Paul Biya

Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo; 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician serving as the president of Cameroon since 6 November 1982.[1][2]

Paul Biya
2nd President of Cameroon
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 November 1982
Preceded by	Ahmadou Ahidjo
1st Prime Minister of Cameroon
In office 30 June 1975 – 6 November 1982
President	Ahmadou Ahidjo
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Bello Bouba Maigari
Personal details
Born	Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo 13 February 1933 Mvomeka'a, French Cameroons (now Cameroon)
Political party	RDPC
Spouse(s)	Jeanne-Irène Biya (Before 1992) Chantal Vigouroux (1994–present)
Alma mater	National School of Administration, Paris Institute of Political Studies, Paris

Biya and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell

A native of Cameroon's south, Biya rose rapidly as a bureaucrat under President Ahmadou Ahidjo in the 1960s, serving as Secretary-General of the Presidency from 1968 to 1975 and then as Prime Minister of Cameroon from 1975 to 1982. He succeeded Ahidjo as president upon the latter's surprise resignation in 1982 and consolidated power in a 1983–1984 staged attempted coup in which he eliminated all his rivals.[3]

His regime is supported by France, which supplies it with weapons and trains its forces. France is the leading foreign investor, ahead of the United States. One hundred and five French subsidiaries are located in all key sectors (oil, timber, construction, mobile telephony, transport, banking, insurance, etc.).[4]

Biya introduced political reforms within the context of a one-party system in the 1980s. Under serious pressure, he accepted the introduction of multiparty politics in the early 1990s. He won the contentious 1992 presidential election with 40% of the plural, single-ballot vote and was re-elected by large margins in 1997, 2004, 2011 and 2018. Opposition politicians and Western governments have alleged voting irregularities and fraud on each of these occasions. Many independent sources have provided evidence that he did not win the elections in 1992, and that subsequent elections were rampant with fraud.[5]

Biya's tenure as president began on 6 November 1982, making him the second-longest-ruling president in Africa (after Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea), the longest-ruling non-royal leader in the world, and the oldest head-of-state in Africa, at 87 years of age.

Biya has maintained Cameroon's close relationship with France, one of Cameroon's former colonial rulers.

Personal life

Paul Biya was born in the village of Mvomeka'a[1][2] in the South Region of Cameroon. He studied at the Lycée General Leclerc, Yaoundé, and in France at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris, going on to the Institut des hautes études d'Outre-Mer, where he graduated in 1961 with a Higher Education Diploma in Public Law.[6] He married Jeanne-Irène Biya, who did not have any children, though she adopted Franck Biya who was born from a relationship of Paul Biya with another woman. After Jeanne-Irène Biya died on 29 July 1992, Paul Biya married Chantal Biya (37 years his junior) on 23 April 1994,[2] and had two more children with her. Biya is a good friend of the former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos.

Political career

As an official in post-independence 1960s Cameroon, Biya rose to prominence under President Ahmadou Ahidjo. After becoming Director of the Cabinet of the Minister of National Education in January 1964 and Secretary-General of the Ministry of National Education in July 1965, he was named Director of the Civil Cabinet of the President in December 1967 and Secretary-General of the Presidency (while remaining Director of the Civil Cabinet) in January 1968. He gained the rank of Minister in August 1968 and the rank of Minister of State in June 1970, while remaining Secretary-General of the Presidency. Following the creation of a unitary state in 1972, he became Prime Minister of Cameroon on 30 June 1975. In June 1979, a law designated the Prime Minister as the President's constitutional successor. Ahidjo unexpectedly announced his resignation on 4 November 1982, and Biya accordingly succeeded him as President of Cameroon on 6 November.[1][2]

