Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, who has ruled the central African country for more than 35 years, is holding his first cabinet meeting since 2015 on Thursday.
Little discussion is expected at the closed-door gathering and officials were not permitted to speak to members of the press. A brief letter calling his council of ministers to the Unity Palace did not reveal what topics would be discussed.
The meeting comes as Cameroon faces an election scheduled for October, in which 85-year-old Biya is expected to run again. The 85-year-old leader is currently dealing with an economy that is struggling due to low prices for Cameroon’s chief exports, oil and cocoa. The government is also having trouble beating back a violent separatist movement in its western Anglophone region.
Past cabinet meetings have been brief with one in 2011 lasting only ten minutes. In that event, Mr. Biya entered, read a speech then left.
At the last council in October 2015, shortly after a sweeping reshuffle, local press reported that Biya had ordered ministers to “accelerate preparations for the important sports celebrations” that Cameroon was to host, namely the women’s and men’s African Cup of Nations soccer matches scheduled, respectively, for 2016 and 2019.
Outside of such meetings, Biya often meets his ministers at the airport between private trips abroad with his wife Chantal, famed locally for her luxurious dresses and bouffant hairdo. Their favorite destination is Switzerland.
