The UN appeals are late: Paul Biya—the 92-year-old ruler who has clung to power for more than four decades—has already prepared the script. By signing decrees that set parallel regional elections for November, he has sent a clear message: the October vote is not an open contest, but a ritual designed to legitimize his eighth term in office.
The Independentist editorial Desk
When United Nations officials in Geneva finally raised their voices this week about Cameroon’s upcoming October 12, 2025 “election,” their warning carried an air of inevitability rather than urgency. Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on Yaoundé to ensure free and transparent polls. He cited rising restrictions on opposition parties, bans on gatherings, the exclusion of political figures, and irregularities in voter registration.
But such appeals, however well-intentioned, arrive far too late. Paul Biya—the 92-year-old ruler who has clung to power for more than four decades—has already prepared the script. By signing decrees that set parallel regional elections for November, he has sent a clear message: the October vote is not an open contest, but a ritual designed to legitimize his eighth term in office.
A Familiar Pattern
This is not the first time the world has watched Biya tighten the noose on democracy. Since the early 1990s, every election cycle in Cameroon has been marred by manipulation, bans, and intimidation. Each time, the international community raises concerns, only to step back without meaningful enforcement. The result is a regime emboldened by the absence of consequences.
The Hollow Weight of Words
The UN’s statement, delivered just weeks before the polls, cannot undo the years of repression and calculated exclusion already in motion. Without sanctions, electoral observation with teeth, or Security Council engagement, these calls amount to little more than symbolic protest. Biya has perfected the art of dodging substance while offering shadows to appease outsiders.
Implications for Ambazonia
For Ambazonians, the UN’s eleventh-hour concern only confirms what has long been evident: Cameroon’s electoral rituals are not about democracy but about survival of a regime propped up by French interests and insulated from accountability. If the world’s leading human rights body cannot call this out for what it is—a selection, not an election—then Ambazonians must double down on the truth: our destiny cannot be determined by a fraudulent process in Yaoundé.
The UN’s words may echo in the halls of Geneva, but on the ground in Cameroon and Ambazonia, they are drowned out by decades of impunity. The international community must stop lending legitimacy to a dictatorship in disguise. Anything less is complicity.
— The Independentist editorial Desk
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