“Ali Bongo is retired. This unprecedented statement, to the newspaper Le Monde, from the head of the Gabonese presidential guard could sign the end of a dynasty in power for 55 years in this oil-rich country in Central Africa, but with a poor population, long emblematic of the “Francafrique”.
A coup in the form of a “small earthquake” which caused upheaval in this country, where the Bongo dynasty, recalls Francis Laloupo, journalist and researcher associated with Iris, “privatized the economy and the levers of power state in a clan and family system for more than fifty years”.
In December 1967, on the death of Léon Mba, the first president elected in Gabon since independence, on August 17, 1960, the one who is still called Albert Bernard Bongo came to power, supported by France. He will stay there for 41 years.
Imposing the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) as the only party, he rules the country with an iron fist, taking advantage in particular of the oil windfall. In 1973, converted to Islam, he became El Hadj Omar Bongo, to which he added Ondimba, his father’s name, in 2003.
“The Bongo dynasty was founded in 1967, observes Francis Laloupo. Omar Bongo came to power at the time, enthroned by Jacques Foccart, General de Gaulle’s Monsieur Afrique. Omar Bongo was then re-elected in 1973, 1979 and 1986, setting up a particular mode of governance, a form of “co-management” of Gabon with the Élysée, explains Francis Laloupo. He thus became a pillar of “Françafrique”, an expression coined to denounce a system of political co-optation, occult networks and commercial hunts developed by France after the independence of the French colonies in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 1989, Ali Bongo, the eldest son, became, on the offer of his father, Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the age of 29. Forced to resign two years later because of his youth, the law establishing that one must be at least 35 years old to be a minister, he returned to the government in 1999, in charge of the Ministry of Defense, a position he held for ten years. .
In 1990, faced with serious social unrest, Omar Bongo conceded the transition to a multiparty system, but retained power. He thus continued to win all the elections – in 1993, despite significant violence, in 1998 and in 2005, dividing or rallying opponents to his cause, without managing to prevent the contestation of all the polls.
At the same time, from the mid-1990s, Gabon began to diversify its economic partnerships, linking up in particular with Chinese companies. China has since become the leading exploiter of the country’s mineral resources, richly endowed with oil, timber and manganese, an ore used in the production of steel and batteries. Gabon’s subsoil is also full of iron, with one of the largest deposits in the world, and metals, such as niobium, uranium, copper and zinc.
Relations with France cooled with the affair of ill-gotten gains, this heritage amassed in France by various African and Syrian heads of state. Nine children of Omar Bongo are currently indicted in Paris as part of this procedure, opened in 2010.
A few months before his death, Omar Bongo complained of the time taken by Nicolas Sarkozy to answer his calls, when he denounced the work carried out by journalists, remembers Francis Laloupo. “The turning point in Franco-Gabonese relations took place under Sarkozy. He was ultimately the first French president from a generation that was not very assiduous in maintaining it, while Omar Bongo prided himself on being part of the memory of the Vᵉ Republic, of which he had known almost all the leaders, “underlines the specialist.
In 2014, violent clashes between demonstrators and police killed at least one person during a banned rally calling for the departure of Ali Bongo, while Gabon fell into an economic and financial crisis linked to the drop in oil prices. Strikes affecting different sectors, public and private, broke out.
“The economic and budgetary failure then gradually becomes obvious,” observes Francis Laloupo. The crisis continues in this very rich country with a small population, which could have become an emirate rather than a poor and heavily indebted country. »
Ali Bongo’s protest is growing after the publication of French journalist Pierre Péan’s book Nouvelles Affaires Africaines, which claims that he is in fact a Biafran child adopted by Omar Bongo and his wife.
Denied by the power, this thesis calls into question Ali Bongo’s right to govern, the Constitution stipulating that one must be born in Gabon to run for the presidency. Legal proceedings have taken place in France and Gabon on the matter.
In 2016, Ali Bongo was re-elected by a narrow majority of 5,000 votes against Jean Ping, cacique of his father’s regime who rallied a significant opposition behind him and enjoyed the support of a large part of civil society. Electoral violence of unprecedented intensity erupts. The National Assembly is set on fire, the headquarters of Jean Ping is attacked by the police, hundreds of people are arrested… The Constitutional Court ends up validating the election of Ali Bongo on September 2.
In 2018, shortly after a landslide victory in the legislative elections, Ali Bongo suffered a stroke while in Saudi Arabia. He disappeared for ten months to undergo intense re-education abroad, entrusting the keys to power to some of his relatives. China is becoming the first customer of Gabonese exports, while France remains its first supplier.
In January 2019, another coup against a recovering Ali Bongo failed. His chief of staff, Brice Laccruche Alihanga, tries in turn to oust him, without success. Ali Bongo then began an authoritarian takeover of power.
In June 2021, Ali Bongo’s name is mentioned in the Pandora Papers. He denies.
June 7, 2022, Gabon, anxious to mark its distance from France, joined the Commonwealth at the same time as Togo. The organization also declared that the situation was “deeply worrying” this Wednesday at the announcement of the coup. “This decision was symbolic, emblematic of a certain liberation of Gabon, and of Ali Bongo, from France, underlines Francis Laloupo. It marks a departure from the traditional partnership. »
On August 30, 2023, a coup d’etat perpetrated by the head of the Gabonese presidential guard, “cousin” of Ali Bongo, according to Francis Laloupo, led to the placement of the president under house arrest and the closing of the borders. Presented as a “retirement” of Ali Bongo, the putsch takes place the day after the announcement of his re-election for a third term with 64% of the vote. Disunited, the opposition denounced “a dynastic power” and a pre-campaign of Ali Bongo financed by means of the State, his main rival, Albert Ondo Ossa contesting the results.