Oct 9th 2008, The Economist print edition

With world markets in turmoil, an unexpected and overlooked continent
may benefit from its very isolation....Despite the litany of
problems, the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa (hereafter
referred to as plain Africa) are, by several measures, enjoying a
period of unparalleled economic success. And despite the turmoil in
the world's financial markets, international investors still think
they can make money there.

In 1990-94 annual GDP growth was a weak 0.9%; since then, growth has
averaged closer to 5% (see chart 1). Before this autumn's financial
meltdown, the IMF was predicting GDP growth of 6.6% this year; now it
is predicting only a slightly lower rate. Annual GDP growth per
person was 1.1% in the late 1990s; from 2004 to 2006 it was around
4%. In 1990 47% of Africans lived in poverty; in 2004 41% did and, if
present trends continue, only 37% will by 2015. Zimbabwe apart, most
African countries have been bringing inflation down, even if the
trend is now creeping up again, in line with the rest of the world.

Many countries have been helped by better macro-economic management
and big inflows of Western aid, investment and debt relief—as well as
by more unquantifiable investments from Asia, particularly China, and
the Middle East. The surplus petrodollars of the Gulf states have
been flowing into east Africa. The IMF estimates that foreign
investment and loans to Africa rose from $11 billion in 2000 to $53
billion in 2007. Much of this has stemmed from the commodities boom.
Oil-producing countries such as Angola and Nigeria, and even war-torn
Sudan, have supplied the soaring growth figures, and much of the
foreign investment has gone into extractive industries.

Moreover, there is a reasonable chance that Africa may survive the
current world financial crisis less bruised and battered than some
other parts of the world. The very factors that damaged the continent
in the past may now be working in its favour.

Take the banking sector. Businessmen and budding entrepreneurs have
always moaned about the excessive regulations and conservatism of
African banks. Controls on foreign exchange often prevent them
raising more money by investing in exciting financial instruments in
the West. Foreign ownership of banks is unusually limited (to less
than 5% in Nigeria and South Africa). Now, however, this very de-
linkage from the Western financial system has turned out to Africa's
advantage. Its banks have almost no exposure to the subprime market
causing such havoc elsewhere in the world. Benedicte Christensen,
deputy director of the IMF's African Department, says confidently
that there is "no systemic risk that we can see in any African
country in terms of banking."

No one doubts that Africa will feel the effects of the crisis
eventually. As world trade contracts, so will the demand for Africa's
oil and minerals, the main commodities behind its current boom. Oil
prices dipped under $90 a barrel this week, down about 40% from
earlier in the year; that will dramatically hobble the development of
a country like Angola. The price of copper has been tumbling, which
will sharply affect the futures of Zambia and Congo. And the foreign
capital that African countries have relied on so much for their
development will be in shorter supply; in the West, investors will
have a decidedly smaller appetite for risk. The supply of aid money,
too, will probably decline. But African leaders hope that these
effects will be softened by other factors.

China and the Gulf states have been fascinated for some time by
Africa, and there is no reason why this should end. Indeed, Africa's
leaders still like to think of their continent as a gorgeous bride,
with a glittering dowry of oil and minerals, to be courted by a
swooning world. It is, after all, not just the Chinese who have been
queuing to pay over the odds for those enticing minerals (copper,
iron and cobalt) and hydrocarbons. Scarcely a month goes by without
some country or group playing host to African leaders to win their
favour, all copying the Chinese-African jamboree in Beijing in
November 2006. Last December it was the turn of the European Union in
Lisbon; in March the Indians held an African summit in Delhi; in May
the Japanese laid on a welcome in Tokyo.

China is the most prominent of the new deal-makers, but in some
African countries, including Kenya and Sudan, India is not far
behind. Malaysia has been investing, too. And the rising ambitions of
these eastern nations in Africa have spurred the Americans into
action, anxious not to be outdone in a continent which they feel
should be in their orbit. The United States wants to get as much as a
quarter of its oil imports from Africa within a decade, to lessen its
dependence on the Middle East. Though the Americans have been
focusing on the Gulf of Guinea, particularly Nigeria, they are also
heavily involved in Angola, which is likely to become Africa's
largest producer.

America's interest in Africa has also been revived by the
administration's "war on terror". It has been offering money and
military deals to many governments, especially across the Sahara and
in the Sahel (the fringe just south of the great desert), to combat
the threat of militant Islamists. To benefit from this military and
diplomatic windfall, several African countries have accepted the role
of front-line states in America's war. Ethiopia and Kenya, both
sharing long borders with Somalia (where the Islamist threat is
real), have gained in this way; so have Mali and Nigeria, where the
threat is less apparent.

All this attention and investment are not an automatic blessing. The
men who make the deals are enjoying a sweeter life than ever before;
but for most people the riches have trickled down slowly, and
sometimes not at all. Africa's record of governance remains, on the
whole, poor and its respect for human rights patchy (see map). These
are still the main reasons for the continent's failure to march
steadily towards prosperity.

Because aggregate growth has depended hugely on the worldwide
commodities boom of the past decade or so, the overall economic
improvement also masks deep inequalities. A recent World Bank paper
illustrates the difference in economic well-being between countries
with minerals and oil and those without. Landlocked countries without
resources grew by an annual average rate of just 3.6% from 1995 to
2006, whereas oil-exporting ones grew by 9.1%. Although some of the
poorest countries did well in 2007 (Sierra Leone, for instance, grew
by 11.6%) the base was low. Ethiopia grew by 6.2%, and has had more
than seven years of peace, but it is still threatened by famine. And
the 14 African countries that the World Bank classifies as "fragile"
have grown by only 2.5% a year over the past decade.

A lot of hot private capital has been attracted to a very few
countries, such as Nigeria, where fund managers have been impressed
by reforms in the banking sector as well as by its healthier economic
state. Mobile-telephone companies have been doing extremely well
almost everywhere. The IMF says that a select group of countries—
Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and
Zambia—are now stable enough to rank as emerging markets. But the
World Bank paper is sceptical of claims that Africa's economic
fundamentals—savings, investment, productivity and export
diversification—have improved enough in the good times to keep the
recovery going when commodity prices fall. That scepticism will now
be put to the test.

The bad news is that, even in some of Africa's bigger and beefier
countries, the benefits of growth have been balanced by soaring
increases in population (see chart 2). In short, even the more
successful countries have not managed to provide anything like enough
formal jobs, above all for the young. So there are millions of
frustrated, bored and angry young men in Africa's burgeoning slums
and shanty towns. With few prospects, they are ready to explode, as
they have done ever more frequently in the past year or so.

Take Kenya, which boasts east Africa's wealthiest economy. In rich
countries, the average woman has 1.6 children in her lifetime. In
Kenya, she has nearly five. The population has grown sixfold since
1950, to 37m, with a bulge in the cohort of young men aged 15-24;
most will be, at best, under-employed. All it needed was a spark,
after the country's rigged election on December 27th, to ignite a
collective rage.

Or look at Ethiopia, its neighbour. Here the population, now 85m, is
growing by about 2m a year, one of Africa's fastest rates. Despite
recent economic successes (exporting flowers, for example), poverty
remains endemic. Some reckon that 70% of young Ethiopians are
jobless. In Nigeria, with 149m people, the problem is extreme. Many
young men in the oil-rich Delta region have given up all hope of
work. Instead they have joined an insurgency, kidnapping and stealing
oil to earn a living.

This economic and political frustration is a lethal mix in what are
supposed to be Africa's more hopeful countries. It cuts across
ethnic, tribal and religious lines. Crooked elections, as in Kenya,
often ignite the violence. Young people, their expectations raised,
believe that their votes will produce politicians who will address
their grievances and bring some economic and social justice. As such
hopes are repeatedly dashed, a youthful rage has built up across the
continent.

For countries that have no oil to export, high fuel and food prices
have made matters worse. The high cost of staples has led to riots in
nine African countries this year, including relatively peaceful ones,
such as Senegal. It is also stoking inflation.

Even those countries which seem, on the surface, to be doing well
from selling their oil and copper to Asia are in danger of damaging
themselves in the longer term. The "Dutch disease" was a term coined
by The Economist in 1977 to describe how the exploitation of natural
resources can cause a decline in other forms of economic activity,
particularly manufacturing. This briefly happened in the Netherlands
when natural gas was discovered; the same may be happening in Africa.
And despite—or perhaps because of—Nigeria's massive oil wealth,
several of the country's civil institutions, together with human
rights and the rule of law, have all withered in the past few years.

In four of the five states of Nigeria's Delta region, for example,
accountability, openness and democracy seem to have diminished in
proportion to the increase in oil money flowing into the states'
coffers. Elections have become long spells of organised thuggery. The
former head of Nigeria's anti-corruption commission, Nuhu Ribadu, has
called Nigeria's mode of government "gangsterism". Politicians,
particularly at local level, form criminal syndicates to squeeze the
public coffers dry. The more money is available, the more
unscrupulous they become.

When Mr Ribadu's anti-corruption investigations got too near the top
of government earlier this year, he was promptly relieved of his
post. The same fate befell another anti-corruption chief, John
Githongo, in another relatively rich country, Kenya, in 2005. Mr
Githongo now concludes gloomily that a whole era, starting in the mid-
1990s when African governments at least tried to take corruption
seriously, is over.

In Sudan, another country awash with oil, the bonanza should once
again have benefited a country that suffers from both poverty and
drought. Instead, oil wealth has exacerbated existing tensions and
grievances. Sharing out the most productive oilfields is a deadly
source of tension between the Christian-animist south and the Muslim-
and Arab-dominated government in the north. As a result, the long war
between the south and north, which was ended by an ambitious peace
accord only three years ago, is threatening to break out again.
Botswana, in southern Africa, remains the only country that has
managed its resource wealth (mainly diamonds) well.

Raising the financial stakes in Africa often seems to have persuaded
those who benefit most from the new riches to cling ever more tightly
to power. There are, for sure, more elections than ever before. But
heeding disagreeable election results is for wimps, judging by the
attitude of Kenya's Mwai Kibaki or Zimbabwe's Mr Mugabe. Uganda's
president, Yoweri Museveni, has changed his country's constitutions
in order to hang on. Cameroon's leader, Paul Biya, has shown a desire
to follow this bad example, and has provoked riots as a result.

Neither will Africa's politicians be deterred from this attitude by
their new high-spending friends, the Chinese. China is welcomed for
its much needed investment and its building of roads, pipelines and
ports. But the Chinese may also be encouraging governments and
politicians to ignore their people's demands for more democracy and
cleaner government. Kenya's opposition was much irritated by an
editorial in January in the People's Daily, the official newspaper of
the Chinese Communist Party: "Western-style democratic theory is just
not suited to African conditions. Rather, it carries with it the
roots of disaster. Kenya's election crisis is just one example."
Words like this seemed almost to approve Mr Kibaki's disastrous
rigging of the election.

Several of the African countries making the most promising strides
are those with very few natural resources. Poor, landlocked Mali is
combining slow but steady economic improvement with political
stability. Mozambique, recovered from war and rich in minerals, is
also progressing slowly in the right direction.

Ghana, at independence in 1957 one of Africa's richest countries per
head of population but subsequently ruined by dictators and
mismanagement, is also making a comeback. In December 2006 it floated
a five-year bond for the first time. The issue was oversubscribed.
Last year Ghana struck oil for the first time off its coast. But the
Ghanaians, wiser after their descent from high hopes to kleptocracy,
kept their celebrations muted and are now inviting the Norwegians in
to advise them on how to exploit their windfall sensibly. Ghana's
elections, due in December, will provide a test of whether the
country can avoid the violence and fraud that stalked the ballots in
Kenya and Zimbabwe.

The emphasis in these good-news countries is on boosting the private
sector, reducing corruption and getting the politics right. Their
efforts are allowing them to qualify for America's Millennium
Challenge Account, worth hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. Even
though the underlying problems remain daunting, and even in the midst
of the world financial crash, sub-Saharan Africa has a chance to
build itself anew.

LIBREVILLE, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Gabon earned a 1-0 win over Libya on
Saturday to keep their World Cup qualifying hopes alive and end the
dreams of their visitors.

Bruno Mbanangoye's goal 13 minutes from time ensured Gabon finished
runners-up on goal difference in the African zone Group Five
standings behind Ghana, who beat Lesotho 3-0 in Sekondi.

Gabon are likely to go through as one of the eight best runners-up
but must wait until the end of the weekend's programme of qualifiers
before their progress is confirmed.

Libya, who needed a draw to win the group and secure a place in next
year's final phase of African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in
South Africa, dropped from first place to third.

All three sides have 12 points but Ghana go through to the next round
with a goal difference of plus six while Gabon are second on plus
five and Libya finished with plus three.

