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Authorities dismiss rumours of ill health as ‘pure fantasy’, set up ‘monitoring cells’ to track online debate.

Cameroon has banned the media from discussing the health of 91-year-old President Paul Biya, who has not been seen in public since early September.

Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji this week imposed the ban, stating in a letter dated October 9 that “debate in the media” on the president’s health was “strictly prohibited”, and ordering that “monitoring cells” charged with tracking online content be set up.

The letter, which was addressed to regional governors and bore a red stamp reading “highly urgent”, said that discussions on the health of the nonagenarian president were “a matter of national security”, warning that anyone violating the order would “face the full force of the law”.

Biya was last seen in public at the China-Africa summit in Beijing a month ago. Since then, he has not attended gatherings at which he had been expected, including the United Nations General Assembly in New York or a summit of French-speaking countries in Paris.

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