Because Biya is a Christian from the South Region of Cameroon, it was considered surprising that he was chosen by Ahidjo, a Muslim from the north, as his successor. His father who was a catechist wanted him to be in the clergy but at the age of 16 while in Catholic school, he was dismissed. After Biya became President, Ahidjo initially remained head of the ruling Cameroon National Union (CNU). Biya was brought into the CNU Central Committee and Political Bureau and was elected as the Vice-President of the CNU. On 11 December 1982, he was placed in charge of managing party affairs in Ahidjo's absence. During the first months after Biya's succession, he continued to show loyalty to Ahidjo, and Ahidjo continued to show support for Biya, but in 1983 a deep rift developed between the two. Ahidjo went into exile in France, and from there he publicly accused Biya of abuse of power and paranoia about plots against him. The two could not be reconciled despite efforts by several foreign leaders. After Ahidjo resigned as CNU leader, Biya took the helm of the party at an "extraordinary session" of the CNU party held on 14 September 1983.[7]

In November 1983, Biya announced that the next presidential election would be held on 14 January 1984; it had been previously scheduled for 1985. He was the sole candidate in this election and won 99.98% of the vote.[7] In February 1984, Ahidjo was put on trial in absentia for alleged involvement in a 1983 coup plot, along with two others; they were sentenced to death, although Biya commuted their sentences to life in prison, a gesture seen by many as a sign of weakness.[8] Biya survived a military coup attempt on 6 April 1984, following his decision on the previous day to disband the Republican Guard and disperse its members across the military.[7] Estimates of the death toll ranged from 71 (according to the government)[8] to about 1,000.[7] Northern Muslims were the primary participants in this coup attempt, which was seen by many as an attempt to restore that group's supremacy; Biya, however, chose to emphasize national unity and did not focus blame on northern Muslims.[7][8] Ahidjo was widely believed to have orchestrated the coup attempt,[8] and Biya is thought to have learned of the plot in advance and to have disbanded the Republican Guard as a reaction, forcing the coup plotters to act earlier than they had planned, which may have been a crucial factor in the coup's failure.[7][8]

It shall adopt a structural adjustment plan submitted to it by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank: privatization, opening up to competition, reducing social spending, etc. Civil servants' salaries are reduced by 60%, the informal sector increased very significantly, but the ruling classes are not affected by this programme.[4]>

In 1985, the CNU was transformed into the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement, in Bamenda the capital city of the Southern Cameroon and Biya was unlawfully elected as its president. He was also re-elected as President of Cameroon on 24 April 1988.[2]

Biya with U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1986

Biya with U.S. President George W. Bush in 2003

Biya initially took some steps to open up the regime, culminating in the decision to legalize opposition parties in 1990. According to official results, Biya won the first multiparty presidential election, held on 11 October 1992, with about 40% of the vote. There was no provision for a runoff; the opposition was unable to unite around a single candidate. The second placed candidate, John Fru Ndi of the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF), officially received about 36%.[9][10] The results were strongly disputed by the opposition, which alleged fraud.[9]

In the October 1997 presidential election, which was boycotted by the main opposition parties, Biya was re-elected with 92.6 percent of the vote;[10][11] he was sworn in on 3 November.[12]

Biya won another seven-year term in the 11 October 2004 presidential election, officially taking 70.92 percent of the vote,[13][14] although the opposition alleged widespread fraud.[13] Biya was sworn in on 3 November.[14]

After being re-elected in 2004, Biya was barred by a two-term limit in the 1996 Constitution from running for President again in 2011, but he sought to revise this to allow him to run again. In his 2008 New Year's message, Biya expressed support for revising the Constitution, saying that it was undemocratic to limit the people's choice.[15] The proposed removal of term limits was among the grievances expressed during violent protests in late February 2008. Nevertheless, on 10 April 2008, the National Assembly voted to change the Constitution to remove term limits. Given the RDPC's control of the National Assembly, the change was overwhelmingly approved, with 157 votes in favor and five opposed; the 15 deputies of the SDF chose to boycott the vote in protest. The change also provided for the President to enjoy immunity from prosecution for his actions as President after leaving office.[16]

Biya with U.S. President Barack Obama in 2014

He has been consistently re-elected as the National President of the RDPC; he was re-elected at the party's second extraordinary congress on 7 July 2001 and its third extraordinary congress on 21 July 2006.[17][18]

On 12 June 2006, he signed the Greentree Agreement with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo which formally put an end to the Bakassi peninsula border dispute.[19]

In February 2008, riots broke out, calling for lower prices and the departure of Paul Biya. The demonstrators were severely repressed with reports of a hundred dead and thousands of arrests.[4]