APA – Libreville (Gabon) The Gabonese national education minister,
Michel Menga, has threatened to suspend the salaries of teachers that
went on strike on October 6 since the school resumption, reliable
sources told APA Monday. In a memo copied to APA, Mr. Menga requested
the managers of public utility primary and secondary schools to send
him the names and reference numbers of those that are on strike
before august 15th, to enable him start the procedures for the
suspension of the salaries of those on strike and are paid by the
public administration. Trainee teachers that are supportive of the
move will be deprived from support funds, the memorandum informed.

Classes are seriously disrupted in various primary and secondary
schools both in Libreville, the capital city, and inland where the
strike was particularly respected by many teachers. Gabonese teachers
are gathered within an action group that initiated the strike on
October 6th claiming the readjustment of the salaries of those who
have been working before 1990 and those who were recruited on that
date. In 2006, the education system was crippled for two months due
to a strike. Teachers started negotiations Monday afternoon with
Prime Minister Eyéghé Ndong.

http://www.afrika.no/Detailed/17288.html

Dakar (Senegal) - More than 11,000 teachers are demanding better work
conditions and more pay as they continue a nationwide strike in Gabon
that started on 6 October, according to Marcel Libama, the secretary
general of the National Education Union (SENA).

"We have decided to strike now because the education system in Gabon
is almost on the floor," said Moussounda Gean-goen, a striking
primary school teacher. "Teachers are badly paid, badly housed and
badly transported."

For more than a decade, Gabonese teachers' unions have fought for
better conditions, said union leader Libama. But with the
depreciation of the local currency in the early 1990s and currently-
spiraling prices, life has become even more difficult: "Teachers are
the most affected by the rising cost of living because of low
salaries," he told IRIN.

"Gabon is a rich country with reserves of petrol and manganese. We
are now capable of improving conditions for teachers so that we can
achieve the Millennium Development Goal in education," said Libama.

With an average per capita income surpassing US$6,000, Gabon is one
of the richest countries in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the
World Bank. Gabon has been producing oil for many decades and is the
world's third largest producer of the mineral manganese, according to
the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

The Gabonese government has recently announced a projected national
2009 budget of just over $5 billion, up 38-percent from this year
based on expected oil revenue.

A 1991 law that changed public workers' salaries and benefits was
disadvantageous to teachers, said Libama: "Those who became teachers
after 1991 are having the most difficulty." Libama said teachers want
better transport and housing benefits and salaries equal to those
before the 1991 law was enacted.

The government also owes teachers years of back pay, according to
Libama: "Teachers have been waiting up to eight years and longer for
the government to [back] pay their salaries," Libama said. "They tell
us to wait. But nothing happens."

According to Libama, after 18 months as a teacher in training, the
then-certified teacher should receive a higher wage. Then, every
following two years, a teacher should get a promotion and salary
increase.

But the Ministry of Education's  Njuemãmba dismissed this
grievance: "Only the [public workers'] housing allowance has
changed." Government officials started negotiations with union
representatives on 14 October said Pierre Njuemãmba , chief of staff
at the Ministry of Education.

Vigdis Cristofoli, West Africa regional education specialist at UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN bringing the strike to an end is
critical: "Long-lasting strikes disrupt children's education so much
that they cannot pass their exams. This can lead to high repetition
rates."

Two out of every five people in Gabon are under the age of 15,
according to a government census 10 years ago. Though 96-percent of
school-aged children are enrolled in primary school, 30-percent of
them must repeat school years, according to 2008 UN data.

http://goafrica.about.com/b/2008/10/31/wheres-gabon-in-survivor-
gabon.htm

Anouk's Africa Travel Blog
By Anouk Zijlma, About.com Guide to Africa Travel

The popular US TV show Survivor is taking place in Gabon and I've
forced myself to watch every episode this season because I was all
excited about the location. Am I the only one that's disappointed in
seeing absolutely nothing about the country or its culture? There are
lots of beautiful quick shots of wildlife in between scenes, but no
indication as to their proximity to the camps the survivor casts stay
at. And usually the show gives a nod to the local culture and
incorporates this in the challenges. But I get absolutely nothing
from this season. It's as if Gabon is devoid of people and culture
which is very far from the truth.

The last time Survivor took place in Africa, it was filmed in Kenya.
Contestants (and thereby the audience) learned about local Samburu
and Maasai culture. The rewards the contestants received included
going to local villages and delivering school supplies. At least one
got a sense that the contestants were in Kenya and actually
interacted with local Kenyans occasionally and possibly learned a
little bit about the culture. In fact, the winner of that contest,
Ethan Zohn used some of his money to help start Grassroot Soccer a
non-profit organization that uses soccer to educate youth in their
fight against HIV and AIDS in Africa.

At this rate, Survivor could save its money and just build a set in
LA.

Folks,

I've added my comment to the website's blog. By the way, the original posting
had too many spaces. Here's a better link:

http://goafrica.about.com/b/2008/10/31/wheres-gabon-in-survivor-gabon.htm

In my opinion, it's our lifelong role as RPCVs to educate fellow Americans who
are ignorant about where we have worked. (I love nothing more than when a black
American asks my Gabonese wife if she grew up living in trees. Now that one
really sets her off...!)

Brad


--- En date de : Ven 31.10.08, bobutne <bobutne@...> a écrit :
De: bobutne <bobutne@...>
Objet: [Gabon Discussion] Where's Gabon in Survivor Gabon?
À: gabondiscussion@yahoogroups.com
Date: Vendredi 31 Octobre 2008, 16h54











             http://goafrica. about.com/ b/2008/10/ 31/wheres- gabon-in-
survivor-

gabon.htm



Anouk's Africa Travel Blog

By Anouk Zijlma, About.com Guide to Africa Travel



The popular US TV show Survivor is taking place in Gabon and I've

forced myself to watch every episode this season because I was all

excited about the location. Am I the only one that's disappointed in

seeing absolutely nothing about the country or its culture? There are

lots of beautiful quick shots of wildlife in between scenes, but no

indication as to their proximity to the camps the survivor casts stay

at. And usually the show gives a nod to the local culture and

incorporates this in the challenges. But I get absolutely nothing

from this season. It's as if Gabon is devoid of people and culture

which is very far from the truth.



The last time Survivor took place in Africa, it was filmed in Kenya.

Contestants (and thereby the audience) learned about local Samburu

and Maasai culture. The rewards the contestants received included

going to local villages and delivering school supplies. At least one

got a sense that the contestants were in Kenya and actually

interacted with local Kenyans occasionally and possibly learned a

little bit about the culture. In fact, the winner of that contest,

Ethan Zohn used some of his money to help start Grassroot Soccer a

non-profit organization that uses soccer to educate youth in their

fight against HIV and AIDS in Africa.



