After a 6-week long absence prompted concerns over his health and whereabouts, Cameroonian President Paul Biya has returned to the country.
On his arrival from Geneva with his wife Chantal Biya, the 91-year-old did not speak to the public. However, he waved at supporters gathered nearby as his car drove away from the airport in the Cameroonian capital, Yaoundé.
Lining the route from the airport to the presidential palace were thousands of supporters of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement PDM.
Among the crowds, some carried placards welcoming the President back, and sending their well wishes.
Biya’s disappearance from Cameroon triggered widespread speculation he was ill.
But authorities have published statements insisting that he is well, and have insisted that it was a matter of national security.
President Paul Biya has not been seen in public since 8 September, when he attended a China-Africa forum in Beijing.
However, senior officials have insisted Cameroon’s president is in “excellent” health after his long public absence stoked widespread speculation about the 91-year-old leader’s condition. He has since missed events he was scheduled to be at, such as the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
But in a statement, the head of Cameroon’s civil cabinet said Biya was well and condemned the “mischievous individuals” speculating about the president’s health and “eventual death”.
The statement came after days of opposition parties and civil society groups calling for information on Biya’s health and exact whereabouts.
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“The head of state continues to exercise his duties in Geneva and has never departed the [Swiss] city following his visit to Beijing,” Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, director of the civil cabinet said on Wednesday evening.
Biya has long been criticized for the amount of time he spends outside the country – and in Switzerland in particular.
In 2018, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported that since coming to power in 1982, Biya had spent the equivalent of four-and-a-half years on overseas trips.
The Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva is said to be his favourite destination.
In a separate statement, government spokesperson René Sadi said Biya would return to Cameroon “in the next few days”. He dismissed reports of Biya’s ailing health as “pure fantasy”.
After 42 years in power, Biya is one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.
Under his rule, Cameroon has moved from being a one-party state to multi-party politics, but it has also been marked by endemic corruption.
Democratic gains have also been reversed, leading to the abolition of presidential term limits in 2008.
Cameroon is also in the grips of a secessionist war that has killed more than 6,000 people in the west of the country.
Additional Sources: Africa News, BBC
