"LE GABON ENERVANT" OR "ANNOYING GABON"

English Version Many readers, after the controversy over the issue of Jeune Afrique on the Fang, went to examine the archives of Jeune Afrique and discovered that for nearly 20 years now, stories as told by the likes of Siradiou Diallo, Sennen Andriamirado and more recently Francis Kpatindé, have disappeared from that weekly and now reigns alone, the infomercial. These readers sent us their findings and asked us to write a post explaining the objectives of infomercials. In other words, what are they? Here we provide our answer. We will not reinvent the wheel, because the evidence of the predominance of advertorials in the press aimed at African consumers is universally recognized. So we will seek answers at the source, that is to say in the writings of the former employees of Jeune Afrique, who reveal how the system works and why it became so ubiquitous. We therefore begin with excerpts from the letter of resignation of Francis Kpatindé to Jeune Af...

English version Old habits die hard, the saying goes. For June 2012, this blog has noted that Ali Bongo has gifted himself an 8 page infomercial in African Business Magazine. The Gabonese readers will recognize some of the pictures that have been already abundantly recycled in the Gabonese press, showing that this dossier was prepared in Gabon and delivered to African Business for printing, in the model of Jeune Afrique. Below we print the entirety of that dossier so you can see for yourself. Version française Les vieilles habitudes ont la vie dure, dit le proverbe. Pour Juin 2012, ce blog a noté qu’Ali Bongo s’est fait don d’un publi-reportage de 8 pages dans le magazine African Business. Les lecteurs gabonais reconnaîtront certaines des photos qui ont été déjà abondamment recyclées dans la presse gabonaise, montrant que ce dossier a été préparé au Gabon et livré à l'impression du magazine African Business, dans le modèle de Jeune Afrique. Ci-dessous nous publ...

English Version The group of loyalists of the Party UPG has released a statement of the status of the litigation underway between them and another faction of that party. That statement is below and is in French only. Version française Le groupe dit des Loyalistes de l'UPG a diffusé un communiqué de presse, faisant une mise au point de la situation du contentieux les opposant a une autres faction du dit parti. Ci-dessous, ce communiqué de presse.

English version A new documentary by Kevin MacDonald, entitled “Marley” retraces the entire life of the late reggae star and musical genius, Bob Marley; from his birth to his death. The reason why we talk about that documentary on this blog, is that for about 5 minutes, from 1h50 min to 1h55 min of that documentary, the content is about the visit of Bob Marley and the Wailers to Gabon and that story is very revealing of how business has been done in Gabon for the last 44 years. In other words, dear readers, Bob Marley came to Gabon because of sex, money and the Bongo family. Dear readers, it is notable to pay attention to the difference between how Bob Marley came to Gabon and went to Zimbabwe. That difference as you see below, will shock you All pictures are from the documentary Version française Un nouveau documentaire de Kevin MacDonald, intitulé «Marley», retrace toute la vie de la regrettée star du reggae et génie musical, Bob Marley, depuis...

Pulvar and/et Montebourg An Oranga family member during a press conference alongside Georges Mpaga Un membre de la famille Oranga en compagnie de Georges Mpaga English Version Recently in France, in the new government of François Hollande, the destroyer of Nicholas Sarkozy, the appointment of Arnaud Montebourg as Minister of Productive Recovery, came to disturb the career of his companion, until then journalist at France Inter and France 2. Although there is no law requiring Pulvar to resign from her positions, given in addition that she is not married to Montebourg, in interrupting her career as political journalist, Pulvar wanted to remove any ambiguity and doubt about her objectivity and impartiality, if she was to cover the government of which her companion was a member. That dear readers, is called an ethical decision. But in our country under the equator, we must continue to endure the reptilian face of Mborantsuo who remains the mistress not only of th...

English version The end: The hypocrisy of the regime’s reaction On Friday, 25 May 2012, Alain Claude Bilie-Bi-Nze, the spokesperson of the Gabonese presidential palace, during a press conference, appeared hypocritically indignant about the Jeune Afrique’s article. The reason this blog thinks that Bilie-Bi-Nze was hypocritical is that he pretended to be surprised that a journal like Jeune Afrique would print such an article about an African ethnic group giving the volatility of ethnic issues in Africa. This blog would like to remind Bilie-Bi-Nze of the following: 1. In 2010, in an article entitled « Les Fangs, une ethnie majoritaire au pouvoir » was published by Jeune Afrique and written by the same author as the dossier recently published. Yet, the Gabonese presidential palace said nothing about that article, why? Well because the article was saying what the regime wanted people to believe, that the Fang were given considerable power by Ali Bongo. If B...

English Version This Saturday, 26 May 2012, the Gabonese National Observatory of Democracy released a statement that we are showing below. This statement is in French and was made concerning the ritual crimes in Gabon. Version française Ce Samedi, 26 May 2012, l’Observatoire National de la Démocratie au Gabon, a rendu public un communiqué de presse sur les crimes rituels au Gabon. Ci-dessous, le contenu de ce communiqué.