Cameroon’s government has banned the media from discussing the health of President Paul Biya, Africa’s second-longest-ruling leader, amid rumours that the 91-year-old is gravely ill.
“The head of state is the principal institution of the republic, and discussions on his condition are a matter of national security,” said the document addressed to regional governors, which was dated October 9 and signed by Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji.
“All discussion in the media on the president’s condition is therefore officially banned,” the document read.
Read also: Cameroon says President Paul Biya is well amid death rumours
The document, which bore a red stamp reading “highly urgent”, added that anyone violating the order would “face the full force of the law”.
The Minister directed regional governors to create “monitoring cells” charged with monitoring content in private media, including social networks to identify peddlers of “tendentious rumours”
Social media conversations had risen about the health of the 91-year-old ruler who hasn’t had any public appearance since leaving Beijing on September 8 after participating in the Summit of China-Africa Cooperation.
On Tuesday, the government said the President was in an excellent state of health and would return to the country “in the next few days”
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