President Paul Biya Returns to Cameroon After Six-Week Health-Related Absence

After several weeks’ absence and alarming rumours about his health, Cameroon’s President Paul Biya arrived at Yaoundé international airport on Monday 21 October, according to images broadcast by state television station CRTV.

After the presidential plane landed, the 91-year-old head of state was filmed greeting dignitaries at the foot of the jetway, with his wife Chantal standing next to him.

Jubilant supporters dressed in outfits bearing the presidential portrait came to greet his arrival at the airport.

President Biya back in Cameroon after several weeks’ absence

Absent since early September

The presidential motorcade quickly left the airport for the presidential palace, with supporters massed along the route, according to CTRV, which dedicated a special programme to the return of the head of state, who has been absent from the public scene since his departure from Beijing at the beginning of September.

‘Today the President is on his way, which will put an end to speculation’, declared the CRTV presenter as she launched the special programme.

Posters welcoming the man who has ruled the country unchallenged for 41 years had appeared on Monday in the streets of the Cameroonian capital, AFP noted on the spot.

On 8 October, after a series of alarming rumours about his state of health, the Cameroonian government gave assurances that he was in good health and would return to Cameroon ‘within the next few days’.

The Minister of Territorial Administration then formally forbade the media to report on his state of health, threatening to prosecute any offenders.

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Since then, rumours of his imminent return have circulated on social networks, twice last week, contradicted by other rumours that went so far as to announce his death. ‘His return puts an end to the court of social networks’, said one of the public TV channel’s presenters on Monday.

The head of state did not attend the last UN General Assembly in New York, nor the last Francophonie summit in Paris.