At this rate, Survivor could save its money and just build a set in

LA.





























[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Three weeks into the 2008-09 season, among the new names at the top
of the Euroleague performance charts is a complete newcomer to Europe
and the first major pro player ever from the African country of
Gabon.

Although he's small for a shot-blocker, Stephane Lasme of Partizan
Belgrade is certainly a pleasant surprise to the die-hard fans at
Pionir Arena. Despite standing just 2.03 meters, Lasme so far ranks
second among all Euroleague players in rebounds and blocked shots,
not to mention fifth in overall performance index rating. Most
importantly, Partizan is nestled in second place in tough Group D
after winning two consecutive home games, against Real Madrid and
Armani Jeans Milano, in spectacular fashion.

If Lasme's high-flying blocks and rebounds were part of that show,
however, so were the Partizan fans, who have surprised him with their
high-volume show of devotion. "I've never seen anything like that
before on a basketball court," Lasme told Euroleague.net. "I think
both games were as loud as they can be. I can't imagine it any
louder. They were both exciting as each other, both equally fun."

What were your impressions of Pionir Arena during the first
Euroleague home game you won against Real Madrid?

"It was crazy, really crazy. I've never seen anything like that
before on a basketball court. It was fun to be a part of it."

Did anyone prepare you beforehand for the Partizan crowd?

"Since I came here a few weeks ago, everybody had been asking me if I
knew about the atmosphere at Pionir Arena. The truth is that I didn't
know anything. I hadn't heard about the team or the fans before I
signed here. So it was a very, very good surprise."

Were you tempted just to turn around watch the crowd sometimes?

"When I was on the bench, I took a look around, yeah. And honestly, I
never saw that many people being so loud ever before. It was so
noisy, something I had never heard on a basketball court. But I
didn't let it affect me so much. I've been playing basketball for
awhile now, so I know how to keep my mind clear and block out the
fans a lot."

Did you call anyone afterwards and tell them about the atmosphere you
witnessed?

"Yeah, I called and told all my friends from college about it, how
amazing it was in the first game of the Euroleague season. Now they
all want to come here and see it. None of them had ever heard about
Partizan, either, so I'm the first one to experience something like
this."

Was last week's 18-point comeback against Milano just as exciting or
more?

"Honestly, I think both games were as loud as they can be. I can't
imagine it any louder. They were both exciting as each other, both
equally fun. And the last one against Milano was crazy on the court,
too, because I had never played in a game where my team was down so
much and came back like that. We just knew that we had made stupid
mistakes first half. We have a good defensive team, so we told
ourselves to start playing that defense in the second half, cut out
the mistakes and go from there."

Are you learning anything different already in your first month or so
in Europe?

"I'd say I am just learning a lot. With the type of coaching we have
at Partizan, it's all about learning. There are a lot of young
players like me, and that learning environment is a good thing for
everybody. Coach Vujosevic is really big on teaching, so I am trying
to learn as much as I can."

Going back to your early career. How did you get from Gabon to the
University of Massachusetts?

"When I graduated from high school in Gabon, I went to Boston first
to learn English at a language school. While I was there, I went to a
basketball camp at the same time. From that camp, there was an all-
star team that went to a game in New Jersey, and that's where they
discovered me and started talking to me about going to UMass."

Before that, in Gabon, did you plan on a basketball career?

"I played for my high school and we traveled around Gabon. I remember
I had talked about going to college with my high school coach and my
parents, but I just wanted to get a degree and the education. I
planned on trying to play basketball in the university, but I had no
idea how big the sport was at that level until I was already on the
team."

Does your specialty, shot-blocking, come naturally or did you learn
it?

"It kind of came naturally to me. I never really thought about how to
do it before I started doing it, so it was natural. I don't even
think about it that much now. I just see the ball and try to block
the shot. I don't think about it as something to work at."

Did you imagine as a young player in Africa that you might be where
you are today, playing professionally in the Euroleague?

"When I was back home in Gabon, a couple of people told me that I
might have a chance to play professionally, but I never took it
seriously. I thought it was just talk. It was hard to imagine from
there that there was a chance of being a pro like this. Now, I think
I have a great opportunity to learn more, to experience another type
of basketball. Belgrade is great so far, a nice city. I like it a lot
and everybody is friendly. They say hi to me in the street, even
before we started winning. It's nice and comfortable for me. Like I
said, it's a great opportunity for me to build a future for my
family, and like I said, to do what I love most, which is to play
basketball."

http://www.euroleague.net/features/interviews/euroleague-2008-
09/i/37851/179

China and Gabon signed a pact on economic and technological
cooperation here Friday in an effort to push for more and better
cooperation in large-scale projects. The agreement was signed after
visiting Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo held talks with Gabonese
President El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba in the presidential palace here.

Wu said that economic cooperation served as the foundation for
bilateral ties and that both sides were paying more and more
attention to this. Both sides should try to take advantage of the
complementarity of their economies by turning it into huge economic
achievement, Wu said. He said that cooperation in large-scale
projects in mineral production, power production and gymnasium
construction should be further strengthened by hastening the pace of
their initial phases, expressing the hope that these projects will
become new bonds between the two economies.

Bongo said that relations with China had been a high priority on
Gabon's foreign relations' agenda and that more progress should be
made on the agreed large-scale projects. Bongo said the two countries
should cooperate in a wider and deeper scale, pushing for further
progress in bilateral ties.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/08/content_10324743.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/world/europe/03briefs-
3AFRICANPRES_BRF.html?ref=world

Anticorruption activists filed a lawsuit in Paris on Tuesday against
the presidents of Gabon, the Congo Republic and Equatorial Guinea,
accusing them of acquiring luxury homes in France with embezzled public
money. The French chapter of Transparency International, the
nongovernmental group Sherpa and a Gabonese citizen sued Presidents
Omar Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Congo Republic
and Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, and several of their
associates, the plaintiffs said in a statement. Citing dozens of
expensive properties, the plaintiffs said there was "no doubt that
these assets could not have been acquired with the sole salaries and
benefits of these heads of state."

Final episode tonight at 8pm EST and 7pm CST.

I know, I know, it's not supposed to be educational. It's entertainment. Why
can't I stop whining about how this show misrepresents Africa for American
viewers.

