Cameroon's President Paul Biya signed orders on Monday changing who holds top jobs in the country's military. He signed them from Geneva, Switzerland, where he has been staying since leaving Cameroon on 7 June. His team called the trip a "brief private stay" (BBC).

This is not a one-time event. In June this year, Biya promoted several military and security officers to higher ranks. That followed a March 2026 army reshuffle published on the presidency's official website (presidency of Cameroon). Before that, he made defence appointments during his campaign for an eighth term in last year's presidential election. At the time, Reuters reported that the then 92-year-old wanted to make Cameroon a "fortress" (Reuters.

The frequent military changes are connected to what is happening in the neighbourhood. Three years ago, a surprise coup in next-door Gabon removed the Bongo family, who had ruled that country for over 50 years. That event shook other long-ruling governments in Central Africa. Several of them stay in power the same way Biya does: by holding office for a very long time, rewarding loyal supporters with jobs and money (a system called patronage), and keeping tight control over the military and police.

Biya has now been away from Cameroon for nearly 60 days. During that time, he has signed several orders from Geneva, including ones allowing his government to agree to loans with international banks. governing from abroad has drawn sharp criticism from opposition politicians. Mamadou Mota, vice-president of the CRM opposition party, said Biya's absence means Cameroon has a "glaring institutional vacuum" and that a country cannot be run by remote control while serious problems go unaddressed (BBC).

The government has pushed back. Communication Minister René Emmanuel Sadi told the broadcaster RFI that the president is alive and will return to Cameroon soon. He rejected opposition claims that Biya's long absence left the country without a leader, saying the president continues to work from Geneva.

Rumours about Biya's health have circulated throughout his absence, though the government has repeatedly denied reports that he has been in hospital. Two years ago, Cameroon banned media from reporting on Biya's health, which angered press freedom groups. The lack of clear information about what the president is doing in Geneva and how long he will stay has frustrated many people in Cameroon.

There are also promises that have not been kept and jobs that have not been filled. After last year's election, Biya promised to name a new cabinet (the group of government ministers) but has not done so. A new vice-president position created in April also remains empty. On 22 July, Cameroon's ruling party held a rare meeting of its senior leaders as criticism over the president's absence mounted (Reuters.

The broader context here is a country facing several problems at once: a leader who has been away for a long time, government positions that were supposed to be filled but were not, and a military whose leaders keep getting changed by orders from abroad. Biya announced he would seek an eighth term in July 2025, saying he was responding to "numerous and insistent" calls to run (Reuters. In the October 2025 election, he faced a former minister but won, extending a rule that began in 1982. The period since then has been marked by the very problems critics warned about during the campaign: no cabinet formed, no vice-president named, and a president running the country from a Swiss hotel instead of the presidential palace in Yaoundé.

What makes this moment different is that three things are happening at once, and Biya has dealt with each one before but never all together: a long absence abroad that is damaging his credibility at home, a vice-president role that was created to ease worries about who comes next but sits empty, and a military being reshuffled so often that it looks less like routine management and more like an effort to prevent challenges to his rule. Think of it like a company whose CEO has been working from another country for two months, has not hired the deputy CEO the board created specifically to cover for him, and keeps reassigning senior security staff by email. Each military change since the Gabon coup has moved officers in roles that matter for keeping the government in place. Doing this from Geneva, while the ruling party holds emergency meetings and the opposition says there is a vacuum, puts the military in a strange position: following orders from a commander-in-chief whose actual presence in the country is publicly disputed.

The pattern of military orders fits with how Biya has always governed. He has long used appointments in the security forces as a main tool for staying in control. Cameroon's defence ministry has seen changes in August 2019, February 2021, and now more frequent ones in 2025 and 2026 (presidency of Cameroon. What is different now is that each reshuffle happens while more and more people are asking who is really in charge.