Gabon: Will Bongo's Death Signal a New Chapter?

By Arsène Séverin

Brazzaville — As Omar Bongo Ondimba, the Gabonese president who died at age 73 in Barcelona on Jun. 8, is buried in Franceville in the south-west of Gabon on Thursday, his 41-year-reign as absolute ruler of this oil-producing country of 1.5 million has received mixed reviews.

In neighbouring Congo, a seven-day period of national mourning has been declared. Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso was closely aligned with Bongo; his daughter, Edith Lucie, was married to the Gabonese president at the time of her own death in March.
Bongo was instrumental in negotiations between former enemies in Congo's 1997-1998 civil war. Sassou Nguesso returned to power for the second time in October 1997 after Angolan troops helped him depose the incumbent, Pascal Lissouba, in October 1997. Bongo mediated the accord in December 1999 between Sassou Nguesso and many of his rivals for power, and a later national dialogue in 2001 that further consolidated his government and permitted his opponents to return from exile.

Several members of the Congolese opposition have acknowledged Bongo's role in enabling their return to the country. Although deposed President Lissouba and his two prime ministers, did not participate in the dialogue, Jacques Joachim Yhombi Opango and Bernard Kolelas subsequently returned to the Congo in 2005 and 2007 respectively.
"It is thanks to him (Bongo) that we were able to speak, and we were able to destroy weapons held by civilians," says Michel Ngakala, high commissioner for the re-integration of ex-combatants of the Congo.

Too close to France

But according to less forgiving analysts, Bongo sold his own country, Gabon, to France. "He was practically the Vice-President of France, responsible for Africa. He knew everything about France's involvement in Africa, even coups. Either he was financing them or supporting them - as was the case in the Central African Republic when Ange Félix Patassé left, or in the Congo with Pascal Lissouba's departure,' Ernest Ibambo, a sociologist and researcher in Brazzaville told IPS. "(Bongo) was France's valet in Africa."

Some critics, including French ones, accuse President Bongo of financing the campaigns of presidential election candidates in France. After Bongo's death, former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing also accused his former rival Jacques Chirac of having received financial support from the Gabonese president for the 1981 presidential election. The accusation has been rejected by those close to Chirac.

Journalist Joseph Bital Bitemo, author of a documentary entitled "De Gaulle, man of Brazzaville", sees things differently. "I do not subscribe to the view that Bongo sold Gabon to France. It was a reciprocal relationship. Bongo had very privileged relations with all the French presidents of the Fifth Republic, but he never sold his country. Those who say so make a shallow analysis,' he tells IPS.

Bital Bitemo added, "While managing crises, Bongo used money, strength and tact. This is a combination of forces France-Africa will miss (referring to relations between France and some African states). A noticeable gap will be created."
Domestic legacy

However other observers believe the man did nothing for socio-economic conditions in his country. "Here's the proof - if everything was going well in his country, he wouldn't have gone to die far away in Europe. The recent general strikes in the health sector show that Bongo achieved nothing. Instead, he realised the dream of all dictators; dying peacefully while still in power, "says Bouka Owoko.

In fact, in spite of its natural resources, notably oil, minerals and timber, Gabon ranks 124th out of 177 countries, according to the 2007 UNDP report on human development. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), only 14 percent of Gabonese can afford a doctor's consultation.

In 2007, Gabon's debt stood at $2.5 billion including $ 1.1 billion owed to France, while the country imported 60 percent of its food. Also, according to UNDP, 33 percent of Gabonese live on less than one dollar a day.

Professor Hervé Diata, Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Brazzaville, says the situation in Gabon is not good. "This is a cash economy based on oil and mining. No effort is made to create competition. Gabon's economy cannot survive like this much longer.
"The death of Bongo will not change things. The new authorities must shift attitudes by incorporating the concept of good governance. This has been the case in Mali and Ghana, where the departure of rulers has produced a powerful economic system," says Diata. "The way I see it, the economic situation in Gabon is very negative," he adds.

"Those who criticise his economic record must also recognise that he created almost constant growth in Gabon, even if there was little development," says President Sassou Nguesso.
Gabon's gross domestic product grew by three percent in 2008, according to the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa. According to the UNDP, growth was two percent in 2005, against 0.7% in 2003.

Who leads Gabon next?

