Cameroon president returns home after 10-week absence

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has returned home after his longest recorded stay abroad since taking power more than four decades ago, ending months of speculation about his health and whereabouts.

The 93-year-old leader arrived at Yaounde’s Nsimalen International Airport aboard a chartered flight from Geneva, Switzerland, after spending more than 10 weeks abroad, local media reported.

Biya, the world’s oldest serving head of state, left Cameroon on June 7 for what the civil cabinet described as “a brief private stay in Europe”.

The president, accompanied by First Lady Chantal Biya, arrived at about 4:45 p.m. local time on Thursday before departing in a motorcade for the Etoudi Unity Palace.

He waved through a half-open window to hundreds of supporters of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), who lined the capital’s streets to welcome him home.

The supporters waved party colours and banners hailing the president as the motorcade made its way through Yaounde following his arrival at the airport.

Biya’s prolonged absence fuelled widespread speculation about his health and ability to govern, in spite of repeated assurances from authorities that the president would return to Cameroon.

His absence also raised questions about political succession in a country where power remained highly centralised around the presidency and concerns persisted over a potential transition.

Opposition politicians had called on the Constitutional Council to determine whether someone should temporarily assume the presidency during Biya’s prolonged absence from the country.

The council, however, took no action on the opposition’s request, leaving Biya in office throughout his absence and without an interim successor being designated.

Under Cameroon’s Constitution, in the absence of a vice president, the president of the Senate should assume interim duties if the presidency became vacant through death, resignation or permanent incapacity.

Biya had not appointed a vice president in spite of the reintroduction of the position in April, while critics said the unclear succession framework created uncertainty over a potential transition.

They argued that the absence of a clear succession arrangement could complicate the transfer of power should Biya became permanently unable to govern the Central African nation.