Russia-Africa Summit: Ailing Biya unable to walk
90-year-old President Biya is unable to walk because of ill health.
Biya left the nation’s capital Yaoundé today, accompanied by his wife, Chantal and a sea of cabinet ministers to attend the 2nd Russia-Africa Summit in Saint-Petersburg.
The Cameroonian dictator is making headline news in Moscow for the wrong reasons and has come to be regarded as something of a joke and a global laughing stock.
In an incident in Saint-Petersburg captured on camera despite the best efforts of his wife Chantal Biya, the 90-year-old president was making his way to shake hands with President Putin but could hardly move and the Russian leader had his first laugh since the beginning of the Ukraine counteroffensive.
It is likely that Biya is the most parodied politician alive today.
His wife was quick to step in and helped Biya the rest of the way to the conference hall. He is now too old and unable to walk.
Cameroon, a once-prosperous nation of 25 million people in Sub Saharan Africa, has struggled ever since Biya came to power.
Biya is accused of using widespread violence to win several disputed elections, according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
The country is suffering hyperinflation and facing a powerful secessionist movement in the English speaking regions known as the Ambazonia Interim Government.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai