as the outlet for Chadian oil through the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline project.

* ¹⁵⁰ Colonel Daniel Smith, US Army expert in military affairs, «Des forces de projection ciblée.
Disposer de troupes sur place», 25 November 2004 voltairenet.org