Exports - partners: Italy 24%, France 18%, Netherlands 10% (2000 est.)
Imports: $1.5 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery, electrical equipment, transport equipment, fuel, food
Imports - partners: France 29%, Germany 7%, US 6%, Japan 6% (2000 est.)
Debt - external: $10.9 billion (2000 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: on 23 January 2001, the Paris Club agreed to reduce Cameroon's debt of $1.3 billion by $900 million; total debt relief now amounts to $1.26 billion
Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XAF); note - responsible authority is the Bank of the Central African States
Currency code: XAF
Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XAF) per US dollar - 742.79 (January 2002), 733.04 (2001), 711.98 (2000), 615.70 (1999), 589.95 (1998), 583.67 (1997); note - from 1 January 1999, the XAF is pegged to the euro at a rate of 655.957 XAF per euro
Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June
Communications Cameroon
Telephones - main lines in use: 95,000 (2001)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 300,000 (2002)
Telephone system: available only to business and government domestic: satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 11, FM 8, shortwave 3 (1998)
Radios: 2.27 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 1 (1998)
Televisions: 450,000 (1997)
Internet country code: .cm
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 29 (2002)
Internet users: 20,000 (2000) note: in 2000, Cameroon also had 112 cyber-cafes
Transportation Cameroon
Railways: total: 1,104 km narrow gauge: 1,104 km 1.000-m gauge (1995 est.)
Highways: total: 34,300 km paved: 4,288 km unpaved: 30,012 km (1995)
Waterways: 2,090 km (of decreasing importance)
Ports and harbors: Bonaberi, Douala, Garoua, Kribi, Tiko
Airports: 49 (2001)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 11 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (2001)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 38 1,524 to 2,437 m: 7 914 to 1,523 m: 21 under 914 m: 10 (2001)
Military Cameroon
Military branches: Army, Navy (includes naval infantry), Air Force,
National Gendarmerie, Presidential Guard
Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age (2002 est.)
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 3,872,965 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 1,959,357 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 174,308 (2002 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $118.6 million (FY00/01)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.4% (FY98/99)
Transnational Issues Cameroon
Disputes - international: oral arguments on the land and maritime boundary disputes between Cameroon and Nigeria were presented to the ICJ; disputes center around Bakasi Peninsula, where armed clashes continue, Bouram Island on Lake Chad, and the maritime boundary and economic zone dispute in the Gulf of Guinea, which also involves Equatorial Guinea; Lake Chad Basin Commission urges signatories Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria to ratify delimitation treaty over lake region, the site of continuing armed clashes
This page was last updated on 1 January 2002
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Comoros
Introduction
Comoros
Background: Unstable Comoros has endured 19 coups or attempted coups since gaining independence from France in 1975. In 1997, the islands of Anjouan and Moheli declared their independence from Comoros. In 1999, military chief Col. AZALI seized power. He has pledged to resolve the secessionist crisis through a confederal arrangement named the 2000 Fomboni Accord. In December 2001, voters approved a new constitution and presidential elections took place in the spring of 2002.
Geography Comoros
Location: Southern Africa, group of islands in the Mozambique Channel, about two-thirds of the way between northern Madagascar and northern Mozambique
Geographic coordinates: 12 10 S, 44 15 E
Map references: Africa
Area: total: 2,170 sq km water: 0 sq km land: 2,170 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly more than 12 times the size of Washington,
DC
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 340 km
Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM
Climate: tropical marine; rainy season (November to May)
Terrain: volcanic islands, interiors vary from steep mountains to low hills
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point:
Le Kartala 2,360 m
Natural resources: NEGL
Land use: arable land: 35% permanent crops: 18% other: 47% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land: NA sq km
Natural hazards: cyclones possible during rainy season (December to
April); Le Kartala on Grand Comore is an active volcano
Environment - current issues: soil degradation and erosion results from crop cultivation on slopes without proper terracing; deforestation
Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note: important location at northern end of Mozambique
Channel
People Comoros
Population: 614,382 (July 2002 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 42.9% (male 132,013; female 131,282) 15-64 years: 54.2% (male 164,245; female 168,793) 65 years and over: 2.9% (male 8,588; female 9,461) (2002 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.99% (2002 est.)
Birth rate: 39.01 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Death rate: 9.1 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Net migration rate: NEGL migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.91 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2002 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 81.79 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: 63.09 years (2002 est.) male: Total fertility rate: 5.26 children born/woman (2002 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.12% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: NA
HIV/AIDS - deaths: NA
Nationality: