President Paul Biya, who is celebrating his 85th birthday today, continues to project himself to the helm of a state he has ruled for 35 years.
"The
Cameroon of tomorrow, which is being built before our eyes, will have little to
do with yesterday's (...) It is both an opportunity and a challenge." said Paul Biya on Saturday in his National Youth Day speech.
In Cameroon,
in 2014, according to the latest available statistics, 75% of the population
was under 25 years of age and had only known Paul Biya as president.
Biya, who
joined Etoudi's presidential palace in 1982, asked the youths on Youth Day to exercise
their right to vote in the upcoming elections, including the presidential
elections.
He has not
yet decided on his candidacy for a possible seventh term. His supporters
present him as their natural candidate, while his detractors see in his age a
motive enough to try to seek his succession.
Biya has
blocked access to key posts and institutions until the recent creation of the
Constitutional Council in early February, composed of eleven members, largely
from the presidential party- (CPDM). In particular, it must validate the results of the
elections.
The
presidents of the National Assembly - Djibril Cavaye Yeguié, 74 years old, Marcel Niat Njifendi, 84 years old, the Chief of
Staff of the Armed Forces - Rene Claude Meka, 79 years old,the director of the national oil company - Adolphe Moudiki,
79 years old, are all close to the head of
state.
A former
Catholic seminarian and a student of Political Science in Paris, Biya has "put
in place a device around him, which makes the system function around him," notes an
observer.
Paul Biya,
who in fact retains a large control over a country where more than a third of
the inhabitants live on less than 2 euros per day, is nevertheless often
criticized from Cameroon for his repeated absences, often for several weeks,
mainly in Switzerland.
These
absences have left questions over the years about the president's state of
health. At the end of January, rumors ran on this one, presuming he was dead, they quickly were dismantled by an
appearance on state television on Saturday.
Paul Biya
likes to keep the secret around him and his political agenda, leaving his
ministers to communicate. If in the opinion of all, he has the sense of the
formula, his appearances are as rare as scrutinized.
However,
jihadist incursions continue in the Far North while the security situation in
the English-speaking regions is only getting worse. On Sunday, three gendarmes
were killed there, in a crisis that gradually turned into a conflict of low
intensity.
The army -
which defends itself - is accused by testimonies of inhabitants of abuses,
while the attacks against the symbols of the State multiply by armed men
claiming the "Ambazonia", the name of the independent State they intend
to create.
"With
the troubles in the English-speaking regions and the persistent threat of Boko
Haram, the 2018 elections will be a greater challenge than the previous
ones," said Hans De Marie Heungoup, researcher at the International Crisis
Group (ICG).
See photos below of President Paul Biya with Presidents of France since he took power in 1982:
 |
| Paul Biya and Francois Mitterand |
 |
| Paul Biya and Jacques Chirac |
 |
| Paul Biya and Nicholas Sarkozy |
 |
| Paul Biya and Francois Hollande |
 |
| Paul Biya and Emmanuel Macron |
