Money in the pipeline

Biya still looks like the only show in town but critics keep the loyalists on their toes

With first oil from the Chad-Cameroon pipeline set to reach Kribi port in September, this new source of revenue will come at a perfect time for President Paul Biya to seek re-election in October 2004. He has not yet made his intentions clear but the disarray of the opposition appears to leave the way open for him to sweep the board once again though even the ruling Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple Camerounais (RDPC) is not immune to dissent (AC Vol 43 No 17). Biya owes his hold on power to a north-south (or Peul-Béti) alliance of the same kind used by the country's first President, Ahmadou Ahidjo and the northern vote is key to giving him another seven-year term as President. There has been speculation that Biya, now 70, may not serve a full term, though.

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Chad, Paul Biya, Ahmadou Ahidjo, Mila Assoute, Samuel Ze Bembe, Samuel Efoua Mbozo'o, Mve Elemva, Christian Penda Ekoka, Grégoire Owona, Peter Mafani Musonge, Yaou Aïssatou, Antar Gassagay, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Bello Bouba Maïgari, Hamadou Moustapha, Garga Haman Adji, Dakolé Daïssala, Maidadi Saïdou Yaya, John Fru Ndi, Evariste Fopoussi Fotso, Samuel Tchwenko, Yves Epacka, Gabonais, Omar Bongo, Sénégalais, Ivoirien, Laurent Gbagbo, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Fred Alobwede Ebong, Britain, Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple Camerounais, Livre blanc du groupe pour la modernisation du RDPC, Mémorandum sur les problèmes du Grand Nord, Union pour la République, Union Nationale pour la Démocratie et le Progrès, Alliance Démocratique pour la Démocratie et le Progrès, Alliance pour la Démocratie et le Développement, Mouvement des Républicains, Alliance des Forces Progressistes, Rassemblement du Peuple Gabonais, Parti Démocratique Sénégalais, Front Populaire Ivoirien, Communauté Economique et Monétaire de l'Afrique Centrale

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