Section 3: Cameroon as a leader of the sub-regional
To be a great power's ally in a region, a country needs to
demonstrate some ability to influence or exert some power. `Power' in this
sense is conceptualized as both a means and an end in itself, an ability to
influence or change the behavior of others in a desired direction, or
alternatively the ability to resist such influences on one's own behavior.
Leadership must be differentiated from hegemony or dominance. Dominance
involves dictatorial capacities; hegemony means occupying a privileged
positions and regulating affairs as required while leadership refers to the
ability to pull to a given direction. Owona Nguini has been insisting that
`Cameroon must play its leadership role' in a region wherein it has the
capability to do so.201(*) With the US vision of and interests in Central
Africa now clear, it is important to study what role Cameroon can play in that
vision. This role is inextricably linked to the place Cameroon presently
occupies in the sub-region. Speaking during her February 2006 visit to the
region and particularly to Cameroon, US Undersecretary for African Affairs,
Jendayi E. Frazer, expressed US vision of Cameroon in the
sub-region as follows, «A free and stable Africa, that is both prosperous
and healthy, is an American hope and foreign policy goal. We look forward to
continuing work with the people of Cameroon, as you pursue your vision of a
better Central African region tomorrow.»202(*) Cameroon's leadership role should be measures with
traditional factors such as population, land surface, geographical location,
GDP, human index, performance of institutions, political stability, military
capacity and diplomatic performance.
The question is how to achieve a better Central Africa through
Cameroon's leadership. Because of its geographic, ethnic, religious, climatic,
cultural and linguistic diversity, Cameroon already plays a leadership role in
three regional organizations: the CEMAC, ECCAS and the Franc Zone. Capable of
meeting its needs in foodstuff and rich in natural resources, Cameroon has a
respectable economy in Africa. After several years of economic stagnation
caused by bad economic policies and the drop in the prices of cash crops,
recent economic reforms have given the country good perspectives for the
future, though the reforms need to be better structured. Generally speaking,
Americans acknowledge Cameroon's status and leadership, especially its
influence in the election of the American-supported 1998 UN Secretary General
candidate Koffi Annan, and the impact that had in the relations between the two
countries. It is with this in mind that Frazer declared, «We know that
Africa has 48 sub-Saharan countries, and we are trying to build a sub-regional
approach to our engagement there. We look within that sub-region to major
countries that can have a big impact on their respective sub-region.»
1. Cameroon as a leader in the CEMAC
Cameroon appears to be the engine of the restrained Central
Africa called CEMAC (Communauté Économique et Monétaire de
l'Afrique Centrale) . CEMAC is the Central African sub-region integration body
that the succeeded I'Union Douanière et Économique des
États de l'Afrique centrale (UDÉAC) in 1991. As a member of this
six-member Central African Economic and Monetary Union, Cameroon plays a very
important role in improving economic and political cooperation in the region.
Chairing the Union and hosting the central banking system operated by the Bank
of theCentral African States (BEAC), Cameroon has the largest economy in the
Union. Acknowledging this role, U.S. Ambassador Linnet Deily declared in 2001,
«Cameroon has the largest and most diversified economy in the six-nation
Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).»203(*) Cameroon's
hegemony in CEMAC is asserted by its population, GDP, industrial production and
military power.
Cameroon's population presents a massive economic asset. Of the
2006 34 million in the CEMAC, Cameroon alone weighed 17.3 million, while the
other six countries share the rest of the 16.7 million.204(*) This population is also of
good quality with 55.5% between the ages of 15 and 64. Not only that, literacy
level is highest in the sub-region and one of the best in the whole continent
with: age 15 and over who can read and write being 79% (2003 est.).
This high literacy level corroborates with massive higher education studies and
research endeavors that makes of Cameroon a choiced partner in initiatives in
the sub-region.
