Anglophone crisis: US sanctions bite deep as Biya regime begs for re-admission into AGOA

By Hans Ngala

Over two years after the US removed Cameroon as a member of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the country is pleading to be re-admitted as an economic crisis – largely exacerbated by the war in Europe and the war in the Anglophone regions – continues with no end in sight. Cameroon’s economy minister Alamine Ousmane Mey said the Cameroonian government is in talks with Washington to gain membership into the organization which allows member states in sub-Saharan Africa to export goods to the US, duty-free.

Cameroon was kicked out of the organization in late 2019 by the Trump administration, following “persistent” and “credible” reports of human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings in the Far North of the country and also in the Anglophone regions by Cameroonian military personnel, citing a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). It was the second significant action the US was taking against Cameroon in the same year, having significantly cut back on military assistance to Cameroon because of rights abuses in February of the same year.

Cameroon which had been a member of AGOA is seeking to re-admission into the organization to help boost its economy which has been hard hit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine which affected the global economy and the weekly lockdowns in Anglophone regions which have adversely affected the overall economy of the country, slowing Cameroon’s ability to repay its debts.
According International Monetary Fund (IMF) predictions, Cameroon will only witness a 4.3% growth, making membership in AGOA crucial to boost the economy.