A British Embassy was set up in Yaoundé in 1970. It became a High Commission when Cameroon joined the Commonwealth in 1995. Today, the British High Commission, Yaoundé represents the United Kingdom government in Cameroon and undertakes a range of work to broaden and deepen the bilateral relationship. The High Commission also has responsibility for the UK’s relations with neighbouring countries which do not have a British Embassy: the Central African Republic, Chad and Gabon.

Britain has had a long-standing interest in the region that is now Cameroon. Relations between present-day Cameroon and Britain go back to the 19th century as British traders dominated commercial activity along the coast. British trading and missionary outposts appeared in the 1850s. The territory became a German protectorate called Kamerun in 1884.

In 1916, in the course of the First World War, the German administration was overthrown by French, British, and Belgian troops. After the war, under a 28 June 1919 League of Nations mandate, France was awarded administration of Eastern Cameroon and Britain the Western strip bordering Nigeria from the sea to Lake Chad. This territory was administered as part of Nigeria and known as Northern and Southern Cameroons. The mandates were converted in 1946 to UN Trusteeships, though they remained under British and French administration.

Eastern (French) Cameroon gained independence on 1 January 1960 as the Republic of Cameroon. Following a UN administered plebiscite on 11 February 1961, British Southern Cameroons opted to join the independent Republic of Cameroon while British Northern Cameroons joined the independent Federal Republic of Nigeria. On 1 October 1961 re-unification of Southern and Eastern Cameroon gave birth to the Federal Republic of Cameroon. English is one of Cameroon’s two official languages (the other is French).

There have been recent high level contacts between both countries. Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni visited London in 2008 and 2006. While President Paul Biya visited the UK in 2004. In the same year the Earl of Wessex visited Cameroon. Baroness Amos, as Minister for Africa, visited Cameroon twice in 2003.

The British Council, the United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational and cultural relations opened in Cameroon in 1974. It has offices in Yaounde and a teaching centre in Douala. The British Council builds capacity in Cameroon by providing high quality training in the areas of English language, management, leadership and education. It engages with both the corporate and non-corporate sectors, including local and international NGOs, Embassies and High Commissions, the international donor community and other non-for-profit organisations based both inside and outside of Cameroon.

The British based charity Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) has been significantly present in Cameroon since 1998, working primarily in the areas of health, education and secure livelihoods. VSO presently has 29 volunteers working in the NorthWest, North, Far North, SouthWest and East provinces. The majority of these volunteers are British.

Several large British companies like Shell, Guinness, and Standard Charted Bank have invested in Cameroon. A number of non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) with British links like Plan International, Bird Life International, Rain Forest Foundation, Living Earth Foundation and WWF are represented in Cameroon.

The British community in Cameroon has grown to about 300 people. Most are missionaries, business people and expert consultants working for companies and NGOs.