Paul Biya remains absent from public view since September
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Camer
Cameroonian President Paul Biya has not been seen in public since attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing in early September 2026. After a rumour of his death on 15 October, his civil cabinet director Samuel Mvondo Ayolo denied it the following day, Jeune Afrique reports; the Washington Post wrote on 22 October that he appeared to be spending much of his time in Switzerland.
Paul Biya, president of Cameroon, has not been seen in public since attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing at the beginning of September 2026. A rumour announcing his death circulated on the social network X on 15 October, before being denied the following day by Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, director of the civil cabinet at the presidency, to Jeune Afrique. He said the head of state was “in good health and working”, citing a decree signed by him, according to Jeune Afrique.
The Washington Post reported on 22 October that Paul Biya, re-elected for an eighth term, “appears to be spending much of his time in Switzerland”. The Cameroonian president had already spent 74 days in Europe between 7 June and 20 August, on a stay described by those around him as private, compared with 42 days of absence in autumn 2024, according to Africa Eye. His current absence comes as decrees continue to be signed and published in Cameroon.
The situation extends the recent institutional sequence, marked by the appointment of Rémy Nama as head of Cameroon’s Constitutional Council, announced on 18 October. It also comes the day after the announcement that Paul Biya would not attend the Russia-Africa summit in Moscow, published on 25 October.
