This cooperation takes the form of Cameroon’s participation in OIC activities and an exchange of visits between the two parties. The creation in December 1997 by the Head of State, H.E. PAUL BIYA, of the post of Minister Delegate to the Minister of External Relations in charge of Relations with the Islamic World (MINDELMI), gave this cooperation a new impetus.

At presidential level, H.E. PAUL BIYA, took part in the VIth Summit of Kings, Heads of State and Government of the OIC held in Dakar from 9 to 12 December 1991. Similarly, the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Mr PHILEMON YANG, Personal Representative of the Head of State, led the Cameroonian delegation to the work of the 13th OIC Summit held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 14 to 15 April 2016. Our country also took part in the 12th Summit held in Cairo, Egypt, from 2 to 7 February 2013, at which the Head of State was represented by the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister Delegate at the Presidency of the Republic in charge of Relations with the Assemblies, Mr AMADOU ALI.

The Deputy Prime Minister also represented the Head of State at the 4th Extraordinary Session of the OIC Summit of Kings, Heads of State and Government held in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, from 14 to 15 August 2012. The main decisions taken at the Summit included Syria’s suspension from the OIC and its subsidiary bodies and specialised and affiliated institutions; support for the preservation of Mali’s territorial integrity, national unity and sovereignty; and an increase in the capital of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) as part of the implementation of the new Special Programme for the Development of Africa (SPDA).

 

As a reminder, it was during the 11th Summit in Dakar, Senegal, in 2008, that the founding Charter of the Organisation was revised. Cameroon, through MINDELMI H.E. Adoum GARGOUM, signed this Charter during the 37th session of the AMCEN, held from 18 to 20 May 2010 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

At ministerial level, our country has regularly taken part in the AMCEN and all the Organisation’s Conferences since it joined. It also took part in the 3rd Extraordinary Summit held in Mecca on 7 and 8 December 2005. The Head of State was represented by the Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Mr MARAFA HAMIDOU YAYA. One of the major decisions taken at the Summit was the inclusion of a Special Programme for the Development of Africa (SPDA) in the OIC’s Ten-Year Programme of Action (TYPOA) and the need to set up an ISFD to combat poverty, with a capital of ten (10) billion US dollars. Cameroon has subscribed for one billion CFA francs.

As part of the implementation of the Special Programme for the Development of Africa, Cameroon hosted a sub-regional economic forum for Central and East Africa in Yaounde from 8 to 9 June 2010. Jointly organised with the IDB and the General Secretariat of the OIC, this Forum gave rise to several recommendations, the most important of which are set out in Part II of this report, which is devoted to economic cooperation.

 

It should be noted that the 38th CFM in Astana, Kazakhstan, from 28 to 30 June 2011, at which DELECAM was led by Minister Adoum GARGOUM, was marked by the change of the name of the OIC, which became the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation instead of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, as well as its emblem. However, Cameroon has not yet ratified the amendment to the OIC Charter on the name of the organisation.

 

The 38th session also saw the establishment of the Permanent and Independent Human Rights Commission (CPIDH), through the election of its members, notably Mr Oumar ABOU ABBA, Consul General of Cameroon in Jeddah. And, following the Very High Agreement of the Head of State (L no. A 520/SG/PR of 11 January 2015), his candidacy was endorsed for a second term of three (03) years starting from August 2016, during the 13th Summit, held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 14 to 15 April 2016. The said Summit elected nine (09) expert members of the CPIDH and designated the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as the headquarters of the Commission.

 

The Cameroonian delegation led by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Cameroon to Saudi Arabia and Permanent Representative to the OIC, H.E. IYA TIDJANI, also took part in the Extraordinary Session of the AMCEN, held on 17 November 2016, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, during which H.E. YOUSEF AHMED AL OTHAIMEEN was elected as Secretary General of the OIC. After taking office at the head of the General Secretariat, he sent a letter of thanks to the Minister of External Relations, H.E. MBELLA MBELLA for the support given to him by the Cameroonian delegation.

