Cameroon's President Biya at 90, and The Art of Ruling for Life

President Paul Biya turned 90 years old a few days ago. Biya came into office on November 6, 1982, and is the second-longest ruling president in Africa, but Biya supporters are calling for him to extend his 40-year rule by running for another term in 2025, reports VOA's Moki Edwin Kindzekare.

Biya's opponents are saying that he has become authoritarian, and also cite concerns for his health especially with the latest incident at the USA-Africa summit in December 2022.

Cameroon has also been embroiled in a protracted deadly conflict between Francophone and English-speaking citizens. The conflict is rooted in the colonisation of Cameroon by both the French and British governments - and the two languages that came with it, French and English, writes The Conversation Africa.

The latest violence began when lawyers and teachers in the Anglophone north-west and south-west, accused the government of backing legislation and changes to laws that would marginalise their people. The conflict has led to thousands of people fleeing to safety and hundreds more have died in battles between Anglophone separatists and government forces.

With the president's birthday, an escalating power struggle for his position leaves most Cameroonians with little to celebrate, blogs Michelle Gavin for Council for Foreign Relations, New York.