Two Mauritanian ministers have visited Yaoundé in the span of a week. President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani dispatched a second special envoy to the Palais de l’Unité on 24 June: Bessouda Mohamed Laghdaf, environment minister, carrying a sealed letter for Paul Biya. The stated goal: securing Cameroon’s backing for Coumba Bâ’s bid to become Secretary General of the International Organisation of the Francophonie.
A sealed letter, a 30-minute audience and a direct message
Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Minister of State and Secretary General of the Presidency, received the Mauritanian emissary late in the afternoon on behalf of Paul Biya, who was absent from Yaoundé. The meeting lasted roughly half an hour. Bessouda Mohamed Laghdaf made no attempt to conceal the purpose of her visit.
“We are carrying a message from the Mauritanian head of state, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, intended for his brother, President Paul Biya. We handed over this message under sealed cover to the Secretary General of the Presidency,” she told the press after leaving the Palais de l’Unité.
Two ministers in one week, a sealed letter for Biya — this is clearly a full-fledged campaign. Mauritanian Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug had paved the way on 18 June, carrying an initial message to the head of state.
The candidate Nouakchott is backing is Coumba Bâ, an adviser at the Mauritanian presidency. Minister Bessouda described Cameroon as a country capable of influencing the “balance between the different regions” that Mauritania hopes to embody with this candidacy.
A precedent at the African Development Bank and an open logic of reciprocity
The Mauritanian approach does not come out of nowhere. In 2025, Cameroon supported Sidi Ould Tah’s candidacy for the presidency of the African Development Bank. Mauritania won that election. Nouakchott now wants to replicate the pattern, this time for the OIF.
It is hard not to see a clear logic of reciprocity, almost openly claimed. 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 on Nouakchott’s radar. Cameroon is being courted on several fronts simultaneously.
It is not yet known what official response Yaoundé will give, nor when.