Thoughts in the country - and the region - have turned to the future. Boaka Owoko says, "This is an opportunity; Gabon must hold honourable elections and prevent the ghosts of the past, particularly Bongo's children, from returning to perpetuate the system with the help of fraudsters and cheats. Because if they do, in an instant the country will begin to regress. We need to close the Bongo chapter. '

For the moment, he has been succeeded by the president of the senate, Rose Francine Rogombé, as interim head of state in line with the constitution.
Roger Bouka Owoko tells IPS, "We congratulate the people of Gabon for following the constitution. But it would be even better if they could successfully organise free and fair elections. This would truly be an appropriate succession to the Bongo era.' Owoko is executive director of the Congolese Observatory of Human Rights, a non-governmental organisation based in Brazzaville, the capital of Congo, a country with which Gabon shares its longest border to the east.

She is expected to organise a presidential election - in which she cannot be a candidate - within 45 days.

Late Gabon President Omar Bongo 'funded' Jacques Chirac presidential campaign

Gabon's late president, Omar Bongo Ondimba, funnelled money into Jacques Chirac's 1981 presidential campaign, according to Valerie Giscard d'Estaing, the former French president – an allegation that Mr Chirac dismissed yesterday as "totally unfounded".

By Henry Samuel in Paris

Jacques Chirac and Omar Bongo on August 30, 2000 Photo: AFP

In a startling new claim concerning France's murky past ties with African leaders, Mr Giscard said the 73-year old Gabonese premier who died on Monday spent years building up a "very questionable financial network", and that he had broken off ties with him when he allegedly helped fund Mr Chirac's bid for the presidency.

"As you know, we don't accept foreign funds to support candidates in France," Mr Giscard said in a radio interview, recalling the 1981 campaign when he was seeking a second presidential term.

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"I learned that Bongo was financially supporting Jacques Chirac," Mr Giscard alleged.

"I called Bongo and told him 'you're supporting my rival's campaign' and there was a dead silence that I still remember to this day and then he said 'Ah, you know about it', which was extraordinary.

"From that moment on, I broke off personal relations with him," said Mr Giscard, who went on to lose to Francois Mitterrand, his Socialist rival, in a run-off vote in 1981.

Mr Chirac dismissed the allegations yesterday as "totally unfounded."

"They spring from a mediocre row," he said.

Mr Giscard, who lost a presidential run-off in 1981 to François Mitterrand, has never forgiven Mr Chirac for failing to call on his supporters to vote for him. The two have barely been on speaking terms since, and ignore each other when they meet at France's constitutional council – open to all ex-presidents.

Mr Chirac was yesterday defended by his former prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, who said it was pointless looking for "scapegoats or explanations for a past defeat".

Charles Pasqua, another former Chirac aide, said he had no knowledge of illegal party financing from Mr Bongo's coffers.

"I have never heard, including from Bongo, that he helped finance someone's campaign It must be a sign of age," said the former interior minister, who was cleared of charges in a vast corruption case involving the formerly state-owned oil giant Elf.

During the 2003 trial, Elf's former chief testified about huge Elf slush funds used to finance French political parties.

Mr Bongo, who ruled oil-rich Gabon for more than four decades, had come to symbolise "la FrançAfrique" – France's shadowy system of maintaining huge control over African leaders in former colonies through a web of opaque dealings.

Nicolas Sarkozy promised to develop a more transparent relationship with African leaders. His first port of call in Africa after winning the presidency, however, was to Gabon to see Mr Bongo, whom he described this week as a "great and loyal friend of France." "He was a president who didn't care about his citizens," said Eva Joly, a former investigating magistrate in the Elf inquiry and now a euro MP.

"He served France's interests and French politicians well."

"The oil boom did not benefit the Gabonese. It benefited us. France has a great debt toward Gabon for having kept Bongo in power all these years," she said.

The controversy shifted to the Left yesterday, as one Socialist parliamentarian said that Mr Bongo had bankrolled numerous electoral campaigns both Right and Left.

"We heard about it. Alas, I'm afraid it was a little true," said André Vallini, adding that François Mitterrand's two presidential terms "were not perfectly clear" regarding his ties to Africa.

