24, May 2025

Germany: Catholic Women Association members urged to invest in spiritual growth ⁰

The 2025 Retreat for members of the Catholic Women Association (CWA) in Europe that started on Friday, May 23 in the beautiful city of Wuppertal in the Nordrhein Westphalia region drew an inspiring assembly of devout women, united in faith and purpose, under the leadership of their respective branch executives.

The gathering is skillfully being coordinated by Rev Father Alphonse Liwonjo and the European CWA Coordinator alongside host Presidents Christy Atabong, Frida Mua, Susan Abolo and Loveline Nana.

Drawing from the rich theological and spiritual traditions of the Church, Rev Fathers Terence Noro and Alphonse Liwonjo expounded on the significance of the theme “As pilgrims of hope, women in leadership aspire to develop spiritually and intellectually”.

Rev Father Alphonse Liwonjo furthered that the Wuppertal retreat has provided a sacred time of grace, mercy, and renewal and urged the women to fully embrace the plenary indulgences offered by the Church, emphasizing the indispensable role of conversion and sacramental reconciliation.

Rev Father Liwonjo enjoined the CWA members to emulate Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ and ensure that they prayed the rosary with total submission to God. He also encouraged the mothers to invest in their spiritual growth.

Also speaking were engineer Tambe Mathias and Lady Buma Sarah who impacted the women on spirituality and leadership deep within the CWA.

The retreat recorded an impressive turnout from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Germany.

The convention will end on Sunday.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai in Wuppertal

23, May 2025

CPDM Crime Syndicate: ELECAM defends UN partnership amid interference allegations ⁰

Elections Cameroon (Elecam) rejected calls from the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) and the United Party for Social Renovation (PURS) to hand over election management to an outside group. Elecam signed a CFA3 billion technical assistance deal with the United Nations but insisted it will keep full control.

Enow Abrams Egbe, Chairman of Elecam’s Electoral Council, said, “It is important to specify that in Cameroon, electoral operations are entirely financed by the public treasury.”

The agreement, signed on May 9 in Yaoundé, aims to tap into the UN’s “proven electoral expertise.” It follows a recent African Union mission in Yaoundé from May 12 to 17 to explore electoral cooperation. Egbe explained that the UN assistance will involve six agencies, including UNDP, UN Women, and UNESCO. The support covers the 2025-2027 electoral cycle, which includes the presidential election, regional council elections, and the legislative and municipal polls.

The MRC and PURS sharply criticized the deal. On May 14, Maurice Kamto’s MRC called the initiative risky and warned of a repeat of the 2010 post-election crisis in Côte d’Ivoire. The party said, “Africans in general, and Cameroonians in particular, still remember the UN’s regrettable interference in the electoral process in Côte d’Ivoire in December 2010, which helped to accelerate one of the worst post-electoral crisis in Africa in the 21st century, resulting in thousands of deaths and the desolation of many Ivorian families.”

The MRC also condemned the secrecy around the agreement, noting, “several days after the signing, neither Elecam nor UN officials deemed it necessary to officially communicate on this event.” The party called the timing “unseemly,” especially as the presidential election campaign period approaches.

PURS, led by Serge Espoir Matomba, echoed the criticism. In a May 16 statement, the party “vigorously denounces the interference of the United Nations in Cameroon’s electoral process.” PURS warned that the move threatens national sovereignty. The party asked, “Why is the United Nations, which has never resolved an electoral crisis, intervening here and now?” It added, “How can we understand that in the 21st century, a sovereign country still accepts such foreign tutelage?” PURS called for “a Cameroonian electoral system that responds to the interests and respects the will of the Cameroonian people.”

Despite the backlash, Egbe stood firm. He signed the agreement alongside Issa Sanogo, the UN resident coordinator in Cameroon. Egbe urged Elecam’s mixed commission members to “become more involved in the implementation of the 2025-2027 electoral cycle.”

Source: Business in Cameroon

23, May 2025

Football: Modric to leave Real Madrid ⁰

Real Madrid captain Luka Modric has revealed he will leave the Spanish giants after the end of their Fifa Club World Cup campaign this summer.

The 39-year-old Croatia midfielder, the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner, will play his last match at Real’s Bernabeu home when they welcome Real Sociedad on Saturday in their final La Liga game of the season.