Well, can't they at least just call it Survivor Hollywood? The only connection
I've seen that it has to Gabon are the fleeting clips of animals and the masks
and other cultural artifacts the crew tried to STEAL AND TAKE BACK TO THE US
(recognize these?):

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20081215/ARTICLES/812150252/1050/ENTERTAIN\
MENT?Title=Monkey_skull_among__Survivor__artifacts_seized_by_feds

Brad



--- En date de : Jeu 20.9.07, Brad Hodges <niakurondi@...> a écrit :
De: Brad Hodges <niakurondi@...>
Objet: RE : [Gabon Discussion] Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African
Oil.
À: gabondiscussion@yahoogroups.com
Date: Jeudi 20 Septembre 2007, 0h30

Pretty slick!

For our francophones (and I sense we are few who frequent this forum from
previous communications), I encourage you to visit Gabon's developing,
promotional Web site: http://www.legabon.org/home.php ("php" meaning "we can
track you.")

It is obviously geared toward those who might invest in Gabon. (I assume that
means oil and other natural resources, because as Nicholas Shaxson has noted,
the only thing Gabon seems to manufacture locally on a large scale is beer and
cement.)

You won't find any pictures of flooded streets in Nzeng-Ayong or la zone
industrielle, but rather a guide who speaks Parisian French, smiling children,
and rather irrelevant statistics.

- un makaya moutangani


bobutne <bobutne@...> a écrit :                               Six
Questions for Nicholas Shaxson on African oil and American
  foreign policy,  Harper's, April 2007

  West Africa is now a major source of oil for the United States, and
  African-born journalist and researcher Nicholas Shaxson has made the
  oil-producing nations of west Africa his beat. Since 1993 he has
  written for publications such as the Financial Times, Reuters, The
  Economist, and Africa Confidential, and he is the author of the newly
  released Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil.

  * You're clearly fascinated by President Omar Bongo of Gabon. Why do
  you find him so interesting?

  For decades Bongo was a guardian of what was, in a sense, the biggest
  secret in Africa: a giant
  offshore slush fund, fed by African oil and
  hooked up to tax havens. It secretly financed and corrupted the main
  French political parties, the intelligence services, and provided
  bribes in pursuit of French diplomatic, economic and military
  objectives around the world. Several hundred French troops protected
  Bongo against coups, and his secret influence in French politics was
  staggering. Could anything like this happen elsewhere in the West? A
  secret system fed by foreign oil, underpinned by military links,
  corrupting national politics? When I contemplate America, Britain,
  and Saudi Arabia, I wonder. In fact, it is almost certain that
  several systems with some or all of these characteristics link rich
  Western countries with poor, oil-rich ones. The main difference is
  that magistrates cracked the French system open. The others remain
  submerged.


  * What's driving the newfound American interest in
  African oil?

  Angola and Nigeria alone will account for nearly half of all the
  growth in OPEC output this year, and America is currently importing
  as much oil from these two countries as it is from Saudi Arabia and
  Kuwait. Within five years or so, West Africa will probably account
  for a quarter of U.S. oil imports. Around the world, oil companies
  have been locked out of the best oil and gas provinces, from
  Venezuela to Russia to Iran. As Dick Cheney put it: "The good Lord
  didn't see fit to put oil and gas only where there are democratic
  regimes friendly to the United States." West Africa is mostly
  friendlier than Iran or Venezuela; its oil is mostly light and sweet—
  ideal for making motor fuels—and production is surging. It's hardly
  surprising the region is attracting a lot of American interest now.

  * Has American government and corporate involvement had any positive
  effect in reducing corruption
  or poverty?

  Attitudes are changing. There's growing awareness of environmental
  problems as well as rising interest in "corporate social
  responsibility, " so it's a bit harder for oil companies these days to
  behave like colonial overlords. We are also beginning to understand
  the reasons for the "oil curse"—countries that strike oil tend to get
  poorer and more violent over time. But are things really getting
  better? In 2004 I broke a story involving western mercenaries who had
  been caught trying to launch a coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.
  Curiously the governments of the United States, Britain, and Spain
  all had advance warning of the plot, but seem not to have tried
  seriously to stop it. Despite this new interest in the "oil curse",
  old habits and temptations will always remain, because of the lure of
  oil.

  * The new Chad-Cameroon pipeline, which was backed by the World Bank
  and is
  headed by an ExxonMobil-led consortium, was described as a
  model project that would set the standard for honest energy
  development. How has that worked out?

  The World Bank gave the project its support, and built in safeguards
  to prevent mismanagement, calling it "an unprecedented framework to
  transform oil wealth into direct benefits for the poor." People in
  Chad were hopeful too: one villager took a bath in beer to celebrate
  a compensation payment he received from the project. But now there is
  more conflict in Chad. This is a pattern in oil zones. Villagers
  fight each other for compensation or jobs, and politicians fight each
  other for access to the oil money. Rebel groups have recently been
  fighting the army, and the struggles are tangled up with the mess in
  Darfur province in neighboring oil-rich Sudan. A German parliamentary
  report in January concluded that the project had not solved the

  problems, but instead seems to have provoked "a creeping
  deterioration in living standards." Western schemes to "guide"
  Africans to behave better often fail, because African rulers—
  especially oil-rich ones—tend to be quite good at mastering their own
  destinies nowadays. We can best help by making changes at home. One
  way is to curb our fuel consumption. Another matter cropped up
  repeatedly during my 14 years of research: the draining of Africa's
  wealth into rich-world tax havens. Current transparency initiatives
  don't touch this issue; but instead we pretend that it's only the
  Africans who are corrupt. Don't forget that New York and London,
  swimming in foreign dictators' loot, are two of the world's biggest
  tax havens.

  * The three biggest oil exporters in West Africa are three
  governments known to be corrupt: Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial
  Guinea. Can energy development in those countries
  realistically be
  expected to benefit regular citizens?

  I met an old man once in a town called Kuito in Angola, which was
  badly smashed up by fighting, and asked if he'd seen benefits from
  the offshore Kuito oilfield, which Chevron had named after his town.
  The old man simply raised his hand above his head, palm down, to show
  how far out of his depth he was with my question. In America, the
  idea of "no taxation without representation" underpins democracy and
  capitalism. But in Angola, rulers tax oil companies, not citizens; so
  they can be as corrupt as they like, oppress or forget about their
  subjects, and still wallow in oil money. This is close to the heart
  of the problem with oil. There is a theoretical way around this—if
  oil money could be distributed directly and equally to everyone, then
  rulers would tax citizens, not oil companies, the old man in Kuito
  might be in a better position to demand
  representation in exchange
  for his taxes, and people would have less reason to fight for the
  spoils. This system works well in Alaska, but could it work in
  Africa? Many people think it is impossible, but perhaps ways might be
  found one day.

