The Trump administration plans to close the U.S. embassy branch office in Douala, Cameroon, as it cuts smaller diplomatic posts around the world.

The closure is part of a wider State Department restructuring that also affects missions in Canada, Grenada, Indonesia and Japan. The Associated Press reported that the five closures are expected to save the U.S. government about $4.4 million a year.

For Cameroon, the decision comes after the United States shifted routine visa services across much of Africa to a smaller group of regional hubs. Yaoundé, not Douala, is one of the posts designated to handle those applications.

That distinction matters because Douala is Cameroon’s commercial centre and largest city. Business travellers, students and families dealing with U.S. visa requirements will continue to rely on Yaoundé for routine processing, even as the U.S. reduces its physical footprint in the country.

The United States has already reduced the number of African posts that handle routine visa cases. Its new hub system has added travel and accommodation costs for applicants in countries whose local embassies no longer process applications.

Cameroon has become part of a broader change in how Washington manages its relationship with African countries. The State Department says the hub model is intended to make screening and visa decisions more consistent, while the Trump administration has presented the wider restructuring as a cost-cutting exercise.

The closure does not mean the U.S. embassy in Yaoundé is shutting down, and it does not introduce a new visa rule for Cameroonians. But it removes a U.S. diplomatic office from the city where a large share of the country’s business activity is concentrated.

For companies, exporters and people who travel regularly between Cameroon and the United States, the practical issue is proximity. A more centralised system can make routine interactions with U.S. officials more difficult for people based in Douala and the surrounding Littoral region.

The shift is also likely to be watched in a country where China has expanded its commercial and infrastructure presence. The United States is narrowing some smaller posts while seeking to preserve influence through larger embassies and priority missions.

The State Department has not publicly set a closure date for the Douala office. Cameroon-based travellers should continue to use official U.S. visa instructions and the Yaoundé embassy for appointment.

Culled from African Business Insider

Cameroon’s veteran leader Paul Biya – who has not been seen in public for nearly two months – has reshuffled the country’s military amid growing concerns over his prolonged stay abroad.

The 93-year-old president appointed officials to key positions within the army and promoted five colonels to the rank of brigadier general.

One of the newly promoted brigadier generals is Raymond Jean Charles Beko’o Abondo, who was immediately reappointed as commander of the elite presidential guard – responsible for protecting Biya – a position he has occupied since 2013.

Such shake-ups are not unusual under Biya’s administration, particularly at times of intense public scrutiny or perceived weakness.

The nonagenarian president who never loses

After an unexpected coup three years ago in neighbouring Gabon, which toppled the Bongo dynasty sending shockwaves across the continent, Cameroon immediately reshuffled its military leadership.

Then, while running for a controversial eighth term in power at last year’s presidential election, Biya reshuffled the top brass of the army.

Again in June this year, he promoted several members of the defence and security forces to higher ranks.

The circumstances under which the latest changes were made have sparked debate, especially among social media users.

Biya made the appointments in separate decrees on Monday from the Swiss city of Geneva, where he has been staying since leaving Cameroon on 7 June for what his team described as a “brief private stay”.

Many in Cameroon have criticised the lack of information about his activities and the uncertainty surrounding the duration of his foreign trip.

After last year’s election, he promised to name a new cabinet, but has yet to do so. A new post of vice-president that was created this April remains unfilled.

During his nearly 60-day period abroad so far, he has signed several other decrees, including some authorising his government to sign loan agreements with international financial institutions.

His absence sparked further speculation about his health, but the government has continually debunked reports that the head of state has been in hospital.

Press freedom groups were outraged when it was announced two years ago that the media in Cameroon were banned from reporting on Biya’s health.

Cameroon’s Communication Minister René Emmanuel Sadi has said the president is alive and will be returning to the country soon, during an interview with French-language broadcaster RFI.

He also dismissed allegations by the opposition that the nonagenarian leader’s absence amounted to a vacancy at the helm of the state, saying Biya continues to work from Geneva.

But President Biya’s continuing absence means Cameroon has a “glaring institutional vacuum”, says the opposition CRM party’s vice-president, Mamadou Mota.

“Executive power is exercised at the heart of the nation, not through smoke signals or telepathy from hotel suites on the other side of the world,” he said last month.

Culled from the BBC