Our first World Cup opponents, Cameroon, is a power on the football pitch, but the country itself is struggling under a massive debt burden, writes Peadar King
As we open our World Cup campaign tomorrow, we come face to face with Cameroon, the powerhouse of African football.
For the past three World Cup finals, they delighted and enchanted the football world. The "indomitable lions" stalked the traditional World Cup hunters in 1990 all the way to the quarter-finals with their distinctive brand of football magic.
No player was more important than the two-time (1979 and 1982) African footballer of the year, Thomas Nkono, now the assistant coach, translator and "chief lionheart".
On and off the pitch, Nkono has been the central figure in Cameroon's love-in with the World Cup. This is his fifth tournament - Cameroon also played in the 1982 finals.
Last February, the football world was startled by the image of a handcuffed Nkono, accused of dropping black magic charms beside the pitch of home side Mali in the semi-final of the African Nations Cup. The accusation resulted in an apology from Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare.
Now hoping to rediscover the magic of 1990, they have arrived again on the world's football stage to be greeted for the first time by Ireland. Managed by German Winfried Schafer, Cameroon will pose a formidable challenge to the football powerhouses of the northern hemisphere.
In the real world, Cameroon takes part in an unequal contest. Whatever about its on-field football magic, realism off the field bites hard. In reality, Cameroon is a bit player, indebted to the big two of France and Germany.
Most of its debt stock is owed to these two bilateral creditors. Cameroon's other first-round World Cup football opponents Germany is owed 17 per cent of its debt, making it the most significant bilateral creditor after none other than France, which is owed 50 per cent. France and Germany 67, Cameroon nil.
In this respect, Cameroon's 15 million population has more in common with the World Cup also-rans than it has with the company it will keep for the next few weeks. Ironically, Japan was the location of the G8 summit which promised so much but failed so dismally to provide real debt cancellation which would significantly transform the fortunes of the Cameroonians of this world. Yet, some relief has been given: Cameroon was admitted to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative in 2000.
According to the World Bank, Cameroon is eligible for $100 million relief for the period 2000/2001-2003.
While some benefits have accrued from this debt-relief, according to Robert Calderisi, the World Bank country director for Cameroon, economic reform has so far brought few tangible benefits for the poor. Poverty reduction continues to be a daunting challenge. Life expectancy of early 50s is nearly 30 years behind their first match opponents.
According to Georgine Kengne Djutane, co-ordinator of programme and debt of the Ecumenical Services for Peace, Cameroon, the logic behind the debt reduction initiative is to render the debt sustainable. By demanding less you get more.
"Debt relief seeks to bring the debt burden to a sustainable level, to take the country out of the rescheduling cycle by offering it the opportunity to pay its debts to the last farthing." And the poor must pay. To this problem there is no magic solution, only the daily reminders of the reality of debt repayment.
LIKE other countries, these debt rescheduling programmes come with stringent structural adjustment programmes. Hikes in indirect taxation allied to cuts in public services disproportionately affect the poor.
The education system in Cameroon is a case in point. While not in the state of disarray which characterises educational systems in other debt-swamped countries, schools in Cameroon experience a serious dearth of funding - funding that has to be rerouted to pay its mainly bilateral debt to France and Germany.
More than 47 per cent of schools in Cameroon are private and most are denominational. The state is unable to pay agreed subsidies to these or to support other schools. While 80 per cent of the children in the towns of Yaondé and Douala attend school, the figures in the rural areas are much lower. Teaching materials and equipment are scarce and there is a serious lack of qualified teachers.
The whole education system is under severe strain. The deteriorating school situation could begin to be addressed if the external debt was cancelled. Like many of its African counterparts, lack of investment is endemic and is draining scarce resources. Cameroon provides yet another example of money flowing from south to north.
Given a level playing pitch, it could be all so different. Cameroon is the quintessential multicultural nation. Often referred to as Africa in miniature, more than 200 ethnic groups live in harmony, notwithstanding the many inequalities that persist.
There is a tolerance between its many peoples, regions and religions which is not to be found among many of the countries which feel in a position to lecture it on how to manage its affairs. Therein lies its hope; that and the cancellation of its debt allied to internal structural reform that would address the socio-economic imbalances that exist.
Were such changes to happen, were the education system to be properly funded along with the health and social service systems, rather than just having the economic powerhouses of the northern hemisphere as the main beneficiaries of Cameroon's wealth, then that would really transform the country's fortunes.
Peadar King is a researcher on development who has also written widely on debt issues