In the October 2011 presidential election, Biya secured a sixth term in office, polling 77.9% of votes cast. John Fru Ndi was his nearest rival, polling 10%.[20] Biya's opponents alleged wide-scale fraud in the election and procedural irregularities were noted by the French and US governments.[21][22] In his victory speech, Biya promised to stimulate growth and create jobs with a programme of public works which would "transform our country into a vast construction site".[22] On 3 November 2011, he was sworn in for another term as President [23]

Biya won the 2018 presidential election with 71.3% of the vote.[24] The election was marred by violence and low voter turnout.[25]

Opposition and criticism

Biya is sometimes characterized as aloof, making relatively few public appearances. Since the early 1990s, he has faced his strongest opposition from the Anglophone population of the former Southern Cameroons in the western part of the country.

Although Biya made some efforts to open up the political environment, his regime still retains clear authoritarian characteristics and has largely bucked the trend toward democracy in Africa since the 1990s. Under the constitution, Biya has sweeping executive and legislative powers. He even has considerable authority over the judiciary; the courts can only review a law's constitutionality at his request. The RDPC continues to dominate the National Assembly, which does little more than approve his policies.

"Tyrants, the World's 20 Worst Living Dictators", by David Wallechinsky, ranked Biya with three others commonly in sub-Saharan Africa: Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, and King Mswati of Swaziland. He describes Cameroon's electoral process in these terms: "Every few years, Biya stages an election to justify his continuing reign, but these elections have no credibility. In fact, Biya is credited with a creative innovation in the world of phony elections. In 2004, annoyed by the criticisms of international vote-monitoring groups, he paid for his own set of international observers, six ex-U.S. congressmen, who certified his election as free and fair."[26] In a 2005 interview William Quantrill, a retired member of HM Diplomatic Service, argued that the reluctance of Biya to delegate responsibility seriously hampered the quality of governance, with trivial decisions often delayed until he got round to delivering them, and that there was too much government interference in the economy in general.[27]

Biya regularly spends extended periods of time in Switzerland at the Hotel InterContinental Geneva where the former director Herbert Schott reportedly said he comes to work without being disturbed.[28] These extended stays away from Cameroon – while sometimes as short as two weeks – are sometimes as long as three months and are almost always referred to as "short stays" in the state-owned press and other media.[29][30] In February 2008, he passed a bill that allows for having an additional term in office as president which was followed by civil unrests throughout the country. The main violent riots took place in the Western, English-speaking part of the country starting with a "strike" initiated by taxi drivers in Douala, allegedly causing more than 200 casualties in the end.[31][32][33] In 2009, his holiday in France allegedly cost $40,000 a day spent on 43 hotel rooms.[34]

In 2009, Biya was ranked 19th in Parade Magazine's Top 20 list of "The World's Worst Dictators".[35]

In November 2010, Bertrand Teyou published a book titled La belle de la république bananière: Chantal Biya, de la rue au palais (English: "The beauty of the banana republic: Chantal Biya, from the streets to the palace"), tracing Chantal Biya's rise from humble origins to become Paul Biya's First Lady.[36] He was subsequently given a two-year prison term on charges of "insult to character" and organizing an "illegal demonstration" for attempting to hold a public reading.[36] Amnesty International and International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee both protested his arrest and issued appeals on his behalf; Amnesty International also named him a prisoner of conscience.[36][37] He was freed on 2 May 2011 when the London chapter of International PEN agreed to pay his fine in order that he might seek treatment for his worsening health condition.[38]

In February 2014, French citizen Michel Thierry Atangana was released from a makeshift Yaoundé prison where, under Biya's orders, he had been arbitrarily detained for 17 years under false claims of embezzlement because of supposed closeness to presidential candidate Titus Edzoa.[39] Considered a political prisoner and prisoner of conscience by the United States Department of State, Amnesty International, Freedom House, and the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention since 2005,[40] Michel was released under Biya's personal decree but the Working Group's tripartite demands remain unfulfilled.[41][42]