“The moment has arrived. The moment I never wanted to come, but that’s football, and in life everything has a beginning and an end,” Modric said on Instagram.

He has won 28 trophies, including six Champions Leagues and four domestic titles, since joining Real from Spurs in 2012.

“I arrived in 2012 with the hope of wearing the jersey of the best team in the world and the ambition to do great things, but I couldn’t have imagined what came next,” he said.

“Playing for Real Madrid changed my life as a footballer and as a person.

“I’m proud to have been part of one of the most successful eras of the best club in history.”

Real will open their Club World Cup campaign against Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal on 18 June and will also face Mexico’s Pachuca and RB Salzburg of Austria in the group stage.

Modric bagged two goals and six assists in 34 appearances in the Spanish top flight this season as Real were pipped to the title by Barcelona.

He also featured in every game as Carlo Ancelotti’s side reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, where they were beaten 5-1 on aggregate by Arsenal.

Modric signed a one-year contract extension last year, which expires at the end of this campaign.

Saturday’s game will also be Ancelotti’s last in charge of Real, with Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso reportedly set to succeed the Italian.

‘Modric’s legacy will live on forever’

Luka Modric of Real Madrid gestures to fans prior to the Champions League 2023/24 Final against Borussia Dortmund. — No player has won more trophies with Real Madrid than Luka Modric

Although he has been largely limited to substitute appearances this season, Modric will leave Real as its most decorated player after 590 appearances, 43 goals and 95 assists.

“Modric will forever remain in the hearts of all Madridistas as a unique and exemplary footballer who has always embodied the values of Real Madrid,” added club president Florentino Perez in a statement.

“His football has captured the imagination of Madridismo and fans all over the world. His legacy will live on forever.”

Modric captained Real to two trophies in his final season to take his haul to 28 titles, overtaking Nacho Fernandez as the club’s most successful player.

His tally includes the six Champions Leagues, six Fifa Club World Cups, five European Super Cups, four La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey triumphs and five Spanish Super Cups during his 13 seasons at Real.

After leading Real to a 2018 Champions League success over Liverpool and then Croatia to the World Cup final in the same year, Modric became the first player since 2007, other than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, to win the Ballon d’Or.

He is also the oldest player to represent Los Blancos in La Liga and their oldest goalscorer, having scored in a 2-1 win over Valencia at the age of 39 years and 116 days, overtaking Ferenc Puskas’ mark.

Modric is also currently the third longest-serving member of a Spanish top-flight side, behind Oscar de Marcos of Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke.

Last month, the Croatia legend became an “investor and co-owner” with a minority stake in Championship side Swansea City.

‘It feels like the end of an era’

Although Modric has been playing less than he has done for most of his Real Madrid career, he is the kind of player that can affect things because he becomes a magnet for the team.

He may have felt he was being useful at some points, but football is heading in a different direction now – you need to cover a lot of ground for instance. Look at Pedri who is the number one retriever of possession at Barcelona and runs more than anybody else. Modric can’t do that anymore.

He has been the one who has been pushing to stay put but Real had doubts. They listened to the player, the fans, read the room and felt it wasn’t time yet. But everybody was prepared for his departure.

Modric, however, has been an exemplary professional.

Perhaps his most difficult time was when Carlo Ancelotti told him and Toni Kroos that he was going to change things and the club had decided to go for a more physical and dynamic midfield with Aurelien Tchouameni, Fede Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga.

Kroos managed to turn things around and became a very important part of the team, but Modric had a phase on the bench.

During the last couple of years, his situation has left him a bit uneasy. He didn’t know where he stood. He felt he could play 90 minutes more often. It was a nightmare for him but this season, he has understood his role better and has been their leader.

But ultimately, this will have been a decision taken by the club. Xabi Alonso would have agreed to it but it’s a club decision, first of all. The way Alonso’s teams play requires a lot of effort which he cannot ask of Modric.

It also feels like the end of an era.

There is a new culture that has to be set for this team. Ancelotti has struggled with the fractions and egos in the team and by getting Modric out, you can build for new leaders – and that might be Real’s thinking.

Source: BBC

22, May 2025

Biya regime to borrow as much as $348m to bolster finances ⁰

Cameroon’s finance minister has been authorised to raise up to 200 billion CFA francs ($348 million) from international financial markets to shore up government cash flows for fiscal year 2025, according to a presidential decree.

