Cameroon President Biya marks 40 years in power

(6 Nov 2022)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++CLIENTS NOTE: PLEASE SEE UPDATED SCRIPT AS OF 1945GMT WITH NAME OF SPEAKER IN SHOT 10++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Yaounde - 6 November 2022
1. Wide of Hotel De Ville, event location
2. Mid of blown up photo of Cameroon President Paul Biya
3. Senior politicians and officials
4. Mid of Senate President Marcel Niat Njifenji
5. Mid of Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute
6. Mid of representative of United Nations Development Programme
7. Various of officials
8. Women singing
9. Man reading a motion
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Ngouloure Mouliom Samule Albert, CPDM militant:
"The balance sheet is positive if we stick to what it has already done on the infrastructural level, we have new ministries that have been created during these 40 years. At the level of sport we have stadiums that have been built, upgraded or newly constructed roads."
11. Audience
12. Various of banners depicting Biya
13. Various of people singing and dancing
14. Various of political analyst, Dr Aristide Mono
15. SOUNDBITE (French) Dr Aristide Mono, political analyst:
"(40 years of renewal) is also a lot of years of corruption, of the fight against corruption because it must be remembered that Cameroon has on several occasions occupied the head or the ranking of the most corrupt countries in the world. 40 years of renewal is also 40 years of identity withdrawal in Cameroon with the flagrant case today of the Anglophone withdrawal which is manifested by the secessionist crisis and also the rise of tribalism."
16. Cutaway of Dr Mono
17. SOUNDBITE (French) Dr Aristide Mono, political analyst:
"He made choices that betrayed a certain openness, but in the end we realized that it was a closed opening with, for example, the question of the bullying of political and public freedoms under the illusion of a certain openness to freedom of expression. Today, another question is imposed on us, really that of knowing if the president of the republic will leave to Cameroonians a prosperous country, a country in peace which lives in peace, my answer will be, no, because today we realize that the President of the Republic has not matured the transition project, the alternation project, he has not taken the time to prepare as his predecessor had done, to prepare a successor, someone one who could inherit ample of his power."
18. Cutaway of Dr Mono
STORYLINE:
President Paul Biya of Cameroon marked 40 years in power Sunday but stayed out of the spotlight as questions swirled about the 89-year-old who is the only leader most of the country's people have ever known.
Biya has not appeared in public since French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Central African nation in July.
Decrees and photos of Biya receiving various diplomats are regularly posted on the president's social media accounts.
An event was scheduled at City Hall in Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, to commemorate the anniversary of his presidency, but Biya was not expected to attend.
Nearly 100 young adults marched through the streets of the country's largest city, Douala, days earlier carrying banners with photos of the president and messages that included “Paul Biya: 40 years of stability, freedom and democracy.”
Darling Nguevo, a critic of the Biya regime, alleged the government paid the marchers to show such support.
He and other opposition sympathizers said they planned to wear black on Sunday.
“November 6 is considered a day of national mourning because Mr. Biya inherited a rich, prosperous and growing country," Nguevo said. “And he set about unraveling every sector of life and society.”
He survived a 1984 coup attempt.

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