Cameroon’s ‘missing president’ reappears, holds COVID-19 meeting

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:54 pm

Cameroon president Paul Biya for the first time in weeks appeared publicly at a time citizens continued to call for his whereabouts to be made known.

Biya on Thursday met with the French ambassador Christophe Guilhou at the presidency. His official social media handles shared a photo of the two men.

“Fruitful discussion with Mr Christophe Guilhou, French Ambassador to Cameroon this afternoon at the Unity Palace.

Focus laid on our fight against the coronavirus pandemic in Cameroon, France and the world,” the post accompanying the tweet read.

The president has yet to personally address Cameroonians on the pandemic whose combat and containment efforts has rested on the Prime Minister and Heath Minister.

The French ambassador confirmed the meeting with Biya via Twitter. He confirmed the subject of discussion and stressed that France was side by side with Cameroon in the fight against the virus.

Cameroon is Central Africa’s most impacted nation with close to 1,000 cases as of April 17. 164 recoveries have been recorded with 22 deaths so far. Cameroon is the second most-affected country after South Africa in sub-Saharan Africa.

In early April, a month after the first case of COVID-19 was recorded, Cameroonians mounted a social media campaign demanding that 87-year-old Paul Biya addresses the nation like most of his peers across the continent were doing.