Negative Headlines Mark the Anniversary of President Biya’s Time in Office

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Some of the glar­ing news head­lines about Cameroon in the month of Novem­ber 2020

The gov­ern­ing record of Paul Biya, Cameroon’s cur­rent leader, is mak­ing the news rounds, again.

Biya assumed office as pres­i­dent of the cen­tral­ly locat­ed African nation on Nov. 6, 1982. He’s been pres­i­dent now for 38 long years. Biya, now 87-years-old, became pres­i­dent after serv­ing as prime min­is­ter under the late Pres­i­dent Ahmadou Ahid­jo. That was in 1975. At the time he was only 32 years old.

Since he became pres­i­dent Biya has led Cameroon through many elec­tions, dur­ing which, we are told, he muz­zled the oppo­si­tion in every way and used the mil­i­tary to aid his stay in office.

Today, Cameroon is grap­pling with a civ­il war, its worst cri­sis since inde­pen­dence which it gained sep­a­rate­ly, from France in 1960, and Great Britain in 1961. 

The par­ties in the con­flict involve the Repub­lic of Cameroon, with a cen­tral gov­ern­ment oper­at­ing from Yaoundé, its cap­i­tal, and Eng­lish-speak­ing or Anglo­phone sep­a­ratists, oper­at­ing most­ly in hid­ing, and with fee­ble inter­na­tion­al sup­port. The sep­a­ratists say their goal is to carve out a sep­a­rate nation for the country’s Eng­lish-speak­ing minor­i­ty. They have named the new coun­try,  Ambazo­nia. The sit­u­a­tion has esca­lat­ed into blood­shed, with thou­sands now report­ed killed, and hun­dreds in refugee camps in neigh­bor­ing countries. 

Just as belea­guered Cameroo­ni­ans are using social media to deride the state of their coun­try, the anniver­sary of Biya’s stay in pow­er came under scruti­ny from inter­na­tion­al media and human­i­tar­i­an orga­ni­za­tions, includ­ing Germany’s Deutsche Welle News Ser­vice, UNICEF, The Guardian, and The Dai­ly Nation.

U.S. Depart­ment of State — Novem­ber 2020

On the Cameroon­ian Diaspora

UNICEF — Novem­ber 2020

UNICEF alarmed by spike in school attacks in Cameroon

Deutsche Welle (DW) — Novem­ber, 2020

Opin­ion: Cameroon’s ghost Pres­i­dent Biya fails to lead

The Guardian — Novem­ber 2020

For the sake of Cameroon, life-pres­i­dent Paul Biya must be forced out

The Dai­ly Nation — Novem­ber 2020

Cameroon: Paul Biya Marks 38 Years in Pow­er, but His Polit­i­cal Prob­lems Just Won’t Go Away

The Africa Report — Novem­ber 2020

Cameroon’s cri­sis: The day sound and fury descend­ed upon Kumba

Catholic News Agency — Novem­ber 2020

Car­di­nal is freed after kid­nap­ping by gun­men in Cameroon

Jeune Afrique — Novem­ber, 2020

Camer­oun : des mil­i­tants pro-Kam­to placés en déten­tion pour « ten­ta­tive de révolution »

Brook­ings Insti­tu­tion — Octo­ber 2020

Threats to democ­ra­cy in Africa: The rise of the con­sti­tu­tion­al coup

NBC News — Octo­ber 2020

Lawyers say depor­tees to Cameroon would be fly­ing on ‘death planes’