Kelly Mua Kingsly, Head of Finance Operations of the State at Cameroon’s Ministry of Finance, told Reuters on Wednesday that the government would consider using several market instruments, but most likely syndicated loans.

“This is most likely given the urgency and nature of liquidity needs. It is also attractive due to shorter structuring time and flexible drawdown options,” Kingsly said.

In addition, he said concessional or semi-concessional loans suitable for budget support components and assimilable treasury bonds or treasury bills on the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) market could also be considered.

Eurobonds were less likely, he said, due to high global interest rates, low sovereign credit ratings and lower appetite from international capital markets for frontier markets in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and during a period of geopolitical risk.

The borrowing plan comes as Cameroon faces slow disbursement of external financing and delays in revenue mobilisation, notably non-oil tax collection deficits.

Tight monetary policy by the regional central bank to curb inflation and stabilise the CFA franc currency has provoked a liquidity squeeze across Central Africa, while the BEAC’s reserve requirement has impacted treasury liquidity.

Officials also say the government is keen to diversify its sources to avoid excessive domestic borrowing that could crowd out private sector investment.

Cameroon has recently relied on domestic and external borrowing to bridge budget deficits.

($1 = 575.5000 CFA francs)

Source: Reuters

22, May 2025

May 20: Pope Leo XIV sends blessings, wishes for prosperity ⁰

On the occasion of Cameroon’s annual National Day marked on May 20, Pope Leo XIV has extended his prayerful best wishes and Papal blessings to the Central African nation’s President and citizens, and called for continued commitment to peace, justice, and respect for human dignity.

In a statement issued Monday, May 19 through the Apostolic Nuncio in Cameroon, Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt, the Holy Father wishes the people of God in Cameroon prosperity that is based on the country’s rich heritage.

“On the occasion of the national day of the Republic of Cameroon, I am pleased to offer to Your Excellency the best wishes for you and for your fellow citizens,” Pope Leo XIV says in the message addressed to Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya.

The Roman Pontiff adds, “I entrust to the lord everyone’s efforts to build a future of peace and prosperity by drawing on the rich human and cultural heritage of your country, with a concern for justice and respect for each person.”

“May God pour over your excellency and all the Cameroonian people His abundant blessings,” the Holy Father implores in favour of the people of God in Cameroon celebrating their 2025 National Day, organized under the theme, “Army and Nation united for a Cameroon turned towards peace and prosperity”.

Cameroon’s National Day marks the country’s transition to a unitary state in 1972, following a national referendum. Prior to this, the Central African nation operated under a federal system, with East and West Cameroon functioning semi-autonomously.

Initiated by the then President, Ahmadou Ahidjo, the 1972 referendum led to the adoption of a unitary constitution and the birth of the United Republic of Cameroon.

May 20 has since become a symbol of national unity and a day that brings together and celebrates Cameroon’s unity in the diversity of ethnic, linguistic, and cultural communities.

Cameroon is to hold a presidential Election in October 2025.

President Biya, who has held the seat since 1982, is expected to vie for an eighth presidential term in the Central African nation, where Presidents have a seven-year mandate. His “extraordinarily long tenure” was occasioned by constitutional amendments that President Biya’s party, Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), spearheaded in 2008, which resulted in the abolition of the two-term presidential limit.

The Cameroonian President, Biya, is Africa’s second-longest-serving Head of State after President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.

The Central African nation’s English-speaking regions plunged into conflict in 2016 after a protest by lawyers and teachers turned violent. An armed movement of separatists claiming independence for the so-called republic of Ambazonia emerged following the government’s crackdown on protesters.

School boycotts have become common in the Cameroonian region as have enforced moratoriums on public life known as “ghost towns”.

According to a March 2025 report, Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis “has caused over 900,000 people to flee internally and 60,000 people to flee abroad.”

The report indicates that “as of February 2025, more than 500,000 internally displaced people were in Anglophone-majority regions.”

The UNHCR has reported that Cameroon plays host to over 400,000 refugees primarily coming from the Central African Republic (CAR), Nigeria, Chad, and Niger; more than 17,000 asylum seekers; and over 1 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) “with an additional 658,544 returnees.”

More than 3.3 million people stand in need of humanitarian aid in Cameroon.

In January, the President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) called on the people of God in the country to take personal responsibility in realizing the development of the country.

