Cameroon Travel Warning

Issued by US Department of State

Aug 19, 2016

The State Department warns U.S. citizens of the high risk of violent crime, including murder and kidnapping, and terrorist threats including suicide bombings, and recommends U.S. citizens avoid all travel to the North and Far North Regions and parts of the East and Adamawa Regions of Cameroon. The U.S. Embassy’s ability to provide consular services in remote and rural areas is extremely limited. This replaces the Travel Warning dated December 22, 2015.

The Boko Haram terrorist group has actively targeted foreign residents, tourists, and government leaders in the North and Far North Region. Thirty-seven foreigners have been reported kidnapped since 2013. Since July 2015, the group has carried out 38 suicide bombings in the North and Far North Regions, including the city of Maroua. The U.S. Embassy continues to maintain restrictions on travel by U.S. official personnel to the North, Far North, and East Regions of Cameroon, as well as any travel to the north or east of Ngaoundere in the Adamawa Region. Additionally, the threat of piracy is present in the waters of the Bakassi peninsula in the Gulf of Guinea.

U.S. citizens should exercise extreme caution when traveling within 60 miles/100 kilometers of the border with Nigeria’s Adamawa State in the North and Adamawa Regions of Cameroon, the border area with Chad, and the border areas with the Central African Republic (CAR) due to violence, banditry, and military operations that sometimes cross into Cameroon. There are Travel Warnings for neighboring Nigeria, Chad, and CAR.