Posts

HOW CAN MBORANTSUO BE INTERVIEWED WITHOUT ASKING HER A SINGLE QUESTION ABOUT THE LOST ISLANDS CASE? COMMENT PEUT-ON INTERVIEWER MBORANTSUO SANS LUI POSER UNE SEULE QUESTION SUR L’AFFAIRE DES ÎLES PERDUES ?

Image
English version  While watching this one-hour broadcast entitled "Mémoire d'une Nation" (aired in mid-October 2026 on Gabon Première), the total absence of any reference to the Mbanié, Conga, and Cocotiers islands dispute is one of the greatest paradoxes of this interview. Yet, Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo was the leading figure (as the representative and co-agent of Gabon) defending Gabonese sovereignty over these territories before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. What explains why the journalist, Christian Kombila, completely evaded the subject? A very recent national and personal setback (May 2025)  The ICJ verdict, delivered in May 2025, was a crushing blow for Gabon: the Court ruled in favor of Equatorial Guinea. It deemed that the famous 1974 "Bata Convention," the document upon which Mborantsuo and the Gabonese state based their entire legal argument, had no legal validity. Bringing up this issue would amount to questioning Mrs. Mbora...

Eurobond: Gabon Borrows Again! Eurobond : le Gabon emprunte encore!

Image
English version  Less than three months after raising $920 million, Gabon is back on the international market for another $580 million. That makes $1.5 billion borrowed abroad in a single quarter. The race toward debt is gathering pace, and the question is no longer whether the state can borrow, but what it does with the money. Two eurobonds in one quarter On July 30, 2026, Libreville raised $920 million, about CFA 524 billion, over seven years. The coupon is 9.375%, with a three-year grace period. With demand topping $1 billion, the state raised the issue above the $750 million it initially sought. This time, it is $580 million, about CFA 340 billion, over eight years, with BofA Securities as lead manager. The amount is no coincidence: the supplementary budget law authorizes up to $1.5 billion in external borrowing. After July, exactly $580 million remained in that envelope. The state has now used it up. Issue Amount Maturity Coupon October 2026 $580M (≈ CFA 340bn) 8 years not yet...

Can a president who is Head of government, be disappointed by his own ministers? Un président chef du gouvernement peut-il être déçu par ses propres ministres ?

Image
  English version   In its October 13, 2026 editorial, L'Union's director, Lin-Joël Ndembet, makes an odd observation: "Too many ministers have disappointed." The diagnosis is simply strange, because it overlooks an essential question: who chose them, who leads them, and who answers for their results? The editorial comes two days after the cabinet reshuffle of Sunday, October 11. Three days earlier, a Council of Ministers had been devoted to fuel, water and electricity shortages. In other words, to the hardships Gabonese people face every day. The new government now has 32 ministers and deputy ministers, up from 29. Eight newcomers join, while five leave the executive. This is the second reshuffle of the year, after the one on January 1, 2026, which had already seen more than ten ministers depart. More than three years after the coup of August 30, 2023, and eighteen months after the April 2025 presidential election, the same scenario repeats itself. The faces change, ...