“There is a need, therefore, for every single Cameroonian to take his or her responsibility for the construction of our country,” Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya said during the opening ceremony of the 48th Annual Seminar of NECC in the Catholic Diocese of Buea.

The Local Ordinary of Cameroon’s Bamenda Archdiocese reaffirmed the Church’s commitment to its evangelizing mission, saying that NECC members “will continue to serve reconciliation, justice, and peace.”

Source: aciafrica

22, May 2025

Gunfire rips through Southern Cameroons on National Day ⁰

Military parades and civilian march pasts marked the 53rd edition of Cameroon’s National Day on May 20. It’s frequently framed as a day of national unity by the authorities, but that framing rings hollow with millions of citizens in Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions.

For many in the two regions which constitute 20 percent of Cameroon’s nearly 30 million inhabitants, it’s a stark reminder of betrayal, marginalization, and bloodshed – and that was on full display on Tuesday in several parts of the Anglophone regions.

Images of brute violence surfaced online showing suspected separatists beating up school children who had set out to March.

In Kumbo Diocese – a flashpoint of separatist violence, Bishop George Nkuo told Crux that the town woke up Tuesday to the sound of gunfire and explosions.

“We are celebrating national day in Cameroon today and this morning we got up in Kumbo to gunshots and a heavy explosion,” Nkuo said.

“This again is to announce that all is not well in Cameroon. While some people in Cameroon may be celebrating this morning, we got a strong reminder here that there is no peace and people are living in fear,” he told Crux.

This dates back to May 20, 1972. On that day, a controversial referendum organized by Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, scrapped the federal constitution that was the mainstay of a fragile union between La Republique du Cameroun – that gained independence from France in 1960 – and the British Cameroons, which gained independence from Britain a year later.

The resultant unitary state was seen by Anglophone Cameroonians as a violation of the federal constitution, and a step towards the assimilation of Anglophones. And so, what Ahidjo sold as a blueprint for national unity ended up as the seeds of today’s disunity.

For decades, Anglophones complained. They protested, asking for equal treatment under the law, but these complaints were either just ignored, or brutally suppressed.

The pent-up anger burst into the open in 2016 when teachers and lawyers in the two Anglophone regions took to the streets to protest the imposition of French in Anglo-Saxon schools and courts. Again, the government responded by imprisoning the leaders of the teachers and lawyers trade unions, and by using lethal force against protesters.

The door to dialogue was thus shut close, and a separatist uprising ensued, with many taking up arms to fight for the creation of a new state for Anglophone Cameroonians to be called Ambazonia.

Nearly a decade of fighting has left at least 60,500 people dead, and more than a million displaced. Entire villages have been burned down; schools and hospitals have been destroyed.

“Those of us who love this land want to see concrete measures taken to arrest this senseless war,” Nkuo told Crux.

“It’s a cry for peace, justice and reconciliation. Our people have suffered enough. There is no celebration here in Kumbo and there is a deadly silence,” the bishop said.

The government has made some efforts to bring about peace. In 2019, it initiated what it called a Major National Dialogue.

The National Dialogue made a series of proposals, including the adoption of a special status for the two Anglophone regions; the restoration of the House of Traditional Chiefs; the immediate relaunch of certain airport and seaport projects in the two regions; the rapid integration of ex-combatants into society; the deployment of Bilingual teachers to Anglophone schools, and the deployment of Anglophone lawyers to Common Law Courts.

Separatists have dismissed all these concessions as too little, too late, insisting they will continue to fight for the freedom of “Ambazonia.”

It seems like the option for independence resonates with most Anglophone Cameroonians, going by the results of a study carried out in 2019 by the late Cardinal Christian Tumi.

The prominent religious leader conducted a survey before the Grand National Dialogue which revealed that 69 percent of Anglophone respondents expressed a preference for secession rather than federation or decentralization. Interestingly, the questionnaire did not explicitly offer secession as an option, but many respondents wrote it in under “other options.”

President Paul Biya has made it clear that Cameroon will remain “one and indivisible.”

The celebration of the National Day is yet another emphatic statement to that effect.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea, who doesn’t believe that the solution to the Anglophone Problem lies in secession, told Crux that only love will help Cameroon overcome its many problems.

“As Cameroon celebrates its National Day, I have only one message to all Cameroonians, citizens and leaders: Love Cameroon,” Nkea told Crux.