 

In addition, Cameroon, through Minister ADOUM GARGOUM, has been participating since 2015 in the Coordination Meeting of OIC Foreign Ministers which is held every year in New York (United States), on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. This annual OIC meeting reviews all political, economic, social and cultural cooperation issues. In 2015, for example, our country had the opportunity to brief participants on developments in the fight against Boko-Haram and to brief the OIC General Secretariat on the state of humanitarian needs resulting from the effects of the Central African crisis in the Eastern Region and Boko-Haram atrocities in the Far North of Cameroon.

 

This situation had previously led the said Ministers to adopt, during the work of the 42nd and 43rd sessions of the AMCEN, Resolutions condemning the activities of the terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria and neighbouring countries, as well as on humanitarian assistance to refugees and displaced persons.

 

It is also important to note the participation of two OIC experts in the meeting organised in Yaounde from 05 to 07 February 2015, on security and terrorism in Central Africa, following the Extraordinary Summit of ECCAS Heads of State and Government on Security in Central Africa.

 

Cameroon regularly participates, through ministerial delegations or its representatives, in the various OIC sectoral conferences :

• Tourism : Cameroon was a member for 3 years (2009-2011) of the Implementation Committee of the “Framework for Development and Cooperation in the Domain of Tourism between the OIC Member States 2008-2018” ;
• Trade : our country regularly takes an active part in the meetings of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the OIC Member States (COMCEC), chaired by Turkey ;
• Information : participation in the Conferences of the Ministers of Information and in the statutory meetings of the OIC Standing Committee for Information and Cultural Affairs (COMIAC), chaired by Senegal ;
• Culture : participation in Conferences of Ministers of Culture, sessions of the General Conference of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) ;

Cameroon participated in the 3rd OIC Member States Conference on Mediation in Istanbul, Turkey on 1 November 2019, under the theme: “Exploring approaches to effective mediation: the role of culturally sensitive mediation”.

 

Cameroon was represented by H. E IYA TIDJANI, Ambassador of Cameroon to Saudi Arabia, Permanent Representative of Cameroon to the OIC, assisted by Mr. NKWAH AKONGWI, 1st Secretary at the Embassy of Cameroon in Ankara.

 

The aim was to raise awareness of the importance of taking culture into account in mediation and to draw up a directive on this for mediators.

 

• Health : participation in ministerial conferences on health ;
• Environment : participation in Conferences of Environment Ministers ;
• Refugees : participation of a Cameroonian delegation led by MINDELMI in the Ministerial Conference on Refugees in the Muslim World, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, from 10 to 11 May 2012 ;
• Safeguarding the values of the institution of marriage and the family : participation in the 1st Ministerial Conference, held from 08 to 09 February 2017, in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), etc.

In addition, the highest Authorities of the Organisation stayed in Cameroon, namely :

• The former Secretary General, Hamid ALGABID, visited Cameroon in 1996, on the occasion of the Organisation of African Unity Summit held in Yaounde ;
• The former Secretary General, Ekmeleddin IHSANOGLU, paid an official visit to Yaounde on 28 and 29 January 2008. The visit took place on the eve of the 11th Dakar Summit, at which the election of the Secretary General and the question of the Organisation’s reforms were on the agenda. During this visit, Prof. IHSANOGLU was received in audience by the Head of State, H.E. Paul BIYA.

These visits have enabled Cameroon to consolidate its cooperation ties with the Organisation. The OIC also supports the ideals and values cherished by our country and Cameroon’s candidacies in international institutions. It is also an appropriate framework for developing bilateral relations with other countries and for forging new partnerships with other development players.

 

Nevertheless, Cameroon’s votes in UN bodies, particularly on issues relating to the Israeli-Palestinian problem, one of the OIC’s raisons d’être, are a real embarrassment to the Secretary General of this organisation and to certain member states. Cameroonian policy on this issue remains committed to the two-state solution, Israel and Palestine, and advocates a negotiated solution based on the relevant United Nations resolutions.