Cameroon sets date for twice-delayed legislative and local elections

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Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has announced that legislative and local elections will be held in the country on February 7 next year. Biya, who is 93, made the announcement in a decree read on public radio on Monday. The decree comes at a tense moment for Cameroon, with authorities cracking down on the opposition, roughly a year after an election that handed Biya another term. Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, is the world’s oldest head of state. His re-election in October last year set off widespread protests that the authorities met with a violent crackdown. Lawyers cited by Human Rights Watch said security forces detained up to 2,000 people, and some of those detained remain in custody, according to the AFP news agency.