Yaounde — There were isolated incidents of unrest in Cameroon on Sunday as voting began in an election widely expected to extend the rule of President Paul Biya, who is one of Africa’s last multi-decade leaders. While voting went on smoothly across much of the central African country, a drive by secessionists to disrupt the election meant not all polling stations were open in Anglophone regions and there were outbreaks of violence. Security forces shot dead at least three armed separatists in the northwest English-speaking town of Bamenda, a security source said. This report could not be verified independently. Elsewhere, a separatist fighter shot at a convoy of cars carrying journalists, but nobody was wounded, according to one witness.
Biya, 85, has ruled for 36 years and victory on Sunday would give him a seventh term, bucking a tentative trend in Africa towards presidential term limits. The only current African president to have ruled longer is Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro ...
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