YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Cameroon on Friday set the next presidential election for Oct. 12, according to a statement from the country's longtime president. The vote comes at a key time for the west African nation whose 92-year-old leader has not ruled out that he would seek another term.
Paul Biya, Africa's second longest-serving president after Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, is frequently sick and abroad, and last year, talk spread that he had died, prompting the government to publicly deny the rumors.
The over 40 years of Biya’s stay in power has left a lasting impact. His government has faced various challenges, including allegations of corruption and a secessionist movement in Cameroon’s English-speaking provinces that has forced thousands out of school and triggered deadly clashes with security forces.
Cameroon has also had to deal with spillover violence by the Islamic extremist Boko Haram group, based in neighboring Nigeria.
Recently, several of Biya's longtime allies defected to announce their own candidacies for president.
Bello Bouba Maigari, Cameroon’s tourism minister, quit last week after Issa Tchiroma Bakary resigned as minister of employment and vocational training, both pitching themselves as the right candidates to succeed Biya.
Biya, in power since 1982, is also Cameroon’s second president since independence from France in 1960. Though he has not announced whether he would seek another term, he has hinted at accepting the ruling party’s requests for him to run again.
He cruised to victory in 2018 with over 70% of the vote in an election marred by irregularities and low turnout due to ongoing separatist and jihadi violence.
In a region threatened with shrinking democratic space, several other African countries also have presidents accused of using state mechanisms to prolong their stay in power. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni recently sought nomination for a seventh term, a move that would bring him closer to five decades in power in the East African country.
FILE - Cameroon President Paul Biya delivers a speech during a ceremony at the Boulouris National Cemetery in Boulouris-sur-Mer, south eastern France, Aug. 15, 2024. (Christophe Simon, Pool via AP, File)
PARIS (AP) — Power problems and a stuck train interrupted rail services through the undersea Channel Tunnel connecting the U.K. and continental Europe on Tuesday, operators said, stranding passengers during the busy end-of-year holidays.
At Paris' Gare du Nord station, Jamie and Issy Gill scrambled to find a flight back to the U.K. after their Eurostar train to London was canceled, desperate to be reunited with their baby boy after a getaway in the French capital.
“We came for my 30th birthday,” Issy Gill said, wiping away tears.
Jamie Gill said they'd have to take a roundabout route back, with a flight via Birmingham on Wednesday.
The Eurostar statement said its services “are suspended until further notice,” and advised passengers to rebook journeys for other days.
Eurostar — which runs passenger trains between London and Paris and other European destinations — blamed “overhead power supply issues in the Channel Tunnel” and what it said was a failed train operated by LeShuttle, which transports vehicles and their passengers between the ports of Calais, France, and Folkestone, England.
The 50-kilometer (32-mile) Channel Tunnel, more than half of it undersea, has revolutionized U.K.-Europe rail travel since its inauguration in 1994. But because it’s the only fixed cross-English Channel rail link, train services tend to be vulnerable to severe disruptions.
The Gare du Nord station heaved with frustrated passengers trying to book plane or bus tickets.
“I’m disgusted, disheartened,” said Sarah Omouri, a French traveler whose plans to celebrate the New Year in London were dashed.
“It’s been maybe a year since we’ve had a vacation,” she said. “We were made to get on the train, to get off, get on again, and get off again. Now we’re told that everything is fully booked for several days. It's ruined.”
In London, would-be traveler John Paul had expected to enjoy a romantic river cruise in Paris and a trip to the Eiffel Tower with his partner, Lucy, but their Eurostar got turned back before reaching the continent.
“We got probably about an hour down the track, maybe 40 minutes, and then they basically said the train’s got to stop, because the train ahead got a braking issue,” the 46-year-old Paul said.
“They kept telling us that the driver was trying to fix the brakes on this other train and that the other trains were then backed up," he said. "There’s no clear information and, obviously, we’ve lost a lot of money, haven’t we?”
The Channel Tunnel's operator, Eurotunnel, said in a separate statement that the power supply problem started overnight Monday in part of the tunnel, impacting passenger and vehicle travel by rail in both directions.
It said traffic through the tunnel was expected to resume gradually on Tuesday afternoon.
“A technical intervention is required, which is currently underway,” it said.
Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.
Travellers wait for Eurostar services at St Pancras International station in London, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
Travelers wait at the Gare du Nord station after an incident related to the power supply to trains occurred last night in part of the Channel Tunnel, affecting train and shuttle traffic. Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Travellers queue for Eurostar services at St Pancras International station in London, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025 after Eurostar asked train customers not to travel because of disruption in the Channel Tunnel. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The screen board displays the trains' arrival status at St Pancras International train station in London, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025 after Eurostar asked train customers not to travel because of disruption in the Channel Tunnel. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
Travelers queue for Eurostar services at St Pancras International station in London, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
Passengers queue to enter the Eurotunnel site in Folkestone in Kent, England, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (Gareth Fuller/PA via AP)
FILE - A train coming from London leaves the Northbound Channel tunnel in Calais, northern France, on Jan. 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