  * A CIA official once told me that the consensus among Nigerians was
  that the country would have been better off if the oil was still in
  the ground. Has oil really been so detrimental to African countries
  that they'd be better off without it?

  Angola's oil-laden budget this year is about the same size as all
  foreign aid to all of sub-Saharan Africa—but according to the United
  Nations, Angola's infant mortality is the second worst in the world,
  worse even than Afghanistan' s. At the start of the last oil boom in
  1970, one-third of Nigerians lived in poverty; now, four hundred
  billion dollars in oil and gas earnings later, two-thirds are poor.
  People
  often put the problem like this: oil money would be a blessing
  but politicians steal it, so people don't see the benefits. But it's
  much worse: the oil wealth not only doesn't reach ordinary people,
  but it actively makes them poorer. It took me years to really accept
  this counter-intuitive idea. But after all I've seen, I have no
  doubts.







Ne gardez plus qu'une seule adresse mail ! Copiez vos mails vers Yahoo! Mail




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-12/25/content_7340665.htm

No Peace Corps in Gabon but plenty of Chinese.....

Five anti-corruption campaigners in Gabon were arrested just before
New Year and are being detained in harsh conditions on unknown
charges, non-governmental organisations in France said on Tuesday.
One of the five, Gregory Ngbwa Mintsa, is a plaintiff in a suit filed
in a French court against Gabonese President Omar Bongo by anti-
corruption activists who accuse the veteran leader of buying French
properties with the proceeds of corruption.

Nine French NGOs said the five Gabonese campaigners were arrested on
Dec. 30 and 31 and have been held since then without access to their
lawyers and without being told what are the charges against them.

"The only 'wrong' these men have committed is to demand that Gabon
apply rules of good governance as required by its international
commitments, that is to say transparency and probity in the
management of public funds," the NGOs said.

They include the French arm of anti-corruption watchdog Transparency
International and the campaign group Sherpa, which are also involved
in the lawsuit against Bongo.

Gabon's Interior Minister Andre Obame declined to answer reporters'
questions on Monday about the reason for the arrests.

Some weeks ago Obame appeared on state TV in Gabon and accused one of
the detainees, Marc Ona, head of the local branch of Publish What You
Pay and correspondent for U.S. state-backed radio Voice of America,
of being politically motivated. Obame said then that "politicised
NGOs are a threat to the country's internal security".

The NGOs filed a suit on Dec. 2 accusing Bongo, Africa's longest-
serving leader, and two other African heads of state of accumulating
properties in France that could not be financed with their official
earnings.

Bongo, who has ruled his oil-producing country since 1967 and placed
close relatives in key government positions, has denied the
allegations made against him and threatened to sue the activists for
defamation. A 2007 French police investigation revealed that he and
his relatives owned 39 properties in France, mostly in the rich 16th
district of Paris, as well as 70 bank accounts and nine cars. The
properties also include luxury villas on the Riviera.

The French NGOs said that relatives of Ngbwa Mintsa had told them he
had severe bruising on his legs. The men were being held with hardly
any clothing in a damp cellar, the groups said. They also said it was
not known if another of the detainees, Gaston Asseko, was being
provided with medication he needed after undergoing a recent
operation. Asseko works for a Catholic radio station, Radio Sainte
Marie.

The French press has reported that Bongo, who has cultivated close
ties with successive French presidents since he came to power and
regards Paris as a second home, was infuriated by the lawsuit
concerning his French properties. (Additional reporting by Antoine
Lawson in Libreville; editing by Alistair Thomson)

I am headed to DC next week for the inauguration.  Several of us
Friends of Gabon Members will be crashing the Capozzi home in SE.  I
hope that others will be in the city too.

RPCVs will be in the Inaugural Parade representing the Peace Corps and
the countries of service.  I see CYNTHIA VINSON, Gabon 1995-1997 on
the list.  Does anyone know her?  We will be looking for the
Green-Yellow-Blue tri-color as the RPCVs pass by and give her a cheer.

There will be a Community Service Project that anyone can participate
in on Monday, Jan 19.  Details will be posted on the RPCV Washington
website. http://www.rpcvw.org

Shout out M'Bolo when you see me.

Obama OYE!!!

NGOs protest cancellation of French lawyer's visa to Gabon

APA-Libreville (Gabon) Two international NGOs, Sherpa and
Transparency International (France) protested against the Gabonese
authorities' last minute decision on Thursday to cancel the visa of
Lawyer Thierry Lévy to prevent him from taking a flight to Libreville
to represent the Gabonese activists imprisoned for "propaganda".

The militants of these NGOs were on Wednesday imprisoned in
Libreville central prison about a case involving the assets of some
African heads of state including Gabonese President Omar Bongo.

"It is an unprecedented step which violates the terms of the French-
Gabonese Convention on mutual legal assistance (1963), insofar as it
prevents a French lawyer from defending his clients," the two NGOs
deplored in a release copied to APA.

"The decision of the Gabonese authorities, which prevents Lawyer Lévy
from practising, seriously violates the international obligations of
Gabon and the Gabonese law itself," the Paris-based organisations
said, adding that "the thus created situation is extremely alarming".

On 30 and 31 December, intelligence service agents arrested six
Gabonese civil society members without a warrant and took them to the
Criminal Investigation Department.

After more than 48 hours in police custody, Prosecutor Alaba Fall
Bosco required the opening of an inquiry against five of the
detainees.

They are Gregory Ngbwa Mintsa, Marc Ona Essangui, George Mpaga,
Dieudonné Koungou and Gaston Asseko. They were placed under committal
order, except for Dieudonné Koungou who was granted bail.

Koungo was placed under committal order and sent to the Libreville
prison on Wednesday evening.

