Cameroon president returns home after 10-week absence

By Amindeh Blaise Atabong

YAOUNDE, ‌Aug 20 (Reuters) - Cameroon's ​President ​Paul Biya returned home on Thursday after his longest recorded stay abroad since taking power more than four decades ago, ‌ending months of speculation about his health and whereabouts.

The 93-year-old ⁠leader arrived at Yaounde's Nsimalen International Airport aboard a chartered flight from Geneva, Switzerland, after ‌more than 10 weeks away.

Biya, ‌the world's oldest head of state, left Cameroon on June 7 for what the civil cabinet described as "a brief private stay in ​Europe".

The president, accompanied by First Lady Chantal Biya, touched down around 4.45 p.m. local time (1545 pm GMT) before departing in a motorcade for ⁠the Etoudi Unity Palace.

He waved through a half-open window to hundreds of supporters of the ruling ​Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) who lined the streets of the capital to welcome him home, waving party colours and ​banners praising the president.

Biya's prolonged absence had ‌fuelled widespread speculation about his health and capacity to govern, despite repeated assurances from authorities that he would return ⁠soon. It also raised more questions about political succession in a country where power remains highly centralized around the presidency.

Opposition politicians had called on the Constitutional Council ⁠to examine whether someone should fill in as head of state during the president's ​absence. The council did not take any action.

Under Cameroon's constitution, in the absence of a vice president, the president of the Senate should assume interim duties if ‌the presidency is declared vacant due to death, resignation or permanent incapacity.

Biya has not appointed a vice president despite ‌the reintroduction of the role last April, and critics say the lack ⁠of a clear succession framework ‌raises uncertainty about a potential ​transition in the event he becomes unable to govern.

(Reporting by Amindeh Blaise Atabong; Editing by Ayen Deng Bior and ‌Susan Fenton)

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