Cameroonian President Looks to Extend 36-Year Rule

Biya, who has ruled virtually by decree since taking office, scrapped term limits from the constitution in 2008, allowing him to run again and prompting riots in which more than 40 people were killed

Josiane Kouagheu

Biya, who has ruled virtually by decree since taking office, scrapped term limits from the constitution in 2008, allowing him to run again and prompting riots in which more than 40 people were killed

cameroonian president looks to extend 36 year rule

Paul Biya. Reuters/Lucas Jacksond.

Yaounde: Cameroon's President Paul Biya said on Friday that he would run for re-election in October, aiming to extend his 36-year rule and keep his place on the roster of Africa's longest-serving leaders.

The 85-year-old who came to power in 1982—when his predecessor retired—is seeking a seventh term that could see him rule well into his 90s.

It would leave him in rare company after former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Gambia's Yahya Jammeh were ousted in 2017. Of Africa's living rulers, only Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has ruled uninterrupted for longer.

"I am willing to respond positively to your overwhelming calls. I will stand as your candidate in the upcoming presidential election," said Biya in a tweet.

Biya, who has ruled virtually by decree since taking office, scrapped term limits from the constitution in 2008, allowing him to run again and prompting riots in which more than 40 people were killed.

After a meeting with Biya on Friday, African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki said that the organisation would send an observation mission to the October 7 polls, which come at a turbulent time for the central African country and for Biya.

A separatist insurgency in the western English-speaking regions has killed more than 80 troops since September, while a drop in the price of Cameroon's key cocoa and oil exports has weighed on the economy.

A convoy carrying Cameroon's defence minister Joseph Beti Assomo, was attacked on Thursday in the southwest, said army spokesman Colonel Didier Badjeck on Friday.

The minister was unharmed and the convoy resumed its journey said Badjeck. Another military source said that at least six separatist fighters were killed during the attack.

(Reuters)

This article went live on July fourteenth, two thousand eighteen, at forty-two minutes past one in the afternoon.

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