They are being prosecuted for possessing a document meant for oral or
written diffusion and propaganda in a bid to incite them to revolt
against state authority, their Gabonese lawyer Ruphin Nkoulou said.

http://www.apanews.net/apa.php?page=show_article_eng&id_article=85210




--- In gabondiscussion@yahoogroups.com, "bobutne" <bobutne@...> wrote:
>
> Five anti-corruption campaigners in Gabon were arrested just before
> New Year and are being detained in harsh conditions on unknown
> charges, non-governmental organisations in France said on Tuesday.
> One of the five, Gregory Ngbwa Mintsa, is a plaintiff in a suit
filed
> in a French court against Gabonese President Omar Bongo by anti-
> corruption activists who accuse the veteran leader of buying French
> properties with the proceeds of corruption.
>
> Nine French NGOs said the five Gabonese campaigners were arrested
on
> Dec. 30 and 31 and have been held since then without access to
their
> lawyers and without being told what are the charges against them.
>
> "The only 'wrong' these men have committed is to demand that Gabon
> apply rules of good governance as required by its international
> commitments, that is to say transparency and probity in the
> management of public funds," the NGOs said.
>
> They include the French arm of anti-corruption watchdog
Transparency
> International and the campaign group Sherpa, which are also
involved
> in the lawsuit against Bongo.
>
> Gabon's Interior Minister Andre Obame declined to answer reporters'
> questions on Monday about the reason for the arrests.
>
> Some weeks ago Obame appeared on state TV in Gabon and accused one
of
> the detainees, Marc Ona, head of the local branch of Publish What
You
> Pay and correspondent for U.S. state-backed radio Voice of America,
> of being politically motivated. Obame said then that "politicised
> NGOs are a threat to the country's internal security".
>
> The NGOs filed a suit on Dec. 2 accusing Bongo, Africa's longest-
> serving leader, and two other African heads of state of
accumulating
> properties in France that could not be financed with their official
> earnings.
>
> Bongo, who has ruled his oil-producing country since 1967 and
placed
> close relatives in key government positions, has denied the
> allegations made against him and threatened to sue the activists
for
> defamation. A 2007 French police investigation revealed that he and
> his relatives owned 39 properties in France, mostly in the rich
16th
> district of Paris, as well as 70 bank accounts and nine cars. The
> properties also include luxury villas on the Riviera.
>
> The French NGOs said that relatives of Ngbwa Mintsa had told them
he
> had severe bruising on his legs. The men were being held with
hardly
> any clothing in a damp cellar, the groups said. They also said it
was
> not known if another of the detainees, Gaston Asseko, was being
> provided with medication he needed after undergoing a recent
> operation. Asseko works for a Catholic radio station, Radio Sainte
> Marie.
>
> The French press has reported that Bongo, who has cultivated close
> ties with successive French presidents since he came to power and
> regards Paris as a second home, was infuriated by the lawsuit
> concerning his French properties. (Additional reporting by Antoine
> Lawson in Libreville; editing by Alistair Thomson)
>

Reuters.

Gabon charged five journalists and anti-graft campaigners on Friday
with trying to incite rebellion over a published document heavily
criticising President Omar Bongo's 41-year rule. Those charged
included Gregory Ngbwa Mintsa, who is a plaintiff in a suit brought
by anti-corruption activists in France accusing Africa's longest-
serving leader of buying dozens of French properties with the
proceeds of corruption.

Bongo has ruled Gabon, one of Africa's richest countries on a per
capita basis thanks to crude oil production, since 1967. He denies
the graft charges and is counter-suing for defamation.

Interior Minister Andre Obame said the five had been charged
with "possessing a document for dissemination for propaganda
purposes" and with "oral or written propaganda with a view to
inciting rebellion against the state authorities".

Legal officials said authorities were seeking sentences of up to five
years imprisonment and fines against the group, who were arrested
just before New Year. Four were remanded in custody while Dieudonne
Koungou, a journalist at the bimonthly newspaper Tendance Gabon, was
released on bail, the group's lawyer Ruphin Nkoulou Ondo told
reporters in the capital Libreville.

Publish What You Pay, Global Witness and the Revenue Watch Institute,
organisations which campaign against corruption in industry, said in
a statement the charges stemmed from an open letter criticising Bongo
that was published on the Internet.

"My clients are not the authors of this letter, which is in the
possession of hundreds of people: are they all to be detained too?" a
statement released by the three organisations quoted their laywer,
Ondo, as saying. Ondo had said Mintsa and fellow detainees Gaston
Asseko, who works for the Catholic radio station, Radio Sainte Marie,
and Georges Mpaga, a member of the local branch of Publish What You
Pay, all needed urgent medical care, the statement said.

French lawyer Thierry Levy, who was on his way to Gabon to defend
Mintsa, was turned back late on Thursday by airport police in Paris,
who told him his visa to enter Gabon had been cancelled, Levy told
reporters in Paris on Friday.

Bongo has cultivated close ties with successive French presidents
since he came to power and regards Paris as a second home. A 2007
French police investigation revealed that he and his relatives owned
39 properties in France, mostly in the rich 16th district of Paris,
as well as 70 bank accounts and nine cars. The properties include
luxury villas on the Riviera.

A group of NGOs filed a suit on Dec. 2 accusing Bongo and two other
African heads of state of accumulating properties in France that
could not be financed with their official earnings.

Some weeks ago Obame, the interior minister, appeared on state TV in
Gabon and accused one of the detainees, Marc Ona, of being
politically motivated.  Ona is head of the local branch of Publish
What You Pay and correspondent for U.S. state-backed radio Voice of
America.

Obame said then that "politicised NGOs are a threat to the country's
internal security".








