Cameroon’s 91-year-old president, Paul Biya, returned to the country on Monday after a 42-day absence that had sparked questions about his health and whereabouts.
The chartered plane carrying the president and his wife Chantal Biya from Geneva landed at Nsimalen International Airport in the capital Yaounde on Monday, following a 7-week long absence from his country.
Biya’s prolonged absence triggered widespread speculation he was ill. Authorities however outlawed discussion over the president’s health insisting that he is well, and have insisted that it was a matter of national security.
The West African nation’s nanogenarian leader appeared on television after the presidential plane landed, shaking hands with officials, as a jubilant crowd waited to greet him.
Biya is Africa’s second-longest-serving leader and Cameroon’s second president since independence in 1960. He has been in power since 1982. He is known for traveling often to Europe, is known to be sick but no details about his health have been publicly shared.
On his arrival, Biya did not speak to the public but he did wave at supporters gathered nearby as his car drove away from the airport in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde.
Lining the route from the airport to the presidential palace were thousands of supporters of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement.
Among the crowds, some carried placards welcoming the President back, and sending their well wishes.