Credit: The Telegraph

As the corrupt dictator of Gabon dies,another in Angola is accused of 'squandering oil billions'

By Declan Walsh in Luanda

• • NORMAL
  • LARGE
  • EXTRA LARGAs the threat of starvation sweeps across war-ravaged Angola, its secretive government is coming under pressure to explain how billions of pounds in oil revenues have gone missing.

Pictured: Omar Bongo

As the threat of starvation sweeps across war-ravaged Angola, its secretive government is coming under pressure to explain how billions of pounds in oil revenues have gone missing.

A fresh humanitarian crisis has hit Angola since fighting with Unita rebels ended in April. Three million people are on the edge of famine.

Angola's President, Eduardo dos Santos, has appealed for international help, pleading that his government is broke.

But a swelling chorus of diplomats, campaigners and angry Angolans is asking why he is unable to pay his way out of trouble when his government earns billions of pounds from a burgeoning oil exploration business that will soon rival that of Nigeria as Africa's largest.

And while only a tiny amount is spent on helping suffering Angolans, every year a large chunk of the profits – between 20 and 35 per cent – mysteriously disappears. Last year, for example, the International Monetary Fund estimated the oil revenues at £2bn, of which £750m simply vanished.

Campaigners such as the UK advocacy group Global Witness call it "wholesale state robbery". They say that Angola's vast oil profits are disappearing into the pockets of the Futungo – a secret, powerful élite linked to President dos Santos – on a scale similar to the excesses of the notorious kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire.

Western oil companies such as BP, Shell and Chevron stand accused of refusing to reveal their annual payments to the Angolan government.

Patrick Nicholson of Cafod, a British aid agency involved in a "Publish What You Pay" campaign, said: "Billions of pounds have gone missing, money that should be used to buy food and medicine and reconstruct the country. Oil companies could play an important part in bringing the government to book."

The campaigners, led by the American financier George Soros, hope that Tony Blair, the French President, Jacques Chirac, and other world leaders will endorse the initiative at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg next week.

In a submission to the United Nations Security Council, a British official pointed out that the UN is struggling to raise £147m for Angola – the equivalent of three weeks' oil profits for the government.

Just where the missing billions have gone is unclear, but the dilapidated streets of Luanda offer some clues. Fleets of the latest BMW, Mercedes and Jaguar cars roar along the sewage-laced roads past the armies of ragged, homeless people on the pavements.

Many are driven by government employees or associates. But it goes deeper. Earlier this year Global Witness published the number of a $1bn bank account in the British Virgin Islands. The money was controlled, it says, by unnamed figures connected to the Futungo.

The Futungo, a cabal of powerful military, business and political figures, is shrouded in mystery. It is thought to consist of about 200 families; analysts refer to it as Angola's "parallel government".

But a glossy magazine called Tropical, sold on Luanda's street corners, offers a glimpse into the lifestyles of the exclusive set. Hello!-style photo spreads show designer-clad Angolans enjoying themselves; the latest issue features parties in London, Lisbon and Luanda.

The extravagance contrasts with the lives of most of Angola's 13 million people, who have slim hopes of getting a job, an education or even staying alive for very long; the average life expectancy is 45.

The ruling MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) denies corruption but acknowledges the need for changes in how oil money is spent.

But the rot has spread to all levels of governance.In the eastern town of Luena, the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières has cut aid to the local hospital because supplies kept disappearing. These days it is a dirty place of broken windows and suffering patients.

But the hospital director is doing better. Dr Carlos Alberto dresses in smart suits, wears an Yves Saint Laurent tie and drives a new Suzuki jeep. "The situation is very difficult," he said in his air- conditioned office, the only one in the building. "The support we receive from the government is not enough to cover our problems."

