President Paul Biya presented, before the national constituted bodies and the diplomatic corps gathered at the Etoudi Palace on January 8, 2026, the report of Cameroon’s mandate as president of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, which ended on September 9, 2025. The Head of State claimed a diplomatic sequence placed under the promotion of dialogue, multilateralism and international solidarity, in a global context described as “particularly difficult” .
“We were able to successfully complete this mission thanks to the support of the entire international community. (…) In a particularly challenging international environment, Cameroon continued, on this occasion, to work with conviction to strengthen multilateralism and international solidarity ,” declared Paul Biya. He also welcomed the “progress made together to make the international system better able to respond to current global challenges . ”
This mandate was embodied by Philemon Yang, elected president of the 79th UN General Assembly on June 6, 2024. Upon taking office, the former Cameroonian Prime Minister placed his presidency under the banner of “unity in diversity ,” with the ambition of creating “an environment where everyone can be heard .” In his roadmap, he presented multilateralism as an active instrument for crisis management.
Philemon Yang had notably pledged to foster dialogue on several major flashpoints: Haiti, facing gang violence; the Gaza Strip; Ukraine; and the Great Lakes region of Africa. He had also framed his actions around the promotion of peace, justice, and sustainable development, while emphasizing the defense of human dignity, multilingualism, gender equality, and greater representation of women in national delegations.
A plea for strengthening the role of the UN
It is in the light of this orientation that Paul Biya welcomed several achievements of the mandate: the adoption of the Pact for the Future and its annexes on global digitalization and future generations, as well as the Yaoundé Declaration on the sustainable blue economy, resulting from the international conference organized in Cameroon in July 2025. For the Head of State, these advances illustrate the capacity of multilateralism to produce compromises in the face of global challenges — climate change, digital divide, armed conflicts — provided there is political support from member states.
In his speech, Paul Biya warned against the rise of power politics, the erosion of international law, and the temptation to resort to force. “The path of arms and violence is very often a dead end. If we continue down this path, ladies and gentlemen of the diplomatic corps, there is reason to fear that the international system, which we have spent so much time and effort building, will ultimately collapse ,” he cautioned, calling for a strengthening of the UN’s role. This message echoes the approach advocated by Philemon Yang: an inclusive multilateralism based on listening, negotiation, and the recognition of the diversity of interests.
In defending this record, Paul Biya sought to position Cameroon as a consensus-builder in a fragmented world. The announced hosting of the 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Yaoundé in March 2026 follows the same logic. “This will be a further opportunity to highlight the virtues of multilateralism, in a context where the temptation to return to unilateralism is growing ever stronger ,” he emphasized.
Through this sequence, the head of state defends the idea of a mandate that is not merely honorary, but imbued with a political vision: an international order founded on cooperation rather than confrontation. “A lasting and just peace, which alone can truly guarantee the survival of humanity, necessarily requires other means, which cannot be those of war ,” affirmed Paul Biya, reiterating his plea for a stronger United Nations “at the service of our humanity . ”
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