Spotlight | Cameroon
Biya increasingly isolated as National Day approaches

Cameroon
Behind the fall of military intelligence chief Bamkoui

The head of military security was pensioned off on 3 April after losing the support of Defence Minister Assomo.

Palace Intrigues
Paul Biya, Lucy Tamlyn, Laurent Esso, Jean-Louis Billon

Intrigues big and small... Every Thursday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.

DRCUS ambassador Lucy Tamlyn's luxury refuge

CameroonLaurent Esso's absence quells reshuffle rumours

Ivory CoastBillon clan to stage classy Miami wedding

Cameroon
Technical head of external intelligence service given marching orders

The technical director of the DGRE, James Elong Lobe, has been dismissed after 15 years in post - a consequence of his poor relations with new intelligence chief Jean-Pierre Robins Ghoumo.

Cameroon
Minister of justice's absence during Biya's New Year message explained

On 10 January, the minister of justice, Laurent Esso, did not attend President Paul Biya's New Year's address to the constituted bodies. The presidency had permitted this absence so that he could undergo medical treatment in Paris.

Cameroon
Paul Biya puts his justice minister in his place

A series of probationary magistrate appointments made on 13 December by Justice Minister Laurent Esso, on President Paul Biya's orders, was the first of its kind in over four years.

Cameroon
Mining minister urges president's office to move forward on Sundance arbitration

When a Cameroon delegation headed to Beijing for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation one of the key issues they sought to bring up was the Chinese-funded Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore mine. Arbitration proceedings to settle a dispute with the former project developer are still at a standstill.

Cameroon
Paul Biya sides with British American Tobacco

Under President Biya's high orders, Agriculture Minister Henri Eyebe Ayissi has dropped the decision to expropriate British American Tobacco Cameroon from prime land in Yaoundé, despite having agreed to it only a few months earlier.

Cameroon
Presidency's secretary general probes state property dealings

The Cameroonian presidency's general secretary has called for the setting up of a joint commission to investigate the allocation of state-owned plots of land.

Cameroon
Voter registration numbers for 2025 presidential elections on the up

Cameroon's election management body, ELECAM, has recorded over 460,000 new voter registrations ahead of the 2025 presidential election, an unprecedented figure.

Cameroon
Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh opens fresh negotiations on SONARA refinery rehabilitation

The secretary general at the Cameroonian presidency has in recent weeks opened talks with Portuguese company Cimontubo regarding rehabilitation of Cameroon's only oil refinery.

Cameroon
News channel Africa 24 back in court in France

Publishing company A Média, which runs news station Africa 24, has been summoned to appear before the Nanterre Commercial Court in the Paris suburbs on 4 June. The indebted company faces compulsory liquidation proceedings, five years after its takeover by the Cameroonian state.

Cameroon
Fecafoot rift places presidential 'high orders' in spotlight

Aides of Paul Biya see the tug-of-war between the government and football chief Samuel Eto'o as an opportunity to weaken the power of the president's secretary-general, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.

Cameroon
Confidential note on Martinez Zogo affair has Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh worried

The investigation into the journalist's murder is continuing to shake the upper echelons of the Cameroonian state. A note from a judicial expert to Paul Biya accuses Ngoh Ngoh of having blocked investigation of the role played in the affair by himself and two government ministers.

Cameroon
Paul Biya pulls plug on bridge corruption probe

President Paul Biya has decided to halt an investigation into the so-called “55 metal bridges” affair, which several government ministers have been caught up in.

Cameroon
Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh gets his hands on oil refining and transport

The recent shuffling of management teams at Cameroon Oil Transportation Company and Société Nationale de Raffinage has underlined the grip of the Secretary General of the Presidency (SGPR), Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, on both companies.

Cameroon
Ngoh Ngoh takes gold from Motaze's hands

At Louis-Paul Motaze's expense, the influential secretary general to the president has transferred the management of gold stocks to the consignment and deposits office, which one of Ngoh Ngoh's close allies heads.

Cameroon
Candidates line up to succeed Director of External Intelligence Maxime Eko Eko

Africa Intelligence identifies four candidates to succeed Léopold Maxime Eko Eko. The head of the Directorate General of External Research was indicted on 4 March in the case of journalist Martinez Zogo's murder.