“When I look at the way Cameroonians function, it is difficult to be convinced if we love our country. Love Cameroon and always work for the good of the country and not for individual benefit,” he said.

“Love Cameroon means dying to ourselves and sacrificing what we want for ourselves so that the country may live. Love Cameroon,” the archbishop said.

Source: Crux

21, May 2025

Yaoundé marks 53rd National Day with nationwide celebrations ⁰

Biya and his Francophone regime on Tuesday marked the 53rd anniversary of its National Day with military and civilian parades held across the country.

In the capital Yaoundé, President Paul Biya presided over a ceremony that featured hundreds of soldiers and civilians marching in front of national and international dignitaries.

A contingent of the Nigerian Armed Forces also participated in the parade, underscoring growing military cooperation between the two neighboring countries.

“Cameroon and Nigeria have excellent relations as neighbors. We collaborate in several military aspects to fight terrorism, especially terrorist group Boko Haram,” Cameroon Army spokesperson Cyrille Serge Atonfack Guemo told reporters. “The presence and participation of the Nigerian army during this very important day in Cameroon is a testament to the cordial relationship existing between both countries.”

Marches also took place in all 10 regions of the country, including the war-torn Anglophone areas, where separatist fighters had imposed a lockdown to disrupt the celebrations. Local authorities reported clashes in Bambili in the Northwest Region but said they did not affect the events.

May 20 is a key date in Cameroon’s national calendar. It commemorates the 1972 referendum in which Cameroonians voted to replace the federal system with a unitary state.

Source: Xinhuanet with additional editing

20, May 2025

May 20: Will the real Biya please come out and meet the Cameroonian people ⁰

No one in Yaoundé including those serving the regime can say authoritatively that today’s so-called national day celebration recorded a good parade. But everything went well without any incident.

The world watched a fine military display from a contingent of Nigerian army soldiers in a celebration of national unity that not all political parties were invited.

This was the third time that Cameroonians saw their head of state on duty in 2025. Biya is a president who lives abroad and only goes home thrice a year: on December 31, on February 11 and on May 20 for a fête de je ne sais quoi.

Photos and videos were forbidden!! State television did not show the Cameroonian people when the 92-year-old President Biya got out of his presidential limousine and when he finally took his seat at the ceremonial ground.

Guests were asked to leave their android telephones at home or in a locker that was provided by the Francophone dominated secret service. All this maneuverings were undoubtedly to avoid the public from noting errors between the real and fake Biya. Today in Yaoundé, Biya was so fake that his effigy that was displayed everywhere, showed a figure in his 40s, younger than his son Franck.

Everyone at the May 20 Boulevard today looked like Biya and our Yaoundé city reporter couldn’t tell one from another. It appears the ruling CPDM crime syndicate came up with the idea that every male citizen attending today’s ceremony had to look exactly like Biya.

What makes today’s national day celebration more interesting is that no one had an idea of which of the Biyas was sitting there as head of state. This is going to be a major problem for Cameroonian voters come October! If you are going to cut off the head of a snake, which snake are we talking about?

The real Biya cannot walk, can’t talk and cannot stand for more than twenty minutes! The one million dollar question is: Is the ruling CPDM planning to use an impostor at public rallies in October?

It is still a secret, but the Cameroonian opposition now headed by Barrister Akere Muna has ordered the Chinese to develop a device that can tell the difference between a real Paul Biya and a false one.

Cameroon Intelligence Report does not know when it will be ready, but intelligence forces are well aware that there is no sense killing innocent Cameroonians when it is now evidently clear that Biya will die before October.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

20, May 2025

CPDM Crime Syndicate: soldiers deployed to construct 53 km Bangem-Nguti road ⁰

Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Works (MINTP) announced progress on the Bangem-Nguti road project in the Kupe-Muanenguba department, despite ongoing security challenges in the region.

As of May 12, topographical and geotechnical studies have concluded on the first 10 kilometres of the 53-kilometre road. Laboratory analysis of soil samples is underway.

The Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), contracted for the project, continues laying the sub-base between kilometre points (KP) 0+900 and 4+250. Construction of a 3 x 2 x 19-metre culvert at KP 0+893 has begun. Living quarters at KP 4+000 are 80% complete, and earthworks proceed between KP 0+500 and KP 8+000.

