Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has announced changes in the country’s defence forces with new appointments 24 hours after returning from a long stay abroad, which had sparked rumours about his health.
The President effected appointments in some sensitive and strategic positions within the country’s Defence Ministry’s central administration on Tuesday.
According to several decrees read on state radio, Biya made changes to the army’s general inspectorate, Directorate of General Affairs, logistics, operations, military intelligence, materials and transmission office.
In the appointments, former Army Inspector, Brigadier-General Njonkep Meyomhy Frédéric becomes new Inspector General of the Cameroon Armed Forces while Colonel Abdoulaye Amoa Abel becomes Inspector of the National Gendarmerie, an elite corps of the Cameroon Defence Forces.
Still, within the central administration of the Ministry of Defence, President Biya appointed Colonels Bindjeme Anglade Bobet and Ndoum Mvondo Joseph and Navy Captain Nitcheu Gabriel as army general controllers, while Colonel Ayang Frederick Enoh and Navy Captain Ele Mengue Marcel become new army inspectors.
Biya also appointed Navy Captain Bokwe Robert as defence attaché at the Cameroon embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo covering the DRC, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao-Tome and Principe, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, with residence in Kinshasa.
Biya made a similar military mini-reshuffle in August last year.
The 91-year-old leader returned to the country on Monday after over six weeks of a prolonged “private stay in Europe”. He had vanished from public view since leaving Beijing, China on September 8, after participating in the Summit on China-Africa Cooperation.
Biya returned home on Monday but did not make any public statement. Footage on State Television showed the nonagenarian exchanging words with his Secretary General at the Nsimalen airport before driving off to the State House.
Supporters of his ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party clad in fabrics emblazoned with an imposing effigy of Mr Biya, lined the streets with some carrying placards with sycophantic messages to the leader as the motorcade drove through the city. Billboards had been erected in some parts of the capital with messages welcoming the president back to the country.