In 2016, Cameroonians in the nation's capital city of Yaoundé criticized Biya's reaction to the country's worst train crash in which 79 people died. Critics included government officials who remained anonymous, fearing a backlash.[43]

The Anglophone protests in late 2016 were led by English-speaking lawyers in protest against the use of French in Cameroonian courts, which led to violent clashes with police. Opposition party leader Edna Njilin of the Cameroon People's Party spoke out against the enforced use of French in the classroom. In January 2017, the government ordered a suspension of Internet services in the Northwest and Southwest provinces.[44] Criticism of the suspension and increased opposition led to resumption of services in late April.[45]

By June 2017, protests in Cameroon's English-speaking provinces and cities led to police responding with force, with 4 protesters killed and over 100 arrested. International criticism has been levied at the United States for their lack of response to the growing Cameroonian crisis.[46]

In April 2017, a Cameroonian journalist working for Radio France Internationale, Ahmed Abba, was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by a military tribunal for failing to report acts of terrorism. The judgement was severely criticized by human rights groups including Amnesty International.[47]

On 7 November 2018, another Cameroonian journalist, Mimi Mefo, was arrested after reporting on social media that the Cameroonian military was behind the murder of an American missionary in the country, Charles Trumann, in October of that year. Mefo was charged with "publishing and propagating information that infringes on the territorial integrity of the Republic of Cameroon," but was released and charges were dropped on 12 November after her arrest was condemned by both local and international media groups.[48]

Southern Cameroon

In early 2017, videos and reports surfaced online showing a genocide was taking place in Southern Cameroon,[49] sanctioned and led by Paul Biya. A petition to the United Nations gave details of police raping students at a university. Supporters are calling for the independence of Southern Cameroon before the violence escalates.[50] The National Commission for Human Rights and Freedoms embarked on a fact-finding mission in Buea to investigate allegations of human rights abuses in the region.

Many allegations of indiscriminate killing, burning of villages, rape and humiliation of English-speaking citizens carried out by the BIR (Bataillon d'Intervention Rapide) have been made along with supporting video footage. The BIR is a special force body that reports directly to President Biya. Individual sources testify that all of those sent to fight the secessionist militia are French speaking, thus widening the linguistic division between local residents. .

On 14 November 2019, Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya admitted in a Paris forum of trying to assimilate former British Southern Cameroons into the majority Francophone system, formerly East Cameroon State but has failed[51] due to identity differences, thus triggering the Ambazonian war of independence restoration in 2017.

