Two Mauritanian ministers visited Yaoundé within a single week. On 24 June, President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani dispatched a second special envoy to the Unity Palace: Bessouda Mohamed Laghdaf, Minister of the Environment, carrying a sealed letter for Paul Biya. The stated goal is to secure Cameroon’s support for Coumba Bâ’s candidacy for the post of Secretary General of the International Organisation of La Francophonie.
A sealed letter, a thirty-minute audience and a straightforward message
Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Minister of State and Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, received the Mauritanian envoy late in the afternoon on behalf of Paul Biya, who was absent from Yaoundé. The meeting lasted about thirty minutes. Bessouda Mohamed Laghdaf made no attempt to hide the purpose of her visit.
“We are carrying a message from the Mauritanian head of state, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, addressed to his brother, President Paul Biya. We handed over this message in a sealed envelope to the Secretary General of the Presidency,” she told the press upon leaving the Unity Palace.
Two ministers in one week, a sealed letter for Biya – this is clearly a full-fledged campaign. The Mauritanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, had paved the way on 18 June, carrying a first message to the head of state.
The candidate backed by Nouakchott is Coumba Bâ, an adviser at the Mauritanian presidency. Minister Bessouda presented Cameroon as a country capable of influencing “the balance between the different regions” which Mauritania hopes to embody with this candidacy.
A precedent at the African Development Bank and an acknowledged logic of reciprocity
The Mauritanian move is not without precedent. In 2025, Cameroon supported the candidacy of Sidi Ould Tah for the presidency of the African Development Bank. Mauritania won that contest. Now Nouakchott aims to replicate the pattern, this time for the OIF.
It is hard not to see an acknowledged, almost asserted logic of reciprocity. The Mauritanian minister even spoke of a “win-win partnership” in front of the press.
Consultations within the OIF, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Islamic Development Bank are in Nouakchott’s sights. Cameroon is being approached on several fronts simultaneously.
No official response from Yaoundé has yet been announced, nor is it known when one will come.
