Cameroon’s government has banned public discussions about the health of President Paul Biya, terming it a national security issue.

The directive comes as the authorities continue to dispel rumours that the 91-year-old veteran leader has died in a foreign country.

Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji said in a statement on Thursday that the head of state is the first institution of the republic and any debate about his health is a national security issue.

“All debate in the media about the health of the President of the Republic is consequently formally prohibited,” Atanga Nji said, warning that “offenders will have to face the rigour of the law”.

The minister directed regional governors to create monitoring units to record programmes and debates in the private and social media and identify authors of “tendentious comments”.

Social media has been inundated with discussions about the poor health and of the Cameroonian leader, who has been away from public view since he was seen on television leaving Beijing on September 8, after participating in the Summit on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac).

On Tuesday, the government said the leader was in an excellent state of health and would be back in the country “in the next few days”.

The Minister of Communication and Government Spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi said: “The government of the republic unequivocally affirms that these rumours are pure fantasy and imagination on the part of their authors and hereby wishes to formally debunk such rumours.”

He said that President Biya had granted himself a brief private stay in Europe after the Focac, in which he took an active part.

“However, he remains, as usual, and wherever he may be, attentive to the development of national life,” the minister added.

In a separate release, Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, director of the President’s Cabinet, added that: “the Head of State continues to exercise his duties in Geneva and has never departed the city following his visit to Beijing.”

Cameroonians are not new to the President’s “brief private stay in Europe” as his Cabinet always announces, though the duration is usually the opposite of what is announced. The latest disappearance of close to 40 days now however has aroused Cameroonians’ interest.