The mystery of the missing president

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:09Today, Cameroon's missing president.

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1:14On the 7th of June, Cameroon's president, Paul Beer, left the country for what his office said was a brief private stay in Europe. And at first, this all seemed like nothing new. Bia is notorious for jetting off. He often spends months ruling remotely, often from the luxury of Geneva's Intercontinental Hotel, where he takes over an entire floor. But this time is different. Speculations arrive amongst Cameroonians about the whereabouts of long-serving President Paul Bia. People want to know if he is in good health. Well, Cameroon is once again at the centre of political attention as uncertainty grows over the prolonged absence of President Paul Biya, the world's oldest serving head of state.

1:59... with the singular question, where is Paul Biya? 59 days have passed since he left. The president seems to have just disappeared. Cameroon has heard or seen nothing from him. Rumours are spreading, especially considering the president is 93 years old.

2:28His ministers have been forced to publicly confirm that he is in fact still alive. And he'll be back soon.

2:39And ordinary Cameroonians are saying, well, not much. Because it's actually illegal to openly speculate about his health.

2:52With the future of Cameroon, one of Central Africa's largest economies, appearing to be hanging in the balance, who is actually running the country? From The Guardian, I'm Annie Kelly. Today in Focus, what happens when a country's president goes MIA?

3:14Eremo Abidjale, you are The Guardian's West Africa correspondent. Welcome to Today on Focus. Thank you very much, Annie. Tell me a bit about Paul Beer. You first became president in 1982. Give me like a sense of his presidency. How's he been running the country? He's always had such an interesting hold on par. Do you solemnly swear before God and man to devote all your efforts to preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution? He came into power by taking over the role of the guy who he was prime minister to, Ahmad Ahidro. And most people in Cameroon have known him as the only president.

3:58That's how entrenched he is in the system. An independence of the Cameroon fatherland, I do so swear. So B.A. survived a near successful coup attempt in 1984, and that made him very paranoid. And so what B.A. has learned to do is to make his regime coup-proof. He's always learned to shuffle the pack and to always prioritize regime security over national security. I mean, that's wild, isn't it? That idea that multi-generations have only ever known one president. I mean, none of us on this call were probably born when he became president. No, I know. Well, you know, apart from maybe one. But let's not go into that now.

4:44So, I mean, we're talking about this country. There's 30 million people in Cameroon. The average age is 18. So how is he seen in the country? Is he still popular? What do people think of him? He's still popular, interestingly, in some areas. in parts of the South where it is, people still support him. And some feel, oh, the devil we know is better than the angel we don't. But also, some people have just resigned to faith. They've gone through several elections. This guy has managed to win its term. And most people stop voting. People just generally got disinterested in governance, thinking, oh, there's no way this guy can get out of office.

5:28And so all of that has benefited Bia. Paul Beyer, aged 92 and the world's oldest head of state, has been officially declared winner of the presidential election in Cameroon, securing a historic eight term in office.

5:48Even the last election, which seemed like things were going to finally change this time, you know, nothing did. So people are surprised by his remarkable ability to still work at his age, to still, I guess, you know, do the things that they can do and be in office.

6:15So he addresses Cameroonians around three or four times every year. They know it, they can set their timetables, their clocks to it. And other than that, no one sees him. And BIA really has had a lot of people do most of his work. There's a lot of delegation. In fact, over the last 10 years or more, the Secretary General, a chap called Ferdinand Ngangong, is the one who has mostly been signing things for BIA. And so no one knows exactly what directives have come from BIA. Wow. The country has really just been on autopilot, at least for the last 15, 20 years. In fact, since winning the most recent term in October last year, he hasn't formed a government.

6:58So he hasn't, since the last election, he hasn't formed an actual government? No, he hasn't. Right. So he's ruling without a government with this kind of opaque system of ministers operating underneath him. Yeah. It would be funny if you weren't just really sad.

7:23It's not exactly the first time he's gone AWOL either, is it? He's got this history of taking long personal trips out of the country. I mean, I was reading before this interview in some years, like 2006, I think 2009, he spent almost a third of the year out of the country. And often these trips are to Geneva, aren't they? What do we know about what he does there? And who's paying for it? The state of Cameroon is paying for it, for sure. You know, the state has some money. Cameroon does have oil resources. And so Bia seeing himself as a custodian of the state, his government makes sure he's taken care of.

8:05and there's been reports over the years of ostentatious lifestyle, even though Cameroon, you know, more than half of the country is officially unemployed. So it's an interesting state of contradiction, really. A few people benefiting from the Commonwealth of many, whilst most of the general population really lives in lack. I mean, I was struck by the fact that nobody has seen him or heard from him for so long. On these other trips, did he kind of pop up on TV or did he make sure that he was seen out and about to at least give people a sense of the fact that he was still alive and still kind of attempting to look presidential?

8:47I think you were acting under the impression that Paul Bia or that people in the government care about what Camerians think to that extent. So the thing is, yes, he has spent up to a third of the year out of the country, but this is the first time that he's spent so many consecutive days out of the country. No one has heard from him. It is, of course, illegal, strangely enough, to speculate about his health. Really? Yes, it is. There's a lot of speculation that he's got doctors in Geneva. He trusts his Swiss doctors. But there's just no certainty about what he does there, just that this is the hotel, this is the city.

9:35And because there is no communication from the presidency most of the time, you know, people, the rumour mail just goes into overdrive. And what are people saying, like, in this vacuum at the moment? Like, are there rumours that he's dead? Oh, there's always, always rumors about him being dead. This time, every single time, even when the former president of Nigeria died, Mohamed Buhari, which was, I think it was last year, people started asking, oh, is it possible that B.A. is also gone again? And maybe that's why we haven't heard from him for a while. And then he showed up with a public address within a few months.

10:14There's been so many times people have thought, oh, is he dead? And then he pops up. Is he dead? Oh, and then he pops up. So that's how it's always been. At least for the last 10, maybe even 15 years, people have always been speculating. It's be a dead, it's a year alive. It's a common topic in the drinking palace in Douala, which is the commercial capital. Could you tell me, in that vacuum, who are the most powerful influences? Who are the people circling around that could be involved in any kind of succession battle while he's missing in action? So there's four or five names that we hear constantly.

10:50At the very top of Dallas is the person who even ministers call Madame Le Président. That is Chantal, the First Lady, who, of course, is mostly with him. She's a very colourful character. And when I say colourful, I mean literally. She's got weeks that are sometimes, I think, orange or burgundy. And she has flamboyant rings and bags. She's a power dresser, let's put it that way.

11:21There's also an interesting age gap between Paul Bia and Chantal. 36-year gap. And I've heard from diplomats while reporting in Cameroon that government ministers fall over each other to do her bidding. And there was a time when people speculated that Chantal was planning to become president herself. And then over time, that has become her, trying to instaur her child, who is a stepson to the president to be his successor. Now, this gentleman's name is Frank. Then you also have another Frank, Frank Beer, who is Beer's eldest child and who a few years ago officially joined the party. So it's a battle of the Franks.

12:11and there's at least two or three other ministers who also want to be president. So you have all of these people competing for influence and competing to succeed Paul Bia if for some reason he becomes temporarily or permanently incapacitated. Right, so there's a lot of different people circling and I'm guessing from all of this that there's no expectation or little expectation that there's going to be a smooth democratic transition of power if he does die. It is good that you ask that because as of now, there is no mechanism in place for transitional power. The Constitution, as amended earlier this year, to allow for a vice president to be appointed, not elected, but to be appointed by the president to deputize him and to succeed him when necessary.

13:04Remember that I also told you BIA hasn't appointed a government since winning elections. So there is no vice president as of now. And so even if something happens to be here today and Cameroonians are told, this is your vice president, there's no guarantee to know, did the president say that? There's no question of them being able to even elect the vice president or to know that whoever succeeded was picked by them. So no one really knows what's happening. If someone will be named vice president over the next few days, everything is all up in the air. And what about the opposition? Or is there an opposition?

13:40And if so, how powerful are they? Well, when you stay in power for several decades, one of the things that happens is that you would have successfully fragmented the opposition. And so when one, almost like a hydra head, when one head comes up, you cut it off and another one comes, you keep them docile. So that's what has happened. And Cameroon has dozens, if not over 100 political parties. and they're all small, small parties. They have spoken up and said, oh, this is a dereliction of duty and it's not whether or not it is constitutional for the president to take medical leave, but that if the trip is extended for any reason, Cameroon has to have to know.

14:24So they are speaking up. But like I said, the opposition really is powerless. Coming up, Paul Beer remains missing in action. Where does that leave ordinary people in Cameroon?

14:53Giovanni Wanner, you're a journalist from Cameroon. And, you know, Paul Beer has been in power for decades and decades. What's it like to have a president who's been in power for so long? Well, I think the country is a bit stagnant and it's a pure reflection. The president is a pure reflection of the country. I've known him as the only president my entire lifetime. I'm 28. So, yeah, the country is a bit of confusion and quite in a bit of limbo up to this point in time. But that has been our story. That has been a story for over the past four decades and some. And yeah, Cameroonians are just living with it.

15:33How easy is it for ordinary people to criticise Paul Beer publicly in Cameroon, you know, on social media or on public platforms? Well, our constitution makes us to understand that there is freedom of speech. But to what extent we do not know, because it's good that you've brought this up, Annie. When the former Speaker of the House of Assembly, Kava Yegejibri, passed earlier this year, a gentleman went on to social media and he made a comment saying that, God, we are getting closer to our target. I tell you what, the gentleman has been handed a prison sentence as we speak. So there is a crackdown on youths who attempt to go on social media and speak.

16:19not everyone, but for the unfortunate ones, it's illegal on social media to speculate on the health of the head of state. Though, Annie, we're talking about a 93-year-old, so it's no crime if a 93-year-old is sick and cannot go about his duties as we expect him to. Already it's asking a lot of him to run the country in the way he's been doing so far. Yeah, but according to our constitution, There is freedom of speech, but that I really cannot vouch for, especially with the turn of events in the last couple of years. But there has been some public anger expressed about Paul Beer's rule. In the last election, he secured his eighth term as president.

17:07And there was a lot of public anger, wasn't there? You were reporting on the ground. Could you just tell us about what you saw and how people were feeling? Annie, to see it unfold was just heartbreaking, it was heart-wrenching, because this was a time where people really rallied. I tell you what, back in the day, young people believed that elections did not really exist in Cameroon. So no matter what happened, Paul Biya was always going to win. But this time around, somehow, young men and women said, OK, we are going to register and then we are going to vote. The Constitutional Council declared the 92-year-old the winner on Monday, with over 53 % of the ballots.

17:48Isachiroma Bakari, the main challenger, insists he won the election and will not accept any other outcome, calling on his supporters to stay mobilized. So these men and women rallied, registered, voted, counted their votes, and for that one time, for that one time when they thought that their votes were going to count, something as bad as that happened. So that was the reason why they got into the streets, they were fed up and they wanted a change of any sort. The protests were really big. I tell you what, petrol stations were burnt down. Any franchise or enterprise that could identify with the ruling party or the head of state directly or indirectly was crushed immediately.

18:37There were campfires, people stayed up late in the night. They brought down all the banners, or most of the banners, of His Excellency President Paul B. In the city of Douala, protesters set police cars on fire, and riot police used water cannon and tear gas to break up crowds. The crackdown was brutal. People were shot death. I don't think the number, the death toll, the actual death toll has been put out there. You know, lots of people died, especially in Douala and in the north. And it was clear that there was no backing down. They were just going out there to crush whoever attempted to step out on the streets protesting.

19:23And it took a little over 14 days for the protests to calm down.

19:35And it was clear, most of those doing these actions were the youths. You know, when we spoke to them, they were just, you know, tired because they could see no future with this president that they were born and they're living with. And up to this point in time, they have absolutely nothing to do. In Cameroon now, when you're done with your studies, the best case scenario is to move out there. They do the best they can do to get to grab maybe a British visa, maybe to grab a US visa, to grab a Canadian visa. And when they're out there, no matter how the situation out there is, it just seems like it's way better than Cameroon.

20:17So that's how bad the country has gotten it. So they don't see a future at the moment for their country? They don't see a future with the president at the helm.

20:34And having this absent president is just one of a number of big issues that Cameroon has been facing and is facing. Could you just tell us what else is going on in the country right now? Yeah, we have the Boko Haram insurgents in the north, which we are still battling with. Kerawa in northern Cameroon has been a frequent target of attacks by Boko Haram extremists. Now, residents of this remote town are taking matters into their own hands. Carrying homemade weapons, they say they're willing to do whatever it takes to protect their turf. And, you know, Cameroon is a bilingual country. We had Britain and France as colonizers.

21:18And there is an ongoing Anglophone crisis. So the English-speaking population are the minority who believe that they are being discriminated by the French-speaking regions. In 2016, it took a turn for the worst, you know, and the whole thing just boomeranged into a crazy situation that nobody expected. And then arms found their way to some gentlemen who believed that they were fighting for a certain country that was named Ambazunia. Have you heard of Ambazunia? It's the country that armed separatist groups want to create in English-speaking Cameroon. In an attack over the weekend, English-speaking separatists began an armed rebellion.

22:03The conflict, in which both sides have been accused of atrocities, has already cost over 6 ,000 lives. So those are basically some of the other problems we are facing. And as a young Cameroonian, you know, you said you're 28. You've never known another president. Can you imagine your country without him? Imagining the country without President Albi, well, that's going to be really strange, welcoming a new president. I think that's what people are looking for, because when you look at those who opposed him in 2025, the main opposition leader, Isachi Roma. He's not a young man himself, but people just want the change.

22:45They're just tired of being governed by the current administration. Camerians are just waiting for a change. A change you give them of any sort, they are going to be contented with it. Giovanni, thank you so much for speaking to us today. Thank you very much, Annie. It's been a pleasure.

23:06And that's it for today. My thanks to Oromo Eberjule and Giovanni Wanner. You can read their reporting on this story at theguardian.com. This episode was produced by Hannah Adan and Natalie Katenner and presented by me, Annie Kelly. Sound design was by Ross Burns and the executive producers were Eli Block and Danielle Stevens. And we will be back in your feeds this afternoon with the latest.