YAOUNDE, Cameroon — YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Cameroon’s 92-year-old president introduced Monday he’ll search his eighth time period within the upcoming October elections. The announcement comes after months of hypothesis that the growing old chief wouldn’t run, setting the stage for an electoral showdown.
Paul Biya, Africa’s second longest serving president after Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, is often sick and overseas. Final yr, discuss unfold that he had died, prompting the federal government to publicly deny the rumors. Cameroon’s second president since independence from France in 1960, Biya has been in energy since 1982.
Promising that one of the best is but to return in his publish on social media, Biya reiterated his dedication to rule, saying, “Relaxation assured that my dedication to serve you is commensurate with the intense challenges dealing with us.”
The greater than 40 years of Biya’s rule have left a long-lasting influence. His authorities has confronted varied challenges, together with allegations of corruption and a secessionist motion in Cameroon’s English-speaking provinces that has pressured 1000’s out of college and triggered lethal clashes with safety forces.
“President Biya’s announcement to run once more is a transparent signal of Cameroon’s stalled political transition. After over 40 years in energy, what the nation wants is renewal — not repetition. Cameroonians deserve democratic change and accountable management,” Nkongho Felix Agbor, a human rights advocate and lawyer instructed The Related Press.
Cameroon has additionally needed to take care of spillover violence by the Islamic extremist Boko Haram group, primarily based in neighboring Nigeria.
Just lately, a number of of Biya’s longtime allies defected to announce their very own candidacies for president.
He cruised to victory in 2018 with over 70% of the vote in an election marred by irregularities and low turnout as a result of ongoing separatist and jihadi violence.
In a area threatened with shrinking democratic area, a number of different African nations even have presidents accused of utilizing state mechanisms to lengthen their keep in energy. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni just lately sought nomination for a seventh time period, a transfer that may deliver him nearer to 5 a long time in energy within the East African nation.
