"LE GABON ENERVANT" OR "ANNOYING GABON"

JT LIVE - 15/12/11 - Edition du soir by AFRICA24

English version Despite all kinds of impediments put on the path of its demonstrations and marches, the opposition and movement “Ça Suffit Comme Ça” campaign against the electoral comedy organized by Ali Bongo and his henchmen on the 17th of December 2011, is stronger than ever. These last few days in Libreville, have demonstrated that the momentum is clearly with the opposition and the civil society. The most striking illustration of this momentum has been the massive demonstration of the opposition in the second electoral district of Libreville, which saw an attendance estimated to have been from 10 to 20 times, that attending the electoral meeting held by the candidate of the PDG, Bongo’s party. There is clearly no contest in terms of popularity, the people is with the opposition. It is in this context of opposition seizing the initiative, that a persistent rumor has engulfed the political discourse in Gabon, announcing the return to Gabon of Andre Mba Obame, a former Omar Bo...

English version The answer to the question by our reader seems very simple. We could just answer by saying that over the past 40 years, the Bongo regime has managed to recruit people through 3 main reasons: First, fear of the regime which has used despotic and tyrannical methods to intimidate people. Second, people fear the unknown and over 40 years they have become used to a dictatorial regimes that does not allow political alternatives, and thus tyranny has become accepted as the norm. Third, the reward of money. But we need to go deeper because our reader is not Gabonese and does not necessarily know how the Bongo system works. When a regime stays in power for such a long period of time, as is the case with the Bongo regime, the number of people benefiting from it increases years after years, while the numbers of people that are poorer for it increase in several orders of magnitude faster. Over time these people who are the beneficiary of the regime become the central power ...

English version As these video demonstrate, the members of the opposition are taking a very potent message to the Gabonese population in every corner of the country. Why is the message potent? Simply because it is the truth and the Gabonese people need to be told the truth and nothing but the truth. Speaking the truth also present a fundamental problem for the regime because the Bongos rely so much on lies and fraud that they can never engage in a truthful debate on the issues of legitimacy of power in Gabon. Over the past few weeks, we have been watching Ali Bongo travel around the country and also the members of the opposition travel around the country. Without a doubt, the tour of the members of the opposition and the movement “Ça Suffit Comme Ça”, is striking a chord with the Gabonese people. The rallies are spontaneous, the interactions are genuine and more importantly the truth is being told. In contrast, when Ali Bongo travels with all the pomp and circumstance, everyth...

The pitch of the stadium of Agondjé 1 month from the beginning of CAN 2012 L’aire de jeu du stade d’Agondjé à un mois du début de la CAN 2012 Croke Park Pitch reconstruction La reconstruction de l'aire de jeu du stade Croke Park English version Having finally realized that the pitch of the stadium of Agondjé was of poor quality, the Gabonese authorities have decided to remove the old pitch and replace it with sod from South-Africa. However, once again the Gabonese regime is overpromising by saying that between now and the beginning of CAN 2012, they could have a firm and decent pitch. We have consulted experts in botany and horticulture and they have told us that 40 days is too short to replace a pitch and obtain a playable surface that would be ready to satisfy the demands of modern football. They gave us the example of Croke Park Stadium in Ireland, the largest stadium in Ireland, seating more than 82000 people. That stadium's pitch was entirely reconstructed ...

Michael Moussa is carried to the ambulance after the beat down Michael Moussa est transporté vers l’ambulance après la raclée plénipotentiaire (photo Gabonlibre.com) The Gabonese government press in overdrive La presse gouvernementale en branle English version The news was made public on Friday, a couple of photographs of the Gabonese ambassador to the USA, Michael Moussa-Adamo, on the excellent website Gabonlibre.com, showed him on a stretcher being carried toward an balance by medics. Apparently, he had just suffered a beat down. But while the Gabonese government controlled media went into overdrive and cited a Gabonese individual as the perpetrator of this beat down, this blog has been unable to obtain information from the Washington DC police as to the truth of the story. At this very moment, the circumstances of this beat down are yet to be made clear and as such anything the Gabonese regime would say can just be considered propaganda. Only an official version from t...

A picture of rural Gabon Une photo du Gabon rural English version The excellent Gabonese weekly, “Echos du Nord”, tells us in its latest edition, that OLAM the Singaporean group specialized in agricultural products, is trying to purchase vast swaths of land in Gabon in general and the province of Woleu-Ntem in particular. This is very concerning because of the fact that land is very precious and no country should tolerate nor encourage that a foreign entity becomes the proprietor of some of the best land in that country. In fact, most serious countries have laws preventing the outright ownership of land by foreigners. This is a case of national sovereignty because land is everything. Once a people loses its land, it loses its soul and thus its country. As a matter of fact, the Singaporeans know the importance of land very well because in their own country, since 1973, it is forbidden for a foreigner to own any land. Yes dear readers, in the year 1973 the Singapore Government im...