Cameroon’s 92-year-old president makes rare public appearance to campaign for reelection

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Cameroon’s 92-year-old President Paul Biya appeared Tuesday at his first campaign rally for the upcoming election in which the world’s oldest head of state is seeking his eighth term.

Addressing a crowd of supporters at a stadium in the Far North town of Maroua, Biya promised to step up security in the region plagued by extremist attacks, curb youth unemployment and improve road infrastructure and social amenities if he is reelected in Sunday’s vote.

“I am well aware of the problems that concern you, I know the unfulfilled expectations that make you doubt the future,” he said in his speech. “Based on my own experience, I can assure you that these problems are not insurmountable.”

The Far North Region is majority Muslim and one of Cameroon’s poorest areas. It has been plagued by attacks and kidnappings for ransom by the extremist group Boko Haram.

It also accounts for nearly 20% of the country’s 8.2 million eligible voters, and two of the nine opposition candidates in the election — Biya’s former allies Bello Bouba Maigari and Issa Tchiroma Bakary — command a strong following in the Far North.

The outing was Biya’s first in a campaign from which he has been noticeably absent, and he only recently returned from a weeklong stay in Switzerland. No official reason for his stay abroad has been given but Biya has regularly traveled to Europe for private stays and medical treatment in recent years.

He is rarely seen in public and critics say his capacity to govern has been severely limited by his age.

During his decades in power, the Central African nation of nearly 30 million people has struggled with challenges from a deadly secessionist movement in the west of the country to chronic corruption that has stifled development despite rich natural resources like oil and minerals. At least 43% of the country’s citizens live in poverty as measured by core living standards such as income, education and health, according to U.N. estimates.

Still, Biya is likely to prevail in the election, especially after his strongest rival, Maurice Kamto, was barred from running in August and the opposition remains divided.

Most of Cameroon’s past elections have faced questions of credibility, with election authorities often accused of working in favor of Biya. Some of the election officers previously served in other roles in Biya’s government. A two-term presidential limit was removed through a parliamentary vote in 2008.