Rumors began circulating this week that Paul Biya, Cameroon's authoritarian leader for more than 40 years, had died. Biya's government denied these claims on Wednesday, insisting that Biya was alive and well in Switzerland, but Biya has not been seen in public for more than a month.
Biya, 91, has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist for 42 years, restricting political opposition and restricting freedom of speech in the country. There have been several reports from abroad this week. show Biya's sudden disappearance has now made international headlines, but his government has decreed that private media cannot discuss his potential death or health complications.
Biya, a close ally of communist China, was last seen on September 8 in Beijing, where he was attending the China-Africa Cooperation Forum. His official social media accounts posted photos of the elderly leader standing alongside China's genocidal dictator Xi Jinping and other African heads of state.
Biya often spends his time outside Cameroon, particularly in luxury accommodation in Switzerland. However, he has missed several scheduled public appearances over the past month, most notably the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he was expected to attend. Biya's office has not provided any information about the president for weeks, and opposition voices have demanded more information about the head of state's whereabouts.
According to the newspaper, Ntibane Bomo, who is aiming to be the opposition presidential candidate in 2025, wrote to the presidential palace on October 5, “I request you to issue a brief statement explaining the situation of the President of the Republic and the reasons for his prolonged absence.'' he demanded. Cameroon Journal. “It's a legal obligation imposed on you.”
“He is the president of our country and if there is something wrong with him, we have the right to know,” said Gloria Wilkom, a businesswoman from Cameroon's capital Yaounde. said Tuesday's Voice of America. “So we are pleading with the Cameroonian government to inform them of the health situation.” [state of health] of our president. ”
On Tuesday, mysterious claims were published that Biya had died, further fueling rumors of his death. The report was published on the Texas-based online television network known as African Broadcasting Services (ABS).
ABS, citing only anonymous sources, claimed that Mr. Biya traveled from China to Geneva, Switzerland, where he was hospitalized. Biya was said to have been flown from Switzerland to France after his unspecified health condition did not improve, and ABS said he died there. ABS also claimed that once the news was made public, Cameroonian special forces surrounded the presidential palace in anticipation of a coup attempt.
ABS is particularly an outlet for dissidents and regularly publication Its contents accuse Biya of supporting an English-speaking separatist movement in the south of the country, which is attempting to establish a sovereign state known as “Ambazonia.'' The majority of Cameroonians speak French, and the English-speaking separatist movement claims it has faced severe discrimination and repression under Biya's government.
The conflict in Ambazonia, which began with protests that turned violent in 2016, has been particularly bloody. Biya's forces are trying to crush the separatists by killing their leaders and parading their corpses to stop the ongoing struggle against them. Meanwhile, the Biya government accused the separatists of widespread human rights atrocities, including the beheading of civilians. Human Rights Watch recorded that the conflict displaced 180,000 people in 2017-2018.
The Biya government completely denied the ABS report. According to the BBC, on Wednesday, Biya official Samuel Mbondo Ayolo said: declared He said Biya was in “excellent health” and had been staying in Geneva, Switzerland since his visit to China.
“The Head of State continues to carry out his duties in Geneva and has never left Geneva. [Swiss] After visiting Beijing, I concluded my visit to the city,” Ayoro was quoted as saying. The official blamed “pranksters” who spread rumors that he was sick or dead.
Elsewhere, Biya government spokesperson explained Rumors of the dictator's death are “just imagination”. Notably, Cameroonian authorities have not indicated any plans for Mr. Biya to appear in public again, and there are no independent reports confirming his presence in Switzerland.
ABS answered On Thursday, it declared itself the victim of a “frenzied and uncoordinated smear campaign” against the Cameroonian government and expressed support for its report.
Media outlets outside Cameroon have reported that there may be problems with Biya, but media outlets within Cameroon have not reported details. of Cameroon Journal suggested in a report on Thursday that this may be because the government has banned private media from discussing Biya's death. Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nzi reportedly said: declared Biya's health is a “national security issue” and should be cut off from newspapers and the airwaves.
The minister also reportedly accused “those who have no hesitation” of “disturbing the peace of the Cameroonian people” after seeing the president missing for more than a month.
Biya's situation is reminiscent of the final days of Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who was last seen in public on February 27, 2021, before disappearing for several weeks after he became unwell. Reports began to surface that he had sex. Magufuli, who had publicly opposed medical interventions for the Wuhan coronavirus, including vaccine products, was initially rumored to be in India and then rumored to have died from a coronavirus infection. In late March, the Tanzanian government announced that Magufuli had died at the age of 61 from an unknown “heart disease.” His successor, President Samia Suluhu Hassan, publicly announced that he had received the coronavirus vaccine product later that year.
