Samuel Mvondo Ayolo

Cameroon
Paul Biya sides with British American Tobacco

Under President Biya's high orders, Agriculture Minister Henri Eyebe Ayissi has dropped the decision to expropriate British American Tobacco Cameroon from prime land in Yaoundé, despite having agreed to it only a few months earlier.

Cameroon
Presidency's secretary general probes state property dealings

The Cameroonian presidency's general secretary has called for the setting up of a joint commission to investigate the allocation of state-owned plots of land.

Cameroon
News channel Africa 24 back in court in France

Publishing company A Média, which runs news station Africa 24, has been summoned to appear before the Nanterre Commercial Court in the Paris suburbs on 4 June. The indebted company faces compulsory liquidation proceedings, five years after its takeover by the Cameroonian state.

Cameroon
Fecafoot rift places presidential 'high orders' in spotlight

Aides of Paul Biya see the tug-of-war between the government and football chief Samuel Eto'o as an opportunity to weaken the power of the president's secretary-general, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.

Cameroon
Business leaders divided over plan to merge employers' bodies

Private sector chiefs don't see eye to eye about the merging of two organisations representing their interests. Both camps are trying to rally support, right up to the highest echelons of state.

Palace Intrigues
Mamadi Doumbouya, Paul Biya, Mohamed Benchaaboun and Zinedine Zidane

Intrigues big and small... Every Tuesday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond. This week: Mamadi Doumbouya's luxury watch collection, Paul Biya's NY wishes cull, Mohammed VI snubs ex-ambassador Mohamed Benchaaboun and French VIPs celebrate NYE in Marrakech.

Guinea Colonel Doumbouya's €400,000 wristwatch

Cameroon Everyone wants their New Year's photo with Biya

Morocco Glacial reception for Mohamed Benchaaboun in Rabat

France-Morocco Zidane among French VIPs in Marrakech for NYE

Palace Intrigues
Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Mohammed VI, Kandia Kamissoko Camara, André-Magnus Ekoumou

Intrigues big and small... Every Tuesday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.

CAR Touadéra dispatches advisers for support in France

France/Morocco Moroccan ambassador to France in no hurry to leave

Ivory Coast Foreign ministry sees spies everywhere

Cameroon André-Magnus Ekoumou still has one foot in each port

Cameroon
RDPC looks to post-Biya future ahead of party conference

Elections to the local institutions of the ruling RDPC have now come to an end. The stakes are high, since those appointed to senior positions will be able to take part in the next party conference (the first since 2011), which could very well be decisive in terms of who succeeds Paul Biya.

Angola
Former Iraqi general Georges Sada looks to Lourenço, Biya and Tshisekedi for oil contracts

The former Iraqi general has now turned to the oil industry and is eyeing markets in Angola, the DRC and Cameroon with the help of a local consultancy.

Cameroon
While rumours of his son's ambitions rage online, Paul Biya plots his succession

While the president and his chief of staff Samuel Mvondo Ayolo draw up secret plans for his succession behind palace walls, Cameroon's political bigwigs are making moves in the shadows. Out in the open, the possibility of his son Franck Biya taking over is causing a buzz online.