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U.S. Diplomatic Withdrawal Shakes Africa: Cameroon Braces for Impact

December 23, 2025 | Breaking News Analysis

By Jane Williams

In a sweeping diplomatic reset, the Trump administration has initiated a significant withdrawal of U.S. ambassadors across Africa, recalling envoys from 13 to 15 nations - including Cameroon and Nigeria - by January 2026. This move, described by the State Department as a "standard process" to align diplomats with presidential priorities, marks a dramatic shift in American engagement with the continent.

Image: Donald Trump/Credit:DN

Implications for Cameroon amidst the ongoing conflicts

The Trump administration’s recall of the U.S. ambassador to Cameroon is not merely a bureaucratic reshuffle but a calculated withdrawal from one of Africa’s most protracted and violent conflicts. This move, coupled with the proposed closure of the U.S. consulate in Douala (Cameroun), directly impacts the almost ten-year conflict in Cameroon's so-called “Anglophone regions” - a conflict the departing ambassador was widely perceived as supporting, despite accusations of genocide against the Yaoundé government.

Image: Secretary Marco Rubio/Credit: AP

A Pro-Regime Ambassador in a Genocide Debate

The ousted U.S. ambassador Christopher J. Lamora maintained a consistently strong relationship with Dictator Paul Biya’s government in Yaoundé. Western diplomats and human rights organizations frequently criticized this posture as de facto endorsement of Cameroon’s military campaign in the minority English-speaking territory (aka Northwest and Southwest regions). The ambassador's tenure was marked by a focus on counter-terrorism cooperation against Boko Haram in the Far North, which often overshadowed public criticism of the government’s actions in the Southern Cameroons, aka Ambazonia conflict.

This stance placed the U.S. at odds with growing international condemnation. In 2024, the International Crisis Group and groups like the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) began formally describing the violence as a "genocide" against Anglophone Cameroonians, citing systematic killings, village burnings, and cultural erasure. The ambassador’s pro-Yaounde alignment, therefore, became a significant point of contention, seen as insulating the Biya regime from direct U.S. pressure.

Trump's Calculus: Disengagement Over Intervention

The ambassador’s recall and the consulate closure proposal provide clear insight into the Trump administration’s "America First" calculus regarding complex foreign crises:

Cost-Benefit Analysis: The administration has concluded that the diplomatic and financial cost of maintaining a full mission outweighs the strategic benefit. Unlike Nigeria, where Trump has threatened direct military intervention over Christian killings, Cameroon’s conflict, despite its severity, has not triggered similar threats. This suggests a hierarchy of interest where religious persecution narratives (as in Nigeria) or direct resource competition take precedence over what the administration may view as an intractable ethnic-political conflict.
Avoiding "Nation-Building": The Southern Cameroons conflict has morphed into a genocide with no clear military solution. The administration’s aversion to what it terms "endless wars" and "nation-building" makes disengagement, rather than deeper mediation, the preferred path.
Signaling Disapproval Through Withdrawal: The recall itself is a potent signal. By removing a diplomat seen as favorable to Yaoundé, the administration may intend to express its discontent with the regime’s conduct, doing so through isolation rather than confrontation. It is a cheaper, lower-risk alternative to sanctions or aid conditionality. Image: Christopher J. Lamora/Credit: US Emb/CMR/

Possible Consequences for Cameroon and the Region

The U.S. retreat may have immediate and dangerous consequences:

Empowerment of the Biya Regime: The withdrawal of a major diplomatic presence is likely interpreted in Yaoundé as a green light to intensify its military operations without fear of significant Western backlash. The proposed closure of the Douala consulate, a key hub for visa services and local engagement, further reduces America’s eyes, ears, and leverage on the ground.
Humanitarian and Security Vacuum: The U.S. was a leading humanitarian donor. Reduced diplomatic engagement often foreshadows further cuts in aid, which would be catastrophic for the over 2 million people displaced by the conflict. Furthermore, the U.S. exit cedes space to other actors. Russia, through the Wagner Group, has already expanded its footprint in neighboring Central African Republic and Mali and may see an opportunity to offer security support to Cameroon in exchange for resource access.
Regional Destabilization: The conflict has already driven refugees into Nigeria. A protracted, increasingly violent conflict fueled by a lack of international mediation threatens wider instability in the Gulf of Guinea, a crucial global energy and shipping corridor.

A Strategic Retreat or a Retreat with Repercussions?

The recall of the U.S. ambassador from Cameroon and more than a dozen African countries is more than a personnel change; it is a strategic disengagement from a burning house. While framed within a broader bureaucratic reset, its impact may be broad-based.

In the case of Cameroon, it may be a strategic diplomatic maneuver that may push the agenda of an international mediation of the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) conflict and end the ongoing genocide; or it may slow down the the prospect for a negotiated peace, empowering a government accused of atrocities, and creating a vacuum that America's global rivals are poised to fill. For the people of the Southern Cameroons, America's "America First" policy does not echo a timely intervention in the deadly conflict. Time will tell.