Biya’s 2-Month Europe Stay Fuels Questions Over Cameroon Rule at 93
Updated
Updated · CNN · Aug 15
Biya’s 2-Month Europe Stay Fuels Questions Over Cameroon Rule at 93
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Aug 15
Summary
Two months after leaving Cameroon on June 7 for what his office called a brief private stay in Europe, President Paul Biya remains abroad, his longest uninterrupted absence from the country in years.
Geneva became the focus after government spokesman René Emmanuel Sadi said last week that the 93-year-old leader was there and not hospitalized, while insisting he is alive and will soon return.
That absence has revived scrutiny over who is running Cameroon, even though Biya has continued to make decisions from abroad, including a major military reshuffle announced earlier this month.
Opposition candidate Samuel Hiram Iyodi, 38, has urged parliament to test whether the absence creates a presidential vacancy, but Biya’s ruling party dominance makes any constitutional challenge unlikely.
For many Cameroonians, Biya—who has ruled since 1982 and won a disputed eighth term last year—is the only president they have known, sharpening frustration over jobs, services and unresolved conflicts.