Notes

1. Profile of Biya at Cameroonian presidency web site (in French).
2. Biography at 2004 presidential election web site Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
3. Emvana, Michel Roger (2005). Paul Biya: les secrets du pouvoir (in French). KARTHALA Editions. ISBN 978-2-84586-684-3.
4. Thomas Deltombe, Manuel Domergue, Jacob Tatsita, Kamerun !, La Découverte, 2019
5. "Elections. La fraude "made in Cameroon" fait fureur". www.cameroonvoice.com.
6. "Biography". www.prc.cm.
7. Milton H. Krieger and Joseph Takougang, African State and Society in the 1990s: Cameroon's Political Crossroads (2000), Westview Press, pages 65–74.
8. Jonathan C. Randal, "Tales of Ex-Leader's Role In Revolt Stun Cameroon", The Washington Post, 15 April 1984, page A01.
9. John Mukum Mbaku, "Decolonization, Reunification and Federation in Cameroon", in The Leadership Challenge in Africa: Cameroon Under Paul Biya (2004), ed. John Mukum Mbaku and Joseph Takougang, page 34.
10. Elections in Cameroon, African Elections Database.
11. "UK Home Office Immigration and Nationality Directorate Country Assessment – Cameroon", UNHCR.org.
12. "Cameroun. Biya reinstalle", ANB-BIA, 3 November 1997.
13. "Cameroon's Supreme Court confirms Biya's re-election" Agence France Presse, 25 October 2004.
14. "President Biya is sworn in for another seven-year mandate." Archived 25 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Cameroonian government website].
15. "Cameroun: Paul Biya va modifier la Constitution" Archived 5 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Panapress, 2 January 2008 (in French).
16. "Cameroun: adoption d'une révision constitutionnelle controversée" Archived 22 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine, AFP, 10 April 2008 (in French).
17. "21 ANS DE TÂTONNEMENT", Camerounlink.net, 21 July 2007 (in French).
18. "Paul Biya réélu sans surprise à la tête du RDPC", rfi.fr, 22 July 2006 (in French).
19. "AGREEMENT TRANSFERRING AUTHORITY OVER BAKASSI PENINSULA FROM NIGERIA TO CAMEROON 'TRIUMPH FOR THE RULE OF LAW', SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS IN MESSAGE FOR CEREMONY - Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org.
20. "Cameroonian president wins vote, extending 29-year-rule". CNN. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
21. "Court declares Cameroon's Biya landslide poll winner, despite accusations of fraud". Washington Post. 21 October 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
22. "Cameroon's Biya promises youth jobs after poll win". Reuters. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
23. "Cameroon: Biya sworn in for sixth presidential term". BBC News. 3 November 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
24. Cameroon's Paul Biya wins seventh term in office
25. Cameroon's President Paul Biya wins seventh term
26. David Wallechinsky, "Tyrants: the World's 20 Worst Living Dictators", Regan Press, 2006, pp. 286–290
27. Kometa, Georgiana Magho. "There Was Disparity Between Biya's Professed Policies And Reality -Former British Ambassador". Up Station Mountain Club. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
28. Jean Francis Belibi "Cameroun: Herbert Schott – Paul Biya est un sacré personnage". Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2016.. fr.allafrica.com. 30 October 2007 (in French)
29. "Le Chef de l'Etat en séjour privé en Europe". Prc.cm. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
30. "Le Président est de retour" (in French). Prc.cm. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
31. "Anatomie eines Aufstandes: Dunkle Krawalle – Der Freitag" (in German). Freitag.de. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
32. "Dissent violently repressed in Cameroon". Archived from the original on 17 March 2011. Retrieved 2010-12-04.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). amnesty.org. 29 January 2009
33. "Cameroon | Amnesty International Report 2009". Report2009.amnesty.org. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
34. "Cameroon defends Biya hotel bills", BBC, 3 September 2009 (in French).
35. The World's Worst Dictators. Parade.com (2011-10-20). Retrieved on 2011-11-08.
36. "CAMEROON: Author jailed for insulting President's wife". International PEN. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
37. "Urgent Action:CAMEROONIAN WRITER HELD IN HARSH CONDITIONS". Amnesty International. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
38. "Cameroun: L'écrivain Bertrand Teyou Sort De Prison". camerpress.net. 2 May 2011. Archived from the original on 1 December 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
39. Match, Paris. "Français emprisonné 17 ans au Cameroun - Michel Thierry Atangana, le citoyen oublié".
40. http://www.cameroon-info.net/stories/0,39574,@,cameroun-selon-amnesty-international-michel-atangana-prisonnier-d-opinion.html Archived 22 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
41. "University of Minnesota Human Rights Library". www1.umn.edu.
42. "Michel Thierry Atangana : " Je dois être réhabilité pour reprendre le cours de ma vie " – JeuneAfrique.com". 21 October 2015.
43. "Cameroonians are furious with their 'absent' president after a national tragedy". Quartz. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
44. "Cameroon goes offline after Anglophone revolt". CNN. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
45. "Cameroon ends internet shutdown on orders of President Paul Biya". BBC News. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
46. "Analysis | Cameroon has been in crisis for six months. Here's what you need to know". Washington Post. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
47. Reuters. "Cameroon Journalist Jailed for 10 Years Under Anti-terrorism Law". VOA. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
48. BBC News. "Cameroon drops fake news charges against Mimi Mefo". Retrieved 15 November 2018.
49. "Crimes against humanity and genocide in Southern Cameroons: Mechanisms for redress – Cameroon Concord News". www.cameroonconcordnews.com. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
50. "Southern Cameroonians agitate for independence from Republic of Cameroon - Tribune". Tribune. 26 May 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
51. "Cameroon from Biya - a mea culpa on the Angliphone Crisis in Paris". Retrieved 28 January 2020.

External links

• Official website
• World Statesmen – Cameroon