Paul Biya

Paul Biya is the 2nd and current President of Cameroon, having held the position since 1987. Following Robert Mugabe stepping down as President of Zimbabwe following a coup, Biya became the longest-ruling non-royal leader in the world and the oldest ruler in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Biya has been widely criticized for rigging elections and becoming increasingly authoritarian over the years. Although Biya made some efforts to open up the political environment, his regime still retains clear authoritarian characteristics and has largely bucked the trend toward democracy in Africa since the 1990s. Under the constitution, Biya has sweeping executive and legislative powers. He even has considerable authority over the judiciary; the courts can only review a law's constitutionality at his request. The RDPC - the ruling political party that is also headed by Biya - continues to dominate the National Assembly, which does little more than approve his policies.

Biya amended the Constitution in 2006, allowing him to stay in office longer than the two terms mandated.

Biya has also been accused of human rights abuses and genocide, mostly against Cameroon's Anglophone (English-speaking) population. Torture is very prevalent in Cameroon. Biya has also suppressed journalists that have been critical of him, and homosexual activities are banned.

Evidence began surfacing in 2017 that a campaign of genocide was being committed against the Anglophones in Southern Cameroon, ordered personally by Biya. A petition to the United Nations gave details of police raping students at a university. Supporters are calling for the independence of Southern Cameroon before the violence escalates. The National Commission for Human Rights and Freedoms embarked on a fact-finding mission in Buea, to investigate allegations of human rights abuses in the region.

Many allegations of indiscriminate killing, burning of villages, rape and humiliation of English-speaking citizens carried out by the BIR (Bataillon d'Intervention Rapide) have been made and proven by video footages that are available online. The BIR is a special force body that reports directly to the President Biya. Individual sources testify that all of those sent to fight the secessionist militia are French speaking, thus widening the linguistic factor of a division with local residents.