Cameroon

The struggle

German Kamerun was split between France and Britain after 1918 and governed as League and then UN trust territories. The UPC demanded immediate independence and reunification, was banned in 1955, and fought a brutal war in which France killed its leaders Um Nyobè and Félix Moumié. French Cameroun became independent on 1 January 1960; the southern British Cameroons joined in October 1961.

One date, a longer story: National Day is 20 May, marking the 1972 unitary state; independence itself is 1 January 1960.

Key people

• Ruben Um Nyobè

  1913–1958

  UPC secretary-general; killed by French forces in 1958

• Félix-Roland Moumié

  1925–1960

  UPC leader; poisoned in Geneva in 1960

• Ahmadou Ahidjo

  1924–1989

  First president; oversaw reunification