Cameroon’s President Paul Biya Has Not Returned Home After Two Months in Europe | Ukraine news

His prolonged absence is reviving questions about his health, government decision-making, and whether Cameroon could face a constitutional power vacuum.

Cameroonian President Paul Biya has not returned to the country for two months after travelling to Europe. The 93-year-old head of state left on June 7 for a “brief private stay in Europe,” but his absence has dragged on.

Paul Biya has led Cameroon since 1982. In the 2025 presidential election, he won a disputed eighth term, which could theoretically allow him to remain in power until nearly 100 years of age.

Government spokesperson René Emmanuel Sadi told French radio station RFI that the president is in Geneva, Switzerland. He assured listeners that Paul Biya has not been hospitalized, but did not specify either his condition or his exact whereabouts.

The Cameroonian president’s absence has raised questions about power

Paul Biya’s prolonged stay abroad has intensified discussions about his health and the actual process of making state decisions in Cameroon. The president rarely appears in public, and government officials have repeatedly dismissed rumors of his serious illness or death.

In 2024, the government banned the media from discussing the head of state’s health, calling the matter an issue of national security.

Despite being out of the country, Paul Biya has continued to make important decisions. In particular, in early August he announced major military personnel reshuffles. René Emmanuel Sadi also rejected claims of a possible power vacuum.

President Paul Biya is alive and will return soon.

– René Emmanuel Sadi in comments to RFI

Opposition politician Samuel Hiram Iyodi, who came eighth in the 2025 election, called on parliament to appeal to the Constitutional Council. He believes the body should consider whether there may be a vacancy in the office of president.

However, such an initiative has little prospect of success, as the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement dominates the country’s political system.

Paul Biya has been the president for several generations of Cameroonians

For millions of Cameroonians, Paul Biya has been the only president they have known in their lifetime. Nformi Bime was 23 years old when Biya first won the 1984 presidential election. Bime is now 65 and retired after working as a teacher, while Biya still leads the country.

University of Yaoundé II doctoral student and youth leader Abit Riassai Acha, 26, voted for the first time in last year’s election. He supported Samuel Hiram Iyodi.

Growing up, President Biya was the only president I knew, so his presidency has been part of my entire experience of life in Cameroon.

– Abit Riassai Acha, CNN

Critics link Paul Biya’s long rule to a range of problems in Cameroon. These include neglected roads, power outages, corruption, youth unemployment, and the prolonged crisis in the English-speaking regions, where a separatist conflict continues.

Political analyst Collins Molua Ikome also pointed to the problem of access to quality healthcare. According to him, members of the political elite often seek treatment abroad, while many Cameroonians cannot obtain proper medical care because of poverty.

Whenever they catch a cold, they go abroad, where they are cared for, while other Cameroonians die because they lack medical care.

– Nformi Bime, CNN

After more than four decades in power, Paul Biya’s prolonged absence has once again brought into sharp focus for Cameroonian society questions about the country’s future and a possible change in leadership.