The Cameroon–Chad border is 1,116 km (693 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with Nigeria in the north, to the tripoint with the Central African Republic in the south.[1]
Description
The boundary begins in the north at the tripoint with Nigeria in the
Congo-Brazzaville (then called Moyen-Congo, or Middle Congo) were united as French Congo (later split), with areas further north organised into Ubangi-Shari (modern CAR) and Chad military territory; the latter two areas were merged in 1906 as Ubangi-Shari-Chad, and then de-merged in 1914. The two regions were later organised into the federal colonies of French West Africa (Afrique occidentale française, abbreviated AOF) and French Equatorial Africa (Afrique équatoriale française, AEF).[2]
Germany had claimed Cameroon (Kamerun) in July 1884.
First World War broke out in 1914, Britain and France invaded Cameroon and eventually defeated the Germans in 1916. Following the defeat of Germany in Europe in 1918-19 all of the areas ceded to Germany in 1911 were restored to France, thus finalising what are now the Cameroon's modern borders with Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, CAR and Chad.[2] On 22 June 1922 Cameroon became a League of Nations mandate, with the vast majority of the colony going to France, and smaller areas along the Nigerian border in the west to Britain.[2] This mandate/trusteeship arrangement was affirmed by the UN in 1946. France gradually granted more political rights and representation for their African colonies, culminating in the granting of broad internal autonomy to each colony in 1958 within the framework of the French Community.[3]
Eventually, in January 1960 France granted Cameroon full independence, followed by Chad in August that year, and their mutual frontier became an international one between two independent states.
In recent years the border has been affected by the over spill from the Boko Haram insurgency in northeastern Nigeria.[4]
