Paul Biya

Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo; 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician who is the second president of Cameroon since 6 November 1982, having previously been the prime minister of Cameroon from 1975 to 1982.

He is the second-longest-ruling president in Africa, the longest consecutively serving current non-royal national leader in the world and the oldest head of state in the world.

A native of Cameroon's south, Biya rose rapidly as a bureaucrat under President Ahmadou Ahidjo in the 1960s, as Secretary-General of the Presidency from 1968 to 1975 and then as Prime Minister.

As an official in post-independence 1960s Cameroon, Biya rose to prominence under President Ahmadou Ahidjo.

He studied at the Lycée General Leclerc, Yaoundé, and in France at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris, going on to the Institut des hautes études d'Outre-Mer, where he graduated in 1961 with a higher education diploma in public law.

After becoming director of the Cabinet of the minister of national education in January 1964 and secretary-general of the ministry of national education in July 1965, he was named director of the civil cabinet of the president in December 1967 and secretary-general of the presidency (while remaining director of the civil cabinet) in January 1968.

He gained the rank of minister in August 1968 and the rank of minister of state in June 1970, while remaining secretary-general of the presidency.

Following the creation of a unitary state in 1972, he became Prime Minister of Cameroon on 30 June 1975.

In June 1979, a new law designated the prime minister as the president's constitutional successor.

Biya introduced political reforms within the context of a one-party system in the 1980s, later accepting the introduction of multiparty politics in the early 1990s under serious pressure.

He succeeded Ahidjo as President upon the latter's surprise resignation in 1982 and consolidated power in a 1983–1984 staged attempted coup in which he eliminated all of his major rivals.

Ahidjo unexpectedly announced his resignation on 4 November 1982, and Biya accordingly succeeded him as president of Cameroon on 6 November.

Because Biya is a Christian from the southern region of Cameroon, it was considered surprising that he was chosen by Ahidjo, a Muslim from the north, as his successor.

His father, who was a catechist, wanted him to join the clergy, but at the age of 16 while in Catholic school, he was expelled.

After Biya became President, Ahidjo initially remained head of the ruling Cameroon National Union (CNU).

Biya was brought into the CNU Central Committee and Political Bureau and was elected as the Vice-President of the CNU.

On 11 December 1982, he was placed in charge of managing party affairs in Ahidjo's absence.

During the first months after Biya's succession, he continued to show loyalty to Ahidjo, and Ahidjo continued to show support for Biya, but in 1983 a deep rift developed between the two.

Ahidjo went into exile in France, and from there he publicly accused Biya of abuse of power and paranoia about plots against him.

After Ahidjo resigned as CNU leader, Biya took the helm of the party at an "extraordinary session" of the CNU party held on 14 September 1983.

In November 1983, Biya announced that the next presidential election would be held on 14 January 1984; it had been previously scheduled for 1985.

He was the sole candidate in this election and won 99.98% of the vote.

In February 1984, Ahidjo was put on trial in absentia for alleged involvement in a 1983 coup plot, along with two others; they were sentenced to death, although Biya commuted their sentences to life in prison.

Biya survived a military coup attempt on 6 April 1984, following his decision on the previous day to disband the Republican Guard and disperse its members across the military.

Estimates of the death toll ranged from 71 (according to the government) to about 1,000.

Northern Muslims were the primary participants in this coup attempt, which was seen by many as an attempt to restore that group's supremacy; Biya, however, chose to emphasize national unity and did not focus blame on northern Muslims.

Ahidjo was widely believed to have orchestrated the coup attempt, and Biya is thought to have learned of the plot in advance and to have disbanded the Republican Guard in response, forcing the coup plotters to act earlier than they had planned, which may have been a crucial factor in the coup's failure.

Under his rule, the country adopted a structural adjustment plan submitted to it by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, which involved privatization, opening up to competition, and reducing social spending.

Civil servants' salaries were reduced by 60%, and the informal sector increased very significantly.

In 1985, the CNU was transformed into the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement, in Bamenda and Biya was unlawfully elected as its president.

He was also re-elected as President of Cameroon on 24 April 1988.

Biya initially took some steps to open up the regime, culminating in the decision to legalize opposition parties in 1990.

He won the contentious 1992 presidential election with 40% of the plural, single-ballot vote and was re-elected by large margins in 1997, 2004, 2011, and 2018.

Opposition politicians and Western governments have alleged voting irregularities and fraud on each of these occasions.

Many independent sources have provided evidence that he did not win the elections in 1992 and that subsequent elections suffered from rampant fraud.

Paul Biya was born in the village of Mvomeka'a in what is now the South Region of Cameroon.

According to official results, Biya won the first multiparty presidential election, held on 11 October 1992, with about 40% of the vote.

There was no provision for a runoff; the opposition was unable to unite around a single candidate.

The second placed candidate, John Fru Ndi of the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF), officially received about 36%.

The results were strongly disputed by the opposition, which alleged fraud.