Gabon to appoint interim leader

The constitutional court confirmed the senate speaker's appointment The speaker of the senate in Gabon is to be sworn in as the country's interim head of state, following the recent death of President Omar Bongo. Under the constitution, Rose Francine Rogombe, an ally of Mr Bongo, must organise elections within 45 days. On Thursday, Mr Bongo's body will be repatriated from Spain where he had been undergoing medical treatment. Access to the internet in the oil-rich nation remains cut off, but the state's borders have been reopened. Ms Rogombe is due to be sworn in at the International Conference Centre in the capital Libreville at 1100 local time (1000 GMT), a day after her appointment was confirmed by the constitutional court. The death of the 73-year-old president, who was Africa's longest-serving leader, was announced on Monday. OMAR BONGO Led Gabon for 42 years Kept close economic and political ties with France Oil money means Gabon officially one of richest countries in Africa His son is defence minister His daughter was his chief of staff He denied corruption charges in French courts Introduced multi-party elections in 1993 - opposition complained they were not fair Having a laugh with Omar Bongo Gabon teacher not mourning Bongo The government said Mr Bongo, who had led Gabon since 1967, had died of a heart attack, hours after saying he was alive and well. It emerged in May the president was being treated in a Barcelona clinic, amid unconfirmed reports he had cancer. On Thursday the late president's body will arrive back in the country where it will lie in state at the presidential palace in the capital. He will be buried at Franceville in the Bateke region of his birth in south-east Gabon on Thursday of next week. On Tuesday, Mr Bongo's son - Defence Minister Ali-Ben Bongo - appealed for calm following his father's death. Observers say the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) has been deciding who should succeed him, with his 50-year-old son a leading contender. The BBC's Linel Kwatsi, in the capital Libreville, says the security forces are keeping a low profile on the capital's streets, which are quieter than usual. Gabon Telecom says the internet, cut since Sunday, has been hit by an optical fibre technical fault. But many believe the government has ordered the company to take Gabon off-line so as to control access to information in the aftermath of the president's death. The city's mayor has banned large gatherings and ordered nightclubs and bars to close, while security forces are on patrol.

FACTBOX-Human rights still poor in Africa, US says

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Human rights remained poor in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa in 2008, according to the U.S. State Department's global survey released on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of some of its findings:

SUDAN

The government's human rights record remained poor as it bombed villages, killed civilians and collaborated with militias in the troubled Darfur region, and rebel groups there continued to commit serious abuses as well. Both sides beat and raped civilians, recruited child soldiers and harassed aid groups. Serious abuses continued in the country's southern region as well, including extrajudicial killings and beatings.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

The government's human rights record remained poor. Internal conflicts had an extremely negative effect on security and human rights during the year. Government control over many regions remained weak, and civilian authorities generally did not control the security forces, which committed unlawful killings, torture and rape, recruited child soldiers and forced civilian labor. Life-threatening conditions persisted in prison facilities. Armed groups continued to commit serious abuses, some of which may have constituted war crimes.

ZIMBABWE

The government continued to engage in the pervasive and systematic abuse of human rights, which increased during the year. President Robert Mugabe's ruling party manipulated the political process through violence, corruption and intimidation. Unlawful killings and motivated abductions increased and prison conditions were life-threatening. The government continued to evict citizens and demolish homes and marketplaces and repress freedom of speech, press and assembly, and it worsened food insecurity by blocking aid groups' operations.

ETHIOPIA

Continued fighting between government forces and an insurgent movement in the Ogaden region resulted in allegations of abuses by all sides, including diversion of food aid. There were fewer reports of extrajudicial killings but abuses persisted. Other reported violations include arbitrary arrest, poor prison conditions, torture and beatings, police and judicial corruption, and restrictions on freedoms of assembly and the press and exploitation of women and children.

SOMALIA

The country's poor human rights situation deteriorated further during the year, exacerbated by the absence of effective governance institutions and rule of law and the widespread availability of weapons.

SOUTH AFRICA

The government generally respected the rights of its citizens but violations included use of excessive force by police, vigilante and mob violence, severe overcrowding of prisons, pervasive violence against women, and child labor.

NIGERIA

The government's human rights record remained poor and officials at all levels continued to commit serious abuses. Security forces acted with impunity and committed extrajudicial killings, torture and rape, and arrested citizens arbitrarily. Corruption, vigilante killings, forced labor and restrictions on freedoms of speech and assembly remained problematic.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source:Reuters

The Enrichment of Africa's French Allies

By BRUCE CRUMLEY / PARIS Friday, May. 08, 2009

French President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) stands with his Congolese counterpart Denis Sassou-Nguesso (R) at the beginning of a state dinner at the presidential palace in Brazzaville on March 26, 2009.

ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty

It is a shame for France to tolerate these corrupt African leaders. I though France had learnt from the ELF corruption scandal in 2003

President Nicolas Sarkozy may have promised on the campaign trail to clean up the less than savory relationship France maintains with various strongman leaders in its former African colonies, but that's proved to be easier said than done. So, France's judiciary is looking to step in where diplomats have been leery to tread, by filing corruption charges against three African heads of state.

