"LE GABON ENERVANT" OR "ANNOYING GABON"

English Version Coring: infiltrating, entering a group or organization in order to spy on its members. (Source: The Oxford English Dictionary) Below, the report of the mission to Libreville Version Française Noyauter: tactique qui consiste à infiltrer un groupe ou une organisation, par des personnes qui ont pour rôle de les désorganiser ou d’en prendre le contrôle. (Source: Le Dictionnaire Larousse) Ci-dessous, le compte rendu de la mission à Libreville

Michael Moussa Adamo, 2 nd from left Michael Moussa Adamo, second à partir de la gauche (photo: US Congress) English Version Recently, a U.S. Congressional panel held an African diplomatic meeting with African diplomatic representatives in the USA, to discuss security issues affecting Africa. The meeting was chaired by Rep. Chris Smith of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa. During this meeting, African diplomats made presentations about terrorism, drug trafficking, international crime, piracy etc. Below we present to you the declaration of the Gabonese Ambassador to the USA, Michael Moussa Adamo, during this meeting. You will certainly be intrigued to learn that the Gabonese government has undertaken enormous efforts to eradicate crimes of all kinds and poaching and piracy in particular. So massive is the effort that it deprives the government of funds to invest in development and social welfare, hence the need for American financial assistance. Do not ...

Photo : Simtronics English Version While Ali Bongo is paying magazines such as Jeune Afrique or Africa Business to publish infomercials touting the so called economic prowess of his program of “emergence”, there are real professionals doing an in depth research and publishing their findings about their market research of the Gabonese economy and especially in the oil and gas sector, which is as you know, the main purveyor of the Gabonese income. Reportstack is a leading market research company based in the USA. It publishes among other things, quarterly reports about the oil and gas sector in all producing countries in the world. These are the kinds of specialized publication that serious investors are likely to read and not the infomercials ordered and paid for by Ali Bongo. The quarterly report just published by Reportstack, about the oil and gas sector in Gabon, contains the latest information on the projects and related activities in that, as well as gove...

The Attias couple Le couple Attias English Version Whatever the specific differences of various countries, there are responsibilities devoted to a president or a head of state, which are universally recognized. Such is fiduciary duty of a president toward the people they serve. What is the definition of the term "fiduciary duty"? In recognized democracies the government fiduciary duty to the people is the legal and ethical relationship of confidence and trust that it has with the population, regarding the management of taxpayers’ money. This fiduciary duty usually means that the president and their government would not put their own financial interests ahead of those of the state as a whole and of the population. The reason for this is that those who manage the public's funds must be held to account; they must spend this money wisely, refrain from bad lavish habits, and conduct all government business in full transparency. What brings us to th...

The hijacked boat the Cotton Le pétrolier détourné, le Cotton (Photo Bloomberg) English Version What about the episode of piracy that has and continues to be the topic of non-official conversations in Gabon; nonofficial because for the state media, as usual it is: move there is nothing to see! The major news agencies of the world are talking about it, but in the official Gabonese press, it is minimum service. First the facts: The major news agencies such as Reuters, AFP, Associated Press, etc.., tell us that a Maltese-flagged tanker was hijacked by sea pirates off the Gabonese coast on the night of 14 to 15 of July 2013. The oil tanker called the Cotton, had picked up Gabonese crude oil in Port Gentil, and was carrying it to an "official" destination that has never been revealed, before being forced with all its 24 crew members by pirates, to proceed toward Nigeria. But there are issues deserving some answers. The most important of all is: who ...

English Version The French weekly "Charlie Hebdo" in this week’s issue published an investigation into the "it" couple who is making it happen in the "emerging" Gabon, Richard Attias and his wife Cécilia ex-Sarkozy. We publish below the contents of that investigation which we have translated from the original French. RICHARD AND CÉCILIA ATTIAS, THE NEW GURUS of FRANÇAFRIQUE The businessman and the ex-wife of Sarkozy are making it rain or shine in Gabon, as well as many dollars... Even Robert Bourgi complains about it. Bourgi, the Jacques Foccart of the 1990s, the permanent envoy to Chirac and Sarkozy on the Dark Continent, is being blow away for the much sought after place of confidant to potentates ... and of businessman in chief in Gabon. The former boss of Publicis Events Worldwide, Richard Attias, and his wife, the former Cecilia Sarkozy, have won the job. Based in New York, "they spend several days each quarter in t...

English Version In a recent letter that we have also posted on this blog, the Goldman Foundation’s president stated to Ali Bongo that he had watched with amazement the harassment of one of its winners, Marc Ona Essangui, by the regime in Libreville. The letter focused the attention of the observer on the role of NGOs, activists and of freedom of expression, in a country like Gabon; where the regime would prefer that people only spoke in its praise. We have in Gabon, organizations of civil society which have made it their mission to try to heal the wounds of Gabonese citizens by claiming for them and with them, that which is their right, such as: a better life, well-being, the importance of civil rights, the environment, education, in short all the attributes of citizenship. The most prominent figure of this activist group is probably the movement « Ça Suffit Comme Ça » whose actions in this direction are well known and so are the troubles of its members with the Gab...

(Photo Pahé) English Version The beginning of African independence was marked by the simultaneous publication of two books that have now become essential in literature: the "Wretched of The Earth" by Frantz Fanon and "The Colonizer and the colonized" by Albert Memmi. These works allowed the intelligentsia, of both the colonizer and the colonized, to realize that colonization was a dead end. Today, the dictatorial and totalitarian system which replaced the colonial system in many African countries is breathless and as did Fanon and Memmi, it is the duty of all of us to give it the fatal blow that will finally liberate the minds. But ultimately, what's a freed mind? To overcome a totalitarian system, to break away from it, it is first necessary to release oneself from the ideas by which one is bound to it and thus dominated. This means in simple terms that we must clearly define the boundary of the dictatorship. That is to say, to bec...

One of the pictures causing Pah é 's ecstasis Une des photos ayant caus é es l'extase de Pah é (Photo Pah é) English Version No honest observer would argue against the observation that Gabon has become the epitome of a dysfunctional, corrupt, despotic and authoritarian country. This state of affairs is characterized today by increasing political violence as we see it against those who try to hold the rulers accountable, land grabbing from villagers to be given to friendly corporations, systematic electoral fraud, and the never ending mismanagement and abuse of state resources. The political situation is in such standstill that this blog is of the opinion that if left in the hands of the current political elites, the creation of a democratic Gabon will remain unlikely at best. The way out of this mess would be for the base to push for its desired outcome. But there are those, like the very talented Gabonese cartoonist Pahé, whose artistic talent this bl...