Subdivisions of Cameroon

Cameroon is divided into 10 regions.

Main articles: Regions of Cameroon and Divisions of Cameroon

The constitution divides Cameroon into 10 semi-autonomous regions, each under the administration of an elected Regional Council. A presidential decree of 12 November 2008 officially instigated the change from provinces to regions. Each region is headed by a presidentially appointed governor. These leaders are charged with implementing the will of the president, reporting on the general mood and conditions of the regions, administering the civil service, keeping the peace, and overseeing the heads of the smaller administrative units. Governors have broad powers: they may order propaganda in their area and call in the army, gendarmes, and police. All local government officials are employees of the central government’s Ministry of Territorial Administration, from which local governments also get most of their budgets.

The regions are subdivided into 58 divisions (French [départements] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). These are headed by presidentially appointed divisional officers ([préfets] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), who perform the governors' duties on a smaller scale. The divisions are further sub-divided into sub-divisions ([arrondissements] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), headed by assistant divisional officers ([sous-prefets] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). The districts, administered by district heads ([chefs de district] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), are the smallest administrative units. These are found in large sub-divisions and in regions that are difficult to reach.

The three northernmost regions are the Far North ([Extrême Nord] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), North ([Nord] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), and Adamawa ([Adamaoua] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). Directly south of them are the Centre ([Centre] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) and East ([Est] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). The South Province ([Sud] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) lies on the Gulf of Guinea and the southern border. Cameroon's western region is split into four smaller regions: The Littoral ([Littoral] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) and Southwest ([Sud-Ouest] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) regions are on the coast, and the Northwest ([Nord-Ouest] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) and West ([Ouest] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) regions are in the western grassfields. The Northwest and Southwest were once part of British Cameroons; the other regions were in French Cameroun.