Cameroon's President Paul Biya, 93, has reshuffled the country's military, appointing new officials to key army positions and promoting five colonels to brigadier general, amid mounting unease over his prolonged absence from the country. Biya has not appeared in public for nearly two months and has been staying in Geneva, Switzerland, since leaving Cameroon on 7 June for what officials described as a "brief private stay", fuelling speculation about his health and the running of the state.

Among those promoted is Raymond Jean Charles Beko'o Abondo, reappointed as commander of the presidential guard, a post he has held since 2013. Such reshuffles are common under Biya at moments of scrutiny, following similar moves after Gabon's 2023 coup and during last year's contested eighth-term election bid. Cameroon's communication minister has insisted Biya is alive and working from Geneva and will return soon, while the opposition CRM party has accused the government of leaving a "glaring institutional vacuum", noting that a promised new cabinet and a newly created vice-presidential post remain unfilled.