Concern is rising in Cameroon about President Paul Biya, 92, who has not been seen in public for greater than 40 days.
Biya has but to return to Cameroon greater than per week after state officers mentioned he would return from Geneva, following rumors of his dying. A number of teams say Biya's lengthy absence suggests he’s not wholesome sufficient to be president.
Biya was final seen in public on September eight, leaving Beijing, the place he attended the Africa-China discussion board within the firm of world leaders, a few of his collaborators and his spouse, Chantal Biya.
Civilians say they think Biya will not be in good well being and is receiving remedy wherever he’s.
Opposition and civil society teams say Biya must be within the nation to steer the nation amid a number of challenges, together with a chronic separatist disaster that has claimed greater than 6,000 lives within the nation's western areas.
Authorities troops are combating Boko Haram terrorists on the northern border with Chad and Nigeria, and rebels are fleeing japanese Cameroon from armed conflicts in neighboring Central African Republic.
Tamfu Richard, a human rights lawyer and member of the Cameroon Social gathering for Nationwide Reconciliation (CPNR), mentioned he delivered a petition to the president of the Nationwide Meeting, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, to tell Cameroon's constitutional council of what, based on him, It’s a emptiness created by Biya's absence. .
“I’m merely asking the president [speaker] of the Nationwide Meeting to train a constitutional proper, which is to refer the emptiness [Biya’s long absence] to the constitutional council,” Richard mentioned. “In line with the [Cameroon] “The Structure, the seat of the establishments is in Yaoundé, and if the President of the Republic is outdoors Cameroon, not on an official go to or for justifiable causes, it could possibly be that the President of the Republic has fled from his place of residence. job.”
VOA couldn’t independently confirm whether or not the speaker of the nationwide meeting obtained Richard's petition, however copies of the doc circulated broadly on social media.
On October 9, authorities officers mentioned social media and mainstream media studies that Biya was lifeless had been unfounded. They mentioned Biya was alive and in wonderful well being and would return to Cameroon quickly.
When studies unfold calling for Biya's whereabouts to be made public and that civilians wished to see their president, Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji banned the media from speaking about Biya's well being. Nji ordered authorities to watch all media to make sure that violators are charged with illegally discussing essential safety points.
Ndi Eugene Ndi, president of the Yaoundé chapter of the Cameroonian Affiliation of English-Talking Journalists (CAMASEJ), says most media shops ignore the ban.
“The press must be free to speak concerning the president's well being,” Ndi mentioned. “Residents ought to know the place the president is thru the media.”
Biya has dominated Cameroon for greater than 4 a long time. Opposition events say he guidelines with an iron fist and needs to retain energy till his dying. Biya has at all times claimed that he received each election after constitutionally wresting energy from Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroon's first president, in 1982. Ahidjo resigned after complaining about his failing well being.