Cameroon's economy reflects the strength of its population,
with macro-economic indicators relaying that population's dynamism. The 2006
Encarta Encyclopedia puts Cameroon's GDP at 9 060 millions USD (2002), with the
other countries as follows: Equatorial Guinea, 2 118; Gabon, 4 971;
Congo (Brazzaville, 3 017; Chad, 2 002; CAR, 1 046. This GDP
power (about 50% of the sub-regions), associated with Cameroon's economic
growth rate of about 5% per year since 1995, depicts the country's dynamic
economy. In the sub-region, apart from Equatorial Guinea's 53% growth rate due
to oil exports, Cameroon leads in its growth rate as the engine of the
sub-region, with more than half of the monetary transactions of the area. This
position has been greatly enhanced by the dividends of the Chad-Cameroon
Pipeline project. Associated to these, is Cameroon's achievement of the
completion point of the HPIC initiative by which CFA300 billion Frs. will be
injected into the economy. Apart from representing 50% of CEMAC's population,
Cameroon represents a strong university, agricultural and industrial pool in
the sub-region. As Awoumou puts it, «Cameroon is the only country in the
region to have initiated a real multinationalization of its
enterprises»205(*),
especially that it is at the same time the only country to border all the other
ones. More so, it has been the center of several integration policies while at
the same time showing its capacity to initiate its own projects contrary to
those of the sub-region as demonstrated by the Douala Stock.
Cameroon's leadership position is reinforced by the support
it has been granting to other countries in the sub-region such as Chad, CAR and
Equatorial Guinea. With regards to Equatorial Guinea, for instance, Cameroon
granted a decisive support to this CEMAC country of about 500,000 inhabitants
to help in its integration into the Franc Zone and its admission into the
Union Douanière et Economique des Etats de l'Afrique Centrale
(UDÉAC).206(*)
This strategic position makes of Cameroon the hub of the
sub-region, the capital of several international meetings and encounters. For
instance, the French agency, LA Mission Économique de
Yaoundé (Economic Mission in Yaoundé) that supervises French
economic and financial interests in the sub-region covers Cameroon, Chad, CAR
and Equatorial Guinea. The choice of Yaoundé to host French economic
interests in the area is attributed to Cameroon's capacity to influence the
other countries and its geographical location. Cameroon's
capacity to lead development lies in basic factors: a reasonable education
system, a developing middle class, significant access to information, a legal
system that enforces rules of commerce in a way that foreign investors and
traders find acceptable. The new Criminal Procedure Code, associated with
Cameroon's investment charter, present some of the best on the continent.
Assessing the ways by which Western countries could achieve
democracy around the world, Harris Owen instructs that it could be easier if
strong economic conditions are developed first. If this is accepted, then
«most attention and the greater effort should be directed at those
countries that are approaching the transition stage, say, those with per capita
incomes in the range of $US3,000 to $US6,000, incomes that are not derived from
oil or mineral wealth.»207(*) According to this analysis, Cameroon and Gabon would
meet the $US3,000 to $US6,000 criterion. However, Cameroon stands alone as the
country best approaching a transition because its revenue is not from oil.
* 201 Owona Nguini, M. E.,
«Le Cameroun doit assurer son leadership», Mutations,
N° 1111, Thursday, March 18, 2004
* 202 A copy of the speech is
obtainable on-line at the State Department Website at
http://usinfo.state.gov/usinfo/products/washfile.html
* 203 «WTO TRADE POLICY
REVIEW OF CAMEROON», Statement by U.S. Ambassador Linnet Deily, July 18,
2001 in Washington DC.
* 204 See CIA World Factbook,
last updated in November 2006 at
www.cia.gov.org
* 205 Awoumou, op, cit. p5
* 206 For further reading on
these kinds of support, see Chouala, « La Crise Diplomatique de Mars 2004
Entre le Cameroun et la Guinée Equatoriale : Fondements, Enjeux et
Perspectives», op, cit. p2
* 207 Owen Harries,
«A Democratic World», op, cit.
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