--- In gabondiscussion@yahoogroups.com, "bobutne" <bobutne@...> wrote:
>
> NGOs protest cancellation of French lawyer's visa to Gabon
>
> APA-Libreville (Gabon) Two international NGOs, Sherpa and
> Transparency International (France) protested against the Gabonese
> authorities' last minute decision on Thursday to cancel the visa of
> Lawyer Thierry Lévy to prevent him from taking a flight to
Libreville
> to represent the Gabonese activists imprisoned for "propaganda".
>
> The militants of these NGOs were on Wednesday imprisoned in
> Libreville central prison about a case involving the assets of some
> African heads of state including Gabonese President Omar Bongo.
>
> "It is an unprecedented step which violates the terms of the French-
> Gabonese Convention on mutual legal assistance (1963), insofar as
it
> prevents a French lawyer from defending his clients," the two NGOs
> deplored in a release copied to APA.
>
> "The decision of the Gabonese authorities, which prevents Lawyer
Lévy
> from practising, seriously violates the international obligations
of
> Gabon and the Gabonese law itself," the Paris-based organisations
> said, adding that "the thus created situation is extremely
alarming".
>
> On 30 and 31 December, intelligence service agents arrested six
> Gabonese civil society members without a warrant and took them to
the
> Criminal Investigation Department.
>
> After more than 48 hours in police custody, Prosecutor Alaba Fall
> Bosco required the opening of an inquiry against five of the
> detainees.
>
> They are Gregory Ngbwa Mintsa, Marc Ona Essangui, George Mpaga,
> Dieudonné Koungou and Gaston Asseko. They were placed under
committal
> order, except for Dieudonné Koungou who was granted bail.
>
> Koungo was placed under committal order and sent to the Libreville
> prison on Wednesday evening.
>
> They are being prosecuted for possessing a document meant for oral
or
> written diffusion and propaganda in a bid to incite them to revolt
> against state authority, their Gabonese lawyer Ruphin Nkoulou said.
>
> http://www.apanews.net/apa.php?
page=show_article_eng&id_article=85210
>
>
>
>
> --- In gabondiscussion@yahoogroups.com, "bobutne" <bobutne@> wrote:
> >
> > Five anti-corruption campaigners in Gabon were arrested just
before
> > New Year and are being detained in harsh conditions on unknown
> > charges, non-governmental organisations in France said on
Tuesday.
> > One of the five, Gregory Ngbwa Mintsa, is a plaintiff in a suit
> filed
> > in a French court against Gabonese President Omar Bongo by anti-
> > corruption activists who accuse the veteran leader of buying
French
> > properties with the proceeds of corruption.
> >
> > Nine French NGOs said the five Gabonese campaigners were arrested
> on
> > Dec. 30 and 31 and have been held since then without access to
> their
> > lawyers and without being told what are the charges against them.
> >
> > "The only 'wrong' these men have committed is to demand that
Gabon
> > apply rules of good governance as required by its international
> > commitments, that is to say transparency and probity in the
> > management of public funds," the NGOs said.
> >
> > They include the French arm of anti-corruption watchdog
> Transparency
> > International and the campaign group Sherpa, which are also
> involved
> > in the lawsuit against Bongo.
> >
> > Gabon's Interior Minister Andre Obame declined to answer
reporters'
> > questions on Monday about the reason for the arrests.
> >
> > Some weeks ago Obame appeared on state TV in Gabon and accused
one
> of
> > the detainees, Marc Ona, head of the local branch of Publish What
> You
> > Pay and correspondent for U.S. state-backed radio Voice of
America,
> > of being politically motivated. Obame said then that "politicised
> > NGOs are a threat to the country's internal security".
> >
> > The NGOs filed a suit on Dec. 2 accusing Bongo, Africa's longest-
> > serving leader, and two other African heads of state of
> accumulating
> > properties in France that could not be financed with their
official
> > earnings.
> >
> > Bongo, who has ruled his oil-producing country since 1967 and
> placed
> > close relatives in key government positions, has denied the
> > allegations made against him and threatened to sue the activists
> for
> > defamation. A 2007 French police investigation revealed that he
and
> > his relatives owned 39 properties in France, mostly in the rich
> 16th
> > district of Paris, as well as 70 bank accounts and nine cars. The
> > properties also include luxury villas on the Riviera.
> >
> > The French NGOs said that relatives of Ngbwa Mintsa had told them
> he
> > had severe bruising on his legs. The men were being held with
> hardly
> > any clothing in a damp cellar, the groups said. They also said it
> was
> > not known if another of the detainees, Gaston Asseko, was being
> > provided with medication he needed after undergoing a recent
> > operation. Asseko works for a Catholic radio station, Radio
Sainte
> > Marie.
> >
> > The French press has reported that Bongo, who has cultivated
close
> > ties with successive French presidents since he came to power and
> > regards Paris as a second home, was infuriated by the lawsuit
> > concerning his French properties. (Additional reporting by
Antoine
> > Lawson in Libreville; editing by Alistair Thomson)
> >
>

A military helicopter with 10 French soldiers on board has crashed into
the sea off the African state of Gabon, killing at least one. The
French military say three soldiers survived but six are missing.

Officials say the helicopter had come down near the coastal city of
Port Gentil during a joint exercise with Gabonese troops.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered defence minister to fly to
Gabon to oversee the rescue operation.

There is no word on the cause of the crash, which occurred shortly
after take-off.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-01-20/push-cheney/

Follow up comments are especially interesting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7864604.stm

Gaddafi's proposal has a great deal of merit. Too bad that the present
African power brokers call all the shots.

Hello all,
The trouble with the Guide is that when he says 'unity' he usually means a
super-federation headed by himself, period. On a number of occasions he's been
more of a divider than a unifier--flirting with the trans-Sahelian Tuareg
rebellions, or expelling undocumented sub-Saharans... Seems to me he would be
nowhere near claiming to be the caliphs' Caliph if it weren't for the
petrodollars. But then again the same can be said about many others, including
our very own OBO. Truth is, the few visionaries we ever had are long gone, and
now we're stuck with a generation of wannabes. Hopefully Libya will shift the
focus of the AU from politics to economic matters at a time when even the most
financially secure countries are feeling a lot of pain.

Anyways, thanks for sharing the link. -Francois

--- En date de : Mar 3.2.09, bobutne <bobutne@...> a écrit :
De: bobutne <bobutne@...>
Objet: [Gabon Discussion] United States of Africa
À: gabondiscussion@yahoogroups.com
Date: Mardi 3 Février 2009, 3h00











             http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/africa/ 7864604.stm



Gaddafi's proposal has a great deal of merit. Too bad that the present

African power brokers call all the shots.





























[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0122-gabon.html




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://cpj.org/2009/02/after-mysterious-fire-online-journalist-dead-
in-re.php

New York, February 6, 2009--An online columnist known for criticizing
the government and alleging high-level corruption was buried in the
Republic of Congo today following his death in a military hospital on
Monday, according to local journalists. Bruno Ossébi, left, was badly
burned in a late-night fire at his residence on January 21, although
he was said to be recovering and his death was unexpected.
Authorities have not provided any information on the cause and
circumstances of the fire, which coincided with a similar fire at the
French home of an exiled political dissident.

Ossébi, who had dual Congolese and French citizenship, suffered
second-degree burns in an unsolved fire that killed his girlfriend
and her 8- and 10-year-old children, according to local reports.
French Embassy press attaché Bertrand de Marignan told CPJ that
Ossébi died a day before a scheduled medical evacuation to France.

In an interview with CPJ, national police spokesman Col. Jean Aive
Alakoua said the circumstances and cause of the fire have not been
established. "We don't know at the moment whether the fire was
criminal or accidental," he said. There were indications the fire
could have had an electrical origin, Alakoua said, but he would not
elaborate. Speaking to CPJ today, Public Prosecutor Alphonse Dinard
Mokondzi said the first eyewitness accounts reported a television
exploding in Ossébi's home.

The Congolese Observatory of Human Rights said it would conduct
independent investigations into the fire and the cause of Ossébi's
death, Executive Director Roger Bouