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YAOUNDE, CAMEROON —The condition and exact whereabouts of Cameroon's President Paul Biya remain unclear Thursday, two days after the government was forced to announce Biya was alive in Geneva, Switzerland, in response to rumors on social media that he had died.
Biya has not been seen in public for more than five weeks, since he attended the Africa-China forum in Beijing in early September.
Cameroon's Territorial Administration minister Paul Atanga Nji told residents of Massock, a village near the Atlantic coast, that Biya dispatched him to provide humanitarian assistance to victims of floods sweeping across the central African state.
Nji, like many Cameroon senior state functionaries, told civilians that Biya is in good health, and that information circulating on social and mainstream media about the 91-year-old president's death is being spread by people who want to see Cameroon devolve into chaos.
"The president of our nation Cameroon cannot be dead," Gregory Mewano, a member of Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement party, said Thursday on Cameroon state radio. "And you find the prime minister in Germany with a whole entourage, the minister of interior taking care of internal politics and the minister of public works inspecting projects."
Officials say Biya will return to Cameroon soon, but they have not said when. There was no indication he was unwell in Beijing. He was scheduled to attend a meeting of French and African leaders in Paris afterward, but he did not appear, and no reason was given for his absence.
Cameroon opposition and civil society groups say they are concerned about Biya's absence and health, and ask government officials to present Biya to civilians instead of simply saying he is alive.
With elections only a year away, some groups say it is time to begin thinking about a new, much younger candidate who could take the country forward.
"We have had to make it clear to both national and international opinions that a number of opposition political parties are ... consulting with regards to the happenings of Cameroon, and this rumor [about Biya's death] is not an exception," said Michael Ngwese Eke Ekosso, president of the opposition United Socialist Democratic Party. "Decisions will be arrived at with regards to the upcoming presidential elections."
Some opposition political parties have proposed uniting behind Akere Muna, an English-speaking anti-corruption lawyer and good governance crusader, as a candidate in the October 2025 presidential election.
Muna, who is 72, said if elected, he would launch a three-year transitional period to lift Cameroon from Biya's iron-fisted 42-year rule.
"Our profound reflection is that a non-renewable transition is essential," Muna said. "The vision we are proposing is to strengthen democracy and governance, adopt a new constitution that incarnates the present and future aspirations of the people of Cameroon, and promote free and fair elections."
If elected, Muna would be Cameroon's first leader from the western regions where English is the primary language.
His supporters say having a president from that area may help end a seven-year insurgency by English-speaking armed groups, who say English-speakers in Cameroon are marginalized by the French-speaking majority.
Opposition parties blame Biya for not being able to solve the crisis.
Meanwhile, Cameroonians of all parties wait anxiously for concrete signs that Biya is alive and will be returning to his country.