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This week, France's senior investigating magistrate, Françoise Desset, ruled that a case brought by the anticorruption organization Transparency International against three African leaders had sufficient merit to warrant a full judicial investigation. The complaint accuses the trio — Gabon's President Omar Bongo, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, and Equatorial Guinea leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema — of pillaging their impoverished nations and treating state money as their personal wealth to finance acquisitions in France. The ruling means Desset can use her judicial authority to examine banking and other records to determine the origins of funds maintained by the three in France, and used to buy property here. (See pictures of the Pope in Africa.)

All three leaders fit the stereotype of the African "Big Man," having seized and maintained power by force. Each one, Transparency International alleges, has also used his position to enrich himself. That, French foreign-policy specialists say, has been done with the complicity and connivance of successive French governments maintaining the traditional Françafrique policy of retaining influence among former colonies. French lawyers for each of the leaders have flatly refuted the allegations. In Gabon — where Bongo is in temporary seclusion to mourn the death of his wife — government spokesman Alain Akouala Atipault assured that "there's nothing concrete in this affair, and there will be nothing legally concrete." Though French officials initially refused to comment on Desset's ruling, Paris prosecutor, Jean-Claude Marin, announced Thursday he had appealed her decision to investigate the claim.

"Françafrique is a Gaullist creation that integrated leaders from France's African sphere as virtual members of the French political and strategic élite," explains Antoine Glaser, a specialist on Franco-African relations, and author of the recent book Sarko in Africa. "That relationship has been based on French recognition of services rendered, and meant the interests of African leaders and their families that make up the first circle of power have come before the actual populations they're supposed to represent."

France's coddling, critics have long complained, has allowed its client regimes in Africa to quash political opposition, shackle democracy and siphon off untold fortunes from the national coffers for their personal use — even donations to French political parties of all stripes. According to the Transparency International complaint that Desset has decided to investigate, the Bongo and Sassou-Nguesso families hold 70 and 111 bank accounts in France respectively, and own a total of 31 pricey homes or buildings in and around Paris. They also boast entire fleets of cars in France. Listed in the Obiang Nguema family's holdings are two luxury automobiles and a $44.2 million private jet (though the Equatorial Guinean first family has snubbed Paris' real estate market in favor of a $45 million property in Malibu).

What's wrong with that? Nothing, according to Sassou-Nguesso — who publicly pooh-poohed a 2007 French corruption complaint against him, noting that "leaders from around the world have châteaux and palaces in France, whether they're from the Gulf, Europe, or Africa." (See pictures of South Africa.)

But where the previous investigation failed, Desset has chosen to officially investigate the embezzlement charges raised by Transparency International — and braved the anticipated appeal by France's top prosecutor against the investigation. Indeed, if the investigation makes it all the way to court, some observers say it could be the first blow that eventually brings the understandings of Françafrique crashing down.

"No matter the merits and competencies of these leaders," Transparency's lawyer William Bourdon ironically noted, "no one can seriously believe that their holdings could have been obtained as the fruit of their labor alone."

Still, the African leaders under investigation in France aren't quaking just yet. Aware that the Paris prosecutor's office twice previously rejected Transparency's request as legally unfounded, they were among the many expecting that Desset's decision to investigate would be appealed. Many observers note that the prosecutor's office is filled by officials appointed by politicians that may be reluctant to see Paris' relations with African leaders aired. Some of France's less-than-savory clients in Africa have previously threatened to bring down political heavyweights in Paris who also benefited from Françafrique if the situation were to change to their disadvantage.

Still, Glaser believes the case may eventually be allowed to proceed once efforts to stop it have been rebuffed by the courts. That would allow Sarkozy plausible deniability before vulnerable African allies, yet help him to jettisonFrançafrique policies that he has tried to end as promised, but was instead forced to fall back on in crisis situations.

"When France moved to save Chad's government from surging rebels, its forces came in from Gabon — just one example of how Sarkozy found himself chained to the realities of old Françafrique," says Glaser. "But France no longer has the money, forces, or desire to pay the price to be able to act unilaterally in Africa. Meanwhile, I think Sarkozy sees Françafrique is dying whether people like it or not. This legal case suggests he's not the only one recognizing that, and turned to a new order of affairs."