President Biya arrives late for AU summit opening

Doubt lingered over the presence of Cameroon’s president at the opening of the 23rd Summit of the African Union as he arrived more than a quarter of an hour late.

While other heads of state took their places in the large conference room of the Palais des congrès de Sipopo, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea's capital, which housed the opening ceremony yesterday, the seat allocated to Cameroon was still empty.

The Minister of External Relations was visibly hesitant to take the chair reserved for the President of the Republic but upon hearing the announcement of the arrival of Heads of State and government in the room Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo had no choice but to take the seat of his ‘boss’ as the ceremony got underway.

Moments before the Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, delivers his speech Head of State Paul Biya and his wife make an appearance, much to the surprise of his minister who quickly rises to his feet as the president was directed to his seat.

After the pair exchanged a few words Mr Mbonjo moves to the row behind the president who had come straight from his flight from Yaoundé which touched down at the Malabo International Airport that morning.

Until Wednesday evening there was still a big question mark hanging over whether he would be making the trip to the summit at all. A question that makes perfect sense given that the Head of State has made quite a habit of not taking part in important meetings held in Africa.

In January Paul Biya snubbed his peers of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), which took place in N'Djamena, Chad. However, last May, the head of state did travel to Paris to take part in a security summit.

Maybe the Cameroonian president does not always attend meetings on the continent, but whenever his presence is necessary in Equatorial Guinea, he has always been there. Paul Biya took part in the 17th AU Summit, held in June 2011, Malabo. It was also the first time that the Cameroonian president attended a summit of the AU since the establishment of this institution in 2000.

The conference of Heads of State and Government, which opened yesterday in the presence of Equatorial Guinean President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, ran on the theme "Agriculture and food security."

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, chairman of the AU told participants to brainstorm on this theme and the summit, which ends today, should lead to the adoption of a declaration of the Heads of African States regarding agriculture and food security.