At 85, Cameroon’s president declares interest in 7th term

President Paul Biya of Cameroon has indicated interest to run for the seventh consecutive term.

Biya, who came into power in 1982, is one of the longest serving presidents on the continent.

Since he took power, he has ruled virtually by decree. In 2008, he scrapped term limits from the constitution, allowing him to run again and sparking riots in which over 40 people were killed.

On Friday, he indicated interest to contest the October election.

“I will be your candidate in the next presidential election,” Biya wrote on his Twitter account.

On the list of Africa’s longest serving rulers is Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Former Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh were forced out of the infamous list in 2017.

Cameroon is an oil rich country located in Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, as well as Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south has drawn international attention lately, particularly with a viral video showing extrajudicial killing of children by Cameroonian soldiers.