Region

Southwest

Coastal region at the foot of Mount Cameroon. Buea was the capital of German Kamerun and later of Southern Cameroons.

Provisional — awaiting verificationSW
The long green ridge of Mount Cameroon under a clear blue sky, seen from Buea above forest and a red roof.
Mount Cameroon from Buea, SouthwestPhoto: Adesolive / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Map of Cameroon with the South-West region highlightedCameroon's ten regions. The South-West region is shaded; select another region to open its page.Adamawa regionCentre regionEast regionFar North regionLittoral regionNorth regionNorth-West regionWest regionSouth regionSouth-West region — capital Buea

Boundaries: geoBoundaries (CC BY 3.0)

Capital

CapitalBuea

Divisions

The 6 divisions (départements) of the region. Open one to see its subdivisions.

Names and codes as published in the national administrative boundaries dataset (Institut National de Cartographie, via OCHA), valid on 4 January 2019. Some names are published without accents.

Towns, villages and neighbourhoods

594 places on InsideKamer lie in Southwest, according to Wikidata.

The 60 best documented are listed. All places in the encyclopedia

Records in the knowledge base that are connected to this region.

See media in this region / Regional news

What we have, and what is missing

These are the fields we aim to document for every region. Where we have no sourced data we say so, rather than fill the gap.

  • Overview✓ Available
  • Administrative capital✓ Available
  • Region code✓ Available
  • Approximate capital location✓ Available
  • Population (with source year)Awaiting research
  • Divisions and subdivisions✓ Available
  • Climate and geographyAwaiting research
  • EconomyAwaiting research
  • LanguagesAwaiting research
  • EducationAwaiting research
  • HealthAwaiting research
  • InfrastructureAwaiting research
  • Notable peopleAwaiting research
  • Administrative boundary✓ Available

From Wikipedia

The Southwest Region or South-West Region (French: Région du Sud-Ouest) is a region with special status in Cameroon. Its capital is Buea. As of 2015, its population was 1,553,320. Along with the Northwest Region, it is one of the two Anglophone (English-speaking) regions of Cameroon. Various Ambazonian nationalist and separatist factions regard the South-West region as being distinct as a polity from Cameroon.

History

In 1884, the region was colonized by Germany under the Protectorate regime until 1916 when it became a condominium administered jointly by the United Kingdom and France. In 1919, the administration of the South West region became solely British.

In 1961, the region joined Cameroon as part of the federated state of West Cameroon.

At the end of 2017, an Ambazonian separatist movement in the two English-speaking regions of the North-West and South-West initiated a wave of violence affecting the military, police, business leaders and workers. The separatist militiamen are trying in particular to prevent children from returning to school. Between 2016 and 2019, separatists reportedly ransacked, destroyed or burned more than 174 schools Separatists from the Ambazonia administration regard both the Northwest and Southwest regions as being constituent components of their envisaged breakaway state.

Administration

The region is divided into six divisions or departments: Fako, Koupé-Manengouba, Lebialem, Manyu, Meme and Ndian. These are in turn broken down into subdivisions. Presidentially appointed senior divisional officers (prefets) and subdivisional officers (sous-prefets) govern each respectively.

Special status

As part of the Major National Dialogue, the region was given a "special status" in December 2019, granting additional rights and responsibilities in relation to economic, health, social, educational, sports and cultural development. Under the special status the region has a bicameral Regional Assembly, made up of a 20-member House of Chiefs composed of traditional leaders and a 70-member House of Divisional Representatives nominated by municipal councils. The Regional Assembly appoints a Regional Executive Council. Additional powers over health and education were also granted to municipalities.

Regional Executive Council

The Regional Executive Council is led by the President of the Regional Assembly and includes a vice president, three commissioners, two secretaries and a questor. The first committee, elected in December 2020, was as follows:

Geography

The region was notable for having the first English-speaking university in Cameroon (the University of Buea).

Towns include the capital Buea, Limbe, Tiko, Ekondo , Mundemba, Kumba and Mamfe. Limbe in particular is a popular tourist resort notable for its fine beaches. Korup National Park situated in the Ndian Division is also a major attraction. Buea itself, meanwhile, sits at the foot of Mount Cameroon, and possesses an almost temperate climate markedly different from the rest of the province.

Culture

The province is largely Anglophone and Protestant Christian.

Healthcare

Limbe Provincial Hospital

Text from the Wikipedia article “Southwest Region (Cameroon)”, revision of 26 September 2026, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Wikipedia is written by volunteers; check important facts against the sources it cites.

This record is provisional: it was compiled from the cited sources but has not yet been checked by an InsideKamer editor.

Sources

  1. 1.
    British Cameroons
    WikipediaLast verified: Not yet verified

    Standard reference URL; not yet fetched by InsideKamer.

  2. 2.
    Kamerun
    WikipediaLast verified: Not yet verified

    Standard reference URL; not yet fetched by InsideKamer.

  3. 3.
    Regions of Cameroon
    WikipediaLast verified: Not yet verified

    Standard reference URL; not yet fetched by InsideKamer.

  4. 4.
    Southwest Region (Cameroon)
    Wikipedia (English)Published 26 September 2026Last verified: 22 October 2026
  5. 5.
    Région du Sud-Ouest (Cameroun)
    Wikipédia (français)Published 9 July 2026Last verified: 22 October 2026