Cameroon: L'etat c'est Biya? Whilst the world media's attention is resolutely focused on the perceived attempt by Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe to cling to power, elsewhere on the continent, another president has without any fracas, moved to lengthen his time in office. Tansa Musa reports from Yaounde.

Cameroonian president, Paul Biya, who has been in power for 25 years, had parliament vote in April, to scrap the presidential term limit in order for him to run for the presidency again in 2011. Which means if he wins at the next elections, (which is likely), he would stay in power until 2018 when he will be 85.

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Biya, who came to power in 1982, revised the constitution 12 years ago, extending then, the presidential term of office from five to seven years.

It was no surprise that this time round, once in parliament, the bill would easily be approved because Biya's ruling party has an overwhelming majority. The president has since signed into law the constitutional change and he is now in a position to extend his 25-year rule.

The situation in the country is however not one of public joy. For example, travelling by public transport from Cameroon's main economic city of Douala to the capital Yaounde used to take at most three hours. But since the beginning of March, the journey has taken about five hours. This is due to the multiplication of security checkpoints on the highway.

Unlike before, when they were manned by police and gendarmes, the checkpoints are now controlled by armed soldiers who conduct thorough searches in every vehicle including overturning seats and ransacking luggage. "Will you shut up and do what you are told!," this writer was told at gunpoint as he dared to question what was going on at one of the checkpoints.

Although not officially confirmed, this tight security is increasingly being linked to the sad events that gripped 31 cities and towns in five provinces in late February. A government decision to increase fuel prices triggered a taxi drivers' strike that quickly degenerated into riots and massive destruction of property and loss of life.

In reaction, the authorities deployed large numbers of police, gendarmes and soldiers to try to restore order. But the excessive use of force resulted in further violent clashes.

Things came to a head when on the night of 27 February, President Paul Biya, shaken by the events, addressed the nation on state TV. "Our country is witnessing a situation which brings back unpleasant memories of a period we thought was long gone," said the sombre-faced president.

But instead of pacifying the enraged population, the president accused his political opponents, whom he referred to as "apprentice sorcerers", of fomenting the unrest to seize power through the back door.

"For some people, who by the way did not hide their intention, the objective is to obtain through violence what they were unable to obtain through the ballot box ... these apprentice sorcerers who manipulated these youths from behind the scenes were not bothered about the risk that they made them run by exposing them to confrontations with the forces of law and order," he said.

Taking a cue from the president, some of his ministers named the main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) leader, John Fru Ndi, as the said "apprentice sorcerer", with some suggesting that his party be banned.

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Fru Ndi quickly dismissed Biya's claims, saying the people had only seized the opportunity offered by the taxi drivers' strike to express their "deep-rooted frustrations and despair". He described Biya as "an absentee landlord" who was out of touch with his people. Adamau Ndam Njoya, head of the second main opposition party in parliament, the Cameroon Democratic Union (CDU), joined in, expressing shock at the president's attitude and urged him to find an appropriate solution rather than look for scapegoats.

The media was also targeted. The private TV station, Equinoxe, and other radio stations were shut down in Douala, while in Yaounde, heavily armed gendarmes stormed Magic FM radio, seized its computers and other broadcasting equipment after participants in a talk show criticised the president.

Much of the anger expressed during the unrest came from youths, the majority of whom were unemployed university graduates and other school leavers who due to the lack of suitable jobs, have either resorted to roaming the streets or have become motorcycle taxi drivers, (popularly known as "bendskiners"), truck pushers, or hawkers, in order to make ends meet.

The riots came against a background of growing discontent over Biya's announcement last December to modify Article 6.2 of the constitution which limits the presidential term to "seven years renewable once".

This provision, according to Biya, who is 75 years old and has been in power for the past 25 years, "imposes a limitation of the people's will, a limitation which is out of tune with the very idea of democratic choice".

Biya was determined to go ahead with the move, taking advantage of his party's comfortable majority in parliament (it has 153 of the 180-seat House).

Several other African countries have in the past removed the presidential term limit without much media and international condemnation.

They include: President Omar Bongo, who came to power in 1967 and is Africa's longest serving ruler. He secured a change in the law in 2003 and the country now has no limit to how many times a president can seek re-election. Tunisia's president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, won approval in 2002 reforms, to let him keep standing for re-election.

President Blaise Compaore's Burkina Faso removed the two year limit in 1997. Chad's president Idriss Deby won a third term in 2006 after a referendum the year before removed a two-term limit.

Guinea's Lansana Conte, won disputed elections in 2003 after a change in the constitution allowed him a third term.

In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, won a re-election in 2006 after he changed the constitution in 2005 to let him stand for a third term.