Cameroon: After 73 Days Abroad, Paul Biya Returns To A Country Full Of Questions

By Boris Esono Nwenfor

BUEA, PAV – 93-year-old President Paul Biya has returned to Cameroon after 73 days abroad, bringing to an end weeks of uncertainty surrounding the whereabouts and health of the world’s longest-serving head of state.

Biya arrived in Yaoundé on Thursday evening, 20 August, after leaving Cameroon on 7 June for what had been described as a “short private stay in Europe”. He had been reported to be in Geneva, Switzerland.

The president was received on arrival by Prime Minister and Head of Government Joseph Dion Ngute and Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the Minister of State and Secretary-General of the Presidency.

Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, was seen waving to crowds from the back seat of his car as he left the airport, with the vehicle’s window slightly open.  His extended stay abroad had generated widespread speculation, particularly because neither the presidency nor the government provided detailed information about his activities or health.

Earlier in August, the Minister of Communication and government spokesperson René Emmanuel Sadi dismissed reports that Biya was seriously ill or receiving treatment at a clinic in Geneva.

Speaking to Radio France Internationale, Sadi insisted that the president remained alive, in office and in control of state affairs. “President Paul Biya is alive. President Paul Biya has not resigned – that must be stated clearly,” Sadi said.

He added that Biya would return “very soon”, although he declined to provide a specific date. “The question of a vacancy in the office of Head of State should not even arise,” Sadi said, arguing that there was no constitutional basis for treating the presidency as vacant.

Under Cameroon’s constitutional framework, he said, a vacancy could arise only in circumstances including death, resignation or permanent incapacity, with such a situation formally established by the Constitutional Council.

Biya’s return comes at a politically sensitive moment for Cameroon. The veteran president won an eighth term in the 2025 presidential election, extending a political career that began with his appointment as prime minister in 1975. He succeeded Ahmadou Ahidjo as president in 1982 and has remained in power ever since.

The removal of presidential term limits in 2008 enabled him to seek further terms. His latest seven-year mandate is expected to run until 2032, when he would be close to 100.

His 2025 re-election was contested by opposition figures, who alleged irregularities and challenged the credibility of the electoral process. The election period was also followed by deadly protests.

Biya’s advanced age and the opacity surrounding his health have repeatedly raised questions about succession, institutional resilience and the future direction of a country he has governed for more than four decades.

For weeks, the government insisted that the state continued to function normally without the president being physically present. His return now removes the immediate uncertainty over when he would come home, but it is unlikely to end questions about the health of the veteran leader, the transparency surrounding his presidency and what happens when his 44-year rule eventually comes to an end.