Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has altered his communication strategy during his extended stay in Geneva, choosing to assert authority through presidential decrees rather than public appearances, as his absence from Cameroon stretches into its ninth week since leaving on the 7th of June.
Several decrees signed on the 3rd of August promoted five colonels, following an earlier decree on the 28th of July placing a general into retirement, and a 30th of July decree authorising the Minister of Economy to sign agreements worth billions of francs with the Islamic Development Bank. The pattern reflects a deliberate pivot: where previous long absences were managed by putting Biya himself at the centre of the narrative, his government is now projecting continuity through institutional activity rather than presidential visibility.
Communication Minister René Emmanuel Sadi confirmed on Radio France Internationale( RFI) that the president is alive and will return soon, dismissing opposition claims that his absence constitutes a vacancy, saying Biya continues to work from Geneva. Sadi acknowledged the president had “undergone an intervention some time ago” but declined to give a date for his return.
The opposition Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) party’s vice-president Mamadou Mota was unsparing: “Executive power is exercised at the heart of the nation, not through smoke signals or telepathy from hotel suites on the other side of the world.”
Cameroon reinstated the office of vice president through a constitutional amendment in April 2026. No nomination to the position has yet been announced, fuelling speculation about the country’s succession framework at a politically sensitive moment.
The circumstances have drawn unavoidable comparisons to Gabon, where a coup toppled the Bongo dynasty three years ago following a period of opaque governance and prolonged presidential absence. Cameroon immediately reshuffled its military leadership after that coup. It has now done so again.
At 93, Biya is the world’s oldest serving head of state. He won a controversial eighth term at last year’s presidential election. His absence is not unprecedented, but its duration and the communication strategy surrounding it have placed Cameroon’s institutions under scrutiny they were not designed to withstand quietly.
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