Private Stay in Europe

Paul Biya

French Newspaper says Biya’s health is preoccupying 
- But Issa Tchiroma says the allegations are false and ill-fated
By Franklin Sone Bayen
Top French newspaper, Le Monde has reiterated its claim that President Paul Biya, presently abroad, is hesitant to submit himself to surgery advised by doctors.  The paper had in a 13 March story said Biya was suffering from prostate cancer.
    However, in a quick development the day after, the paper watered down its original story categorical report that affirmed with certainty and apparent exactitude that President Paul Biya, 82, is suffering from prostate cancer.
    In a 14 March correction of the story, a professionally acceptable measure, the paper removed mention of “prostate cancer” and other details including a claim that the presidential couple own a home in Neuilly, France, that their two children attend school in Geneva and that the first lady was to undergo a “reconstruction” cervical surgery.
    It is not clear if the correction was requested on behalf of Cameroon’s presidential couple or if it was an internal editorial decision based on new findings or discovery of lapses in the original story. A Cameroonian news portal, Cameroon-Concord.Com was quick to spot conspiracy in the story. In a 14 March commentary titled “Biya’s Visit to Europe: Cameroon Is a Target for International Blackmail”, Concord editor, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai says, “Le Monde has joined Jeune Afrique in a vicious campaign against Cameroon and its leadership.”

    When the story broke last Friday, the paper’s online edition said the president and his wife, Chantal, were using their “private visit” in Europe since 2 March, to seek medical help for terminal ailments. In its original story titled “Cameroon: The Presidential Couple Abroad and in Poor Health”, Le Monde said Biya was hesitant to undergo an operation.
    The paper said the first lady was, for her part, at Neuilly in Paris, France for a “reconstruction” surgery following a 2013 cervical surgery that kept her out of the country for many months. It suggested that for confidentiality sake, Cameroonians working at the American Hospital where the first lady would be interned, had been sent home. Le Monde said Biya was later travelling to be with his wife in France, where they would be staying at their “private residence” in Neuilly.
    The original story said the two children from Paul and Chantal’s marriage were attending school in Geneva, where Biya was “conferred the status of honorary citizen a few years back and where he spends more than half the year” at the luxurious Intercontinental Hotel, not far from UN offices.
    But in its modified version, with the title “Cameroon: The Presidential Couple is in Geneva and on Medical Checkups”, Le Monde simply said the kids had attended school there and their daughter Brenda Anastasie stopped by there the previous week, before proceeding to the United States where she is now pursuing her studies.
    In further corrections, Le Monde, which in its original story was categorical that the president’s prostate ailment was the reason for his present stay abroad, now says he is in Geneva for “family reasons and for medical consultations”.
    From its categorical claim that the presidential couple had gone separate ways, Paul to Geneva and Chantal to France, Le Monde now reports in the conditional. It says after they both checked into Intercontinental, “Chantal seems to have used the opportunity to swing over to France.”
    Still sounding unsure, the paper says the first lady was spotted in Lyon, France on 10 March, alighting from a train coming from Geneva, Switzerland. It says she went to the American Hospital in Neuilly for follow up checks after a 2013 surgery.
    Further casting doubts on the credibility of its original story, Le Monde wonders: “Did she return to her husband in Geneva the same day, or did she stay in Paris at the Maillot Villa in Neuilly-sur-Seine which the presidential couple use?” That casts doubts on original claims that they own the villa.
    Continuing in its reverted cautious reporting on the whereabouts of the first lady, Le Monde says “There are divergent versions, some saying they saw her on the shores of Leman [Lake Geneva -Ed] on Thursday, 12 March, others affirming that she left Neuilly since 10 March.” Both versions imply she is not in France, though Le Monde had claimed in its original story that she was still in France.
    Le Monde maintains its claim, though, that Biya is hesitating to submit himself to surgery against the advice of his doctors.
     Reacting to the allegations by Le Monde, Communication Minister, Issa Tchiroma described them as “abject, ill-fated and malicious. He said contrary to what the newspaper said President Paul Biya and his wife Chantal Biya are enjoying their short private stay in Europe and their state of health is in no circumstance to be worried about.