"LE GABON ENERVANT" OR "ANNOYING GABON"

Marc Ona Essangui (photo MOE) English version Gabonese judicial system did not surprise anyone. The ritual Criminals are still running under the tightest of impunity. The embezzlers public of public funds are still exercising their financial bulimia with as much aplomb as before, openly; but the republic has been saved by the conviction of its public enemy number one, Marc Ona Essangui, who had the audacity to speak about the too obvious collusion between the Singaporean company Olam and Ali Bongo’s cabinet in the person of this Gabonese pure juice since he says to be from Ndjolé via Mogadishu, Liban Soleman. What did they reproach to Marc Ona Essangui? "Do you have evidence of the collision?” Nonsense, dear readers, because Mborantsuo must as well be exonerated of any charge of voter fraud, and anybody daring to accuse her of being the mistress (in more ways than one) of electoral fraud in Gabon, must be sentenced to hanging because none of us has evidence of Omar Bongo ...

English version It is with profound sadness and surprise that this blog has learned of the passing of the principal writer and no doubt creative engine behind the excellent Gabonese news site “Gabonreview”. While we did not know Mr Lemaire personally, we were and remain admirers of his approach to communication and how he tried to build a news site that became very quickly one of the bests, if not the best in Gabon. The quality of the writing was always excellent and the content of the site was always fair, even when we disagreed with it, as we did on occasions. Mr Lemaire’s death is a tragic loss for the Gabonese people who care about good writing and reading the truth. It is a sad and tragic loss for all of us who are using the internet to try to provide to the reading public unfiltered and uncensored alternative opinions about the state of Gabon. Those of us who care about presenting the reading public with materials about Gabon that is worth reading. We hope th...

Ali Bongo and the Central African Republic protagonist in Libreville in January Ali Bongo et les protagonistes centrafricains à Libreville en Janvier dernier   English version General François Bozizé, yes dear readers, this a native of Mouila Magondo is a general, an operetta general certainly, but a general as we like them in our equatorial latitude, has been swept by a rebellion which is not unlike the one which brought him to power about a decade ago. Generations of Central African citizens have been living to the rhythm of coups since the original one perpetrated by Colonel Bokassa in 1966 who in his megalomaniacal forfeiture encouraged by the French such as Valery Giscard d'Estaing (the member of the French Academy) would become general, Marshal president for life, and as if that was not enough, under the organizational leadership of a certain... Bernard Tapie, inducted himself to be downright Emperor. Central African Republic would become an empire, eve...

Paulette Oyane Ondo English version This is a translation of an interview from the Gabonese newspaper: “Echos du Nord” “The recommendations do not mean that the State to which they are made would be entitled to choose to follow them or not. It is not an option left to their discretion...”, says Paulette Oyane-Ondo Echos du Nord: Barrister Paulette Oyane-Ondo, according to our sources, the Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights has recommended to that Commission to ask the Gabonese government to rehabilitate the Union Nationale party, pending a judgment on the legality of the dissolution of the party given by the Minister of Interior. Can you confirm this in your capacity as counsel for that dissolved party? Barrister Paulette Oyane-Ondo : I must say that I am impressed by the precision and accuracy of your information. It is true that the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) met in special session...

English version This is a translation of an article published in the excellent Gabonese newspaper: “Echos du Nord”, No 172, of March 25, 2013. Translation by a friend of this blog, CLG, whom we are thanking for this nice work. The Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) has completed the investigation of the complaint lodged on September 23, 2012 by Paulette Oyane Ondo, lawyer (counsel), on behalf of the political party Union Nationale (UN) or National Union. It recommends that the ACHPR to ask the Gabonese government to take immediate action to restore the opposition party's rights. The Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) has ruled. At the last extraordinary session of this institution of the African Union (AU) held from 19 to 25 February 2013 in Banjul, Gambia, it has passed the ACHPR "Communication 436/2012." In this technical term hides the conclusions drawn...

English version The prominent member of the free Gabonese civil society, Marc Ona Essangui, has just been invited by the African Development Bank (ADB) to participate to their annual board meeting to take place in Morrocco in about a month’s time. This invitation is very significant because everybody knows that Ali Bongo regime’s is doing everything it can to muzzle the free Gabonese civil society. It is therefore interesting that at a time when Ali Bongo is pulling all the stops to prevent members of the free civil society to express themselves as has been recently observed with Eric Benjaminson preventing Paulette Oyane Ondo from travelling to the Washington, or the Minister of the Interior, Jean Francois Ndongou, threatening to close down Ernest Tomo’s church because the free civil society sometimes has meetings there; outside Gabon, people are taking note of the relevance of this free civil society and the importance of the work it does. When serious Gabonese peopl...

English version For 3 years now, Ali Bongo has done everything in his power to terrorize Gabonese university students. It is under Ali Bongo that the University of Libreville’s campus has been besieged by security forces. It is under Ali Bongo that on several occasions, these security forces have charged university students with tear gas inside the campus, under the pretext that the students were trying to hold a rally. It is under Ali Bongo that a group of nearly 50 students were arrested and incarcerated under inhumane conditions in small and filthy cells as you can see on the picture above. It is also under Ali Bongo that recently, one student was gravely hurt when the security force shot a tear gas canister to his head as you can see on the picture above. It can be therefore asserted that for more than 3 years now, Ali Bongo has deliberately and brutally abused the rights of students, by arbitrarily arrested them, imprisoning them, hurting them etc. With such...

English Version Dear readers, the letter presented above is from Jean François Ndongou, Ali Bongo’s Minister of Interior, who just sent it to Ernest Tomo, a Gabonese politician whose religious activities are not a secret to anyone. The letter refers to thinly veiled threats to close the premises used as a religious base for pastor Tomo, for the simple reason that this site receives from time to time the activities of members of Gabonese free civil society and other free Gabonese activists. Dear readers, the Declaration of the Human Rights is clear and unambiguous in its Article 10 saying that: "No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, even religious, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law." Ndongou, the Minister of the Interior should brush up a little more on his notions of human rights, because that provision above thus establishes that views are universally free, this prohibits discriminat...