Cameroon factional struggle conceals imperialist interests

Marxist Theory · 2026-05-13

Core Argument

The article argues that the political instability in Cameroon following the 2018 presidential election is not a genuine democratic contest between competing visions for the country, but a factional struggle within a single, parasitic bourgeoisie, mediated by competing imperialist powers. The central claim is that President Paul Biya's drift toward Chinese capital and opposition leader Maurice Kamto's positioning as a Western-backed alternative represent two wings of the same ruling class, neither of which offers any way forward for Cameroonian workers and peasants. The Anglophone crisis, austerity, and political repression are not aberrations from normal politics but the logical expression of a degenerate capitalism incapable of developing the productive forces.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis draws on the classical Marxist theory of imperialism, particularly Lenin's conception of inter-imperialist rivalry and the division of the world among great powers. It applies this framework to the contemporary conjuncture by identifying China as an imperialist power in its own right — not a developmental ally of the Global South — whose penetration of Africa reproduces the same dynamics of extraction, debt dependency, and political subordination as Western imperialism. The article also deploys the Marxist critique of the bourgeois state as an instrument of class rule: Biya and Kamto are presented as "cut from the same bourgeois cloth," and the factional struggle between them is understood as a contest over how best to manage Cameroon's integration into the global capitalist system, not a conflict between reform and reaction.

The analysis of Cameroon's economic malaise implicitly draws on Marx's theory of primitive accumulation and the parasitic character of comprador bourgeoisies in peripheral economies. The ruling class is described as "far more interested in reaping super-profits from the oil industry than in investing in actual production," and "capital flight" is identified as "open theft of public funds" — a formulation that connects the concrete dynamics of corruption to the structural logic of dependent capitalism.

Conjunctural Relevance

The article was published in March 2019, but its analysis remains pertinent to the current conjuncture. The key conjunctural features it identifies are:

• The slowdown in world trade and the Chinese economy after the commodity super-cycle, which has squeezed peripheral oil- and mineral-exporting economies like Cameroon. The article notes that Cameroon's debt-to-GDP ratio shot up from 10-12 percent (pre-2014) to 35.7 percent after oil prices collapsed in 2014, and that austerity has been imposed by the IMF as a condition for new loans.

• China's Belt and Road Initiative as a concrete expression of Chinese imperialism in Africa. The article identifies the Kribi deep-water port (due for completion in 2035) as a strategic asset for Beijing's ambitions, and notes that China has forgiven $174 million of Cameroon's debt while the country owes approximately $3 billion — a relationship of dependency, not solidarity.

• The factional struggle within the Cameroonian ruling class as a proxy for inter-imperialist rivalry. The West (particularly France and the US) is described as pushing back against Biya's drift toward China by leaning on Kamto, while simultaneously not seeking regime change. The US threat to pull military support over "atrocities" is dismissed as hypocritical pressure tactics, given Washington's long record of supporting Biya's repression.

• The Anglophone crisis as a product of nationalist scapegoating by the Biya regime, which has used anti-Anglophone hysteria to cover austerity cuts that disproportionately target the oil-rich Anglophone regions. The crisis has displaced over 430,000 people and killed hundreds, with atrocities committed by both separatists and state forces.

Where the Argument Continues

The article leaves several lines of analysis open for further development:

• The nature of Chinese imperialism is asserted but not theoretically elaborated. The claim that China is an imperialist power in the Leninist sense — exporting capital, extracting super-profits, and politically subordinating weaker states — would benefit from a more systematic treatment, which can be found in other IDOM articles on China's role in Africa and the broader Marxist debate on the character of the Chinese state.

• The absence of a workers' movement in Cameroon is noted but not explained in depth. The article mentions that the last major strike was in 2008 and that the trade union federation is "feeble," but does not explore the historical and political reasons for this weakness — a question that would require a longer analysis of Cameroonian class formation, the legacy of French colonialism, and the effects of neoliberal restructuring on the labour movement.

• The strategic perspective — building a revolutionary workers' party organised on class lines — is stated as a general principle but not concretised for the Cameroonian context. The article does not discuss existing left or Marxist currents in Cameroon, the relationship between the Anglophone and Francophone working classes, or the tactical questions facing revolutionaries in a situation of heightened ethnic and regional tension.

These questions are taken up in other IDOM articles on Africa and in broader Marxist texts on the national question, the labour movement in peripheral economies, and the theory of imperialism.

Connections

• Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism — the theoretical foundation for the analysis of inter-imperialist rivalry and the division of the world among great powers.

• IDOM articles on China in Africa — the broader corpus on Chinese imperialism, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the character of the Chinese state provides the theoretical context for the claim that China is an imperialist power.

• IDOM articles on the national question and the Anglophone crisis — the article touches on the relationship between ethnic/regional oppression and class struggle, a theme developed more fully in other Marxist analyses of Cameroon and of post-colonial Africa more generally.

• Against the Stream episodes on Africa and imperialism — the podcast series regularly covers developments in African political economy and the dynamics of inter-imperialist rivalry, providing a more conversational and up-to-date treatment of the themes raised here.

Key Quotes

1. "Cameroon is a weak, oil and mineral-based export economy, which has been feeling the slowdown in world trade and the Chinese economy: two key factors that previously kept oil and mineral prices up."

2. "The ruling class is far more interested in reaping super-profits from the oil industry than in investing in actual production. All the while, the parasitic Cameroonian bourgeoisie and political elite spend billions made via corrupt deals on private jets and palatial accommodation (usually abroad)."

3. "Biya is trying to balance between different imperialists, while Kamto is seeking to make himself more attractive to the West by offering his services against Biya. In spite of all of his anti-regime demagogy, however, Kamto is not seen as a genuine political alternative by Cameroonian workers and peasants."

4. "The string of debt write-offs are actually on loans obtained to fund construction by Chinese companies in Cameroon, meaning Beijing is subsidising its own development projects: a small price to pay for a major African foothold."

5. "While Western imperialism does not currently see Kamto as a convincing replacement for Biya, he is still a potentially useful pawn. By portraying their old ally Biya as a bogeyman building up Kamto as a martyr, they could try to lean on him to balance Chinese interests, and keep their options open in terms of succession when the 82-year-old incumbent is finally off the scene."

6. "What is needed is a radical revolutionary movement, organised on class lines, to unify the Francophone and Anglophone working class and poor around social demands against the Biya regime and the rest of the rotten ruling class."