Despite the security challenges, local communities support the work, helping teams navigate security constraints linked to the regional crisis. The MINTP set up a task force to coordinate activities with the BIR.

Additional work includes depositing excavated material from KP 0+900 to KP 7+950, building masonry ditches, and creating drainage outlets between KP 0+893 and KP 4+000. Mintp plans to continue studies, open the full road length, and supply aggregates for the base course.

Challenges include difficulty in accessing some areas, compensation for affected plantations and dwellings, and delays caused by the absence of an on-site geotechnical laboratory.

The MINTP has allocated CFA10 billion to the project, which serves a landlocked area.

Source: Business in Cameroon

20, May 2025

Young Cameroonians face prospect of new bid by 92-year-old leader ⁰

Young Cameroonian voters hoping for change in this year’s elections still face the possibility that 92-year-old President Paul Biya could announce a bid to extend his more than four decades in power.

Biya, who took the reins in 1982, has remained tight-lipped on whether he plans to stand again in October.

But with just a month to go before candidates have to officially register, some of the party faithful have been calling for him to do so.

Younger voters who have never known another leader in their lifetimes are sceptical about another mandate for the man who is already the world’s oldest head of state.

“It would be one candidacy too many,” said Ange Ngandjo, 35, a banking consultant.

“He’s given what he could. Our generation, trained and competent, also wants to build this country.”

Tweaking a motorbike engine at his workshop in Mokolo, a district of the capital Yaounde, 29-year-old Ibrahim Baba echoed the sentiment.

“A new term for Paul Biya? I don’t think so,” he said.

Law student Celestine Mbida, 24, who attends the University of Yaounde II, will be voting for the first time.

She stopped short of openly criticising the outgoing president but said: “This election represents a lot… It’s the future of the country that is at stake. I want to participate by giving my vote.”

Ruling party divided

After highly contested elections in 2018, Biya tightened his grip on power, cracking down on dissenting opinions with arrests and prison terms, rights activists say.

But even within his Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC), of which he is national party president, support is no longer unanimous.

While some members have called for continuity, others complain that the party has not held a congress to choose its candidate since 2011.

Among them is Leon Theiller Onana, a municipal RDPC councillor for Monatele, a town north of Yaounde. He has lodged a legal complaint to contest the “legality and legitimacy” of his party’s ruling bodies.

Supporters of the president have sought to win over the younger generation.

A gathering under the banner “100,000 youth united behind Paul Biya in 2025” recently took place in the town of Maroua, a presidential stronghold in the poverty-hit Far North.

Organisers said the aim was to unite around Biya for “a resounding victory” in the forthcoming vote.

“He deserves our support,” said Mohamadou Atikou Kalda, coordinator of a regional youth platform.

Biya was behind several projects that supported development in the north, he added. “To continue on this path is essential.”

A ‘charade’

But not everyone is happy; some critics even accuse the organisers of stage-managing the event.

“They rounded up children to make people believe he still has support in the Far North,” one young man said in a video widely shared on social media.

“It’s false, it’s a charade,” he added.

Political analyst Aristide Mono of Yaounde II University said whoever wins the presidency faced high expectations from voters.

“Whether you’re young, old, a woman or a man, the concerns are the same,” he told AFP. “Persistent insecurity in the Far North, anglophone (separatist) crisis, high unemployment, cost of living, tribalism.”

“Young people, like other social groups, are asking themselves about the post-Biya era — because one day or another, in one way or another, Paul Biya will no longer be in power,” he added.

“So we have to anticipate and organise the succession to avoid succession crises that have often led to civil wars.”

‘Lack of succession plan’

The uncertainty weighs on Cameroon’s international standing.

In a November report, Fitch Ratings confirmed the country’s “B negative” rating, putting the chance Biya might run for another term in its “Political Risks” list.

“The lack of a succession plan and political divisions exacerbate the risk of a disorderly transition of power,” it noted.

At 71, Maurice Kamto, leader of the main opposition Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC), is hardly the youth candidate, even if he has tried to appeal to them.

“If our country is to survive and achieve a certain rank tomorrow, the youth must be prepared,” he said.

In a country where 60 percent of the population is aged under 25 and youth unemployment is close to 74 percent, the vote will likely be decisive for a generation looking for opportunities and change.

Source: AFP