2 months without Biya: Cameroonian dollar bonds records its weakest performance ⁰

The 93-year-old president is said to have left the nation on June 7 for what authorities characterized as a brief private vacation to Europe, but has yet to return, marking one of his longest absences in recent years.

This would typically not be a problem for the country, which has no legal reservations about the president leaving the country for months.

However, the challenge results from the fact that the Cameroonian president decided against selecting a vice president, leaving the country in what the opposition parties called ‘autopilot.’

A former ally of the president and current opposition leader, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who finished second in the October presidential election, stated on Thursday that there is a general belief in Cameroon that “all is not well” with Biya, whose absence has infuriated his camp.

“Biya’s very long stay in Switzerland only aggravates that lack of legitimacy and his desperate attempts to hold on to power by force,” Bakary stated, as seen on AP.

“Even if Biya still proves to be strong at this age, it is clear that his health challenges are taking a toll on his leadership. Cabinet reshuffles over the past 15 years have amounted to little more than recycling the same people from one ministry to another,” Wilson Tamfuh, a professor of Public and International Law at the University of Dschang, stated.

Very recently, the president of Cameroon, despite being absent, reshuffled military leadership within the country.

Another report by Bloomberg shows that investors are now spooked by Biya’s absence, which may be exerting downward pressure on the nation’s dollar bonds, as investors seek to ascertain whether a political transition is subtly taking place within the oil-producing state.

Furthermore, Cameroonian dollar bonds have recorded the weakest performance across the African continent since early June.

Cameroon’s recent military change

The change in military command was revealed by three presidential orders signed on Monday and posted on the Cameroonian president’s X website.

They include raising the head of the Presidential Guard from colonel to brigadier general and changing commanders in four of the country’s five unified military districts.

The shake-up also led to the appointment of a new commander for the elite Rapid Intervention Brigade, one of Cameroon’s most powerful security forces.

Other appointments affected commanders of motorized infantry brigades around the nation.

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest serving head of state, remains one of Africa’s most lasting and divisive leaders, as concerns about succession and governance grow.

The 93-year-old has led Central Africa since November 1982, making him one of the world’s longest-serving non-royal presidents.

In October 2025, Biya won an unprecedented eighth presidential term in an election that was highly contested by opposition parties, which claimed significant electoral fraud and that the official results did not represent popular votes.

Source: Africa. Business insider