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DO AFRICANS KNOW THAT THE NEXT CHINESE-AMERICAN CONFRONTATION WILL TAKE PLACE ON THEIR SOIL? LES AFRICAINS SAVENT-ILS QUE LA PROCHAINE CONFRONTATION SINO-AMÉRICAINE AURA LIEU CHEZ EUX?

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English version According to several analyses, the control of African mines would be the next chapter in the economic conflict between China and the United States. Africa is the great reservoir of the energy transition. The continent has a huge share of the world’s cobalt, lithium, copper and manganese reserves (of which Gabon is, for example, one of the world’s leading producers). The DRC and Zambia are the two most important countries for the supply of raw material used to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles; a world-leading industry whose leader today is China. China currently dominates the entire extraction and refining chain. The United States and Europe are trying to return to the game (especially through the financing of the Lobito railway corridor in Angola) to secure their supplies away from the grip of Beijing. At the same time, Russia secures important concessions in the Sahel. The United States feels threatened. This blog is of the opinion that the United States can...
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IN GABON! SOON! PROTEST COULD LEAD TO A LOSS OF NATIONALITY! AU GABON, SOUS PEU, LA CONTESTATION POURRAIT DÉBOUCHER SUR UNE PERTE DE LA NATIONALITÉ !

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English version The recent reform of the nationality code in Gabon, in particular Article 64, raises a deep concern shared by many Gabonese, who wonder how Gabon can still be considered a country under the rule of law? Indeed, dear readers, in a serious democratic country that respects the rule of law, a citizen cannot be deprived of their nationality for the sole reason that they criticize the government. In a democracy, the criticism of government action (even virulent) is protected by freedom of expression. It is even the engine of the system: the political opposition, the press, activists and civil society have the role of monitoring and challenging power. Historically, the deprivation of nationality is a legal nuclear weapon reserved for cases of exceptional gravity (e.g. serious terrorism, proven espionage for the benefit of an enemy power in time of war). Equating a “subversive action against the government” (vague term) with high treason against the state is a typical confusion...
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OF THE SYSTEM AND MEN, WHO IS GUILTY! DU SYSTÈME ET DES HOMMES, QUI EST COUPABLE!

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English version Landry Abaga Essono, president of the National Union of Magistrates of Gabon (SYNAMAG), makes a structural diagnosis that the probity problems presented by Gabonese magistrates would come from the system. However, this blog is of the opinion that it is people who make the machine run. It can be argued that even the most honest people will eventually fail if they are placed in a structurally flawed environment. The magistrate is presented by Mr. Abaga Essono as the worker of an assembly line which is itself structurally defective. But this argument has a huge limit: the system remains a human creation. If it is true that the system is the immediate problem, we must also ask the question of who creates, maintains and finances this system? They are people, aren’t they? An archaic judicial system, underfunded and functioning without digital tools is not a random fatality; it is the result of a deliberate choice, or organized negligence, on the part of those who hold executi...
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CBON CARVES THE OPPOSITION! CBON DÉPÈCE L’OPPOSITION!

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English version A press article gives us a very clear reading grid of the muzzling of the opposition strategy by CBON, dictated by an economic and social context that is constantly deteriorating. The article highlights the imminence of an amendment budget under the constraint of the IMF. This indicates that CBON is forced to apply strict financial orthodoxy, which inevitably results in budget cuts, a reduction in public spending and an increase in taxation. This budgetary rigor imposed from the outside directly clashes with the expectations of the population, generating a social grumbling. Faced with the risk of seeing the opposition capitalize on popular discontent and the unpopular measures dictated by the IMF, CBON anticipates by locking political space. He therefore multiplies the maneuvers to prevent any structuring of a credible challenge. There is therefore a methodical strategy to suffocate and fragment his opponents. For example, the institutional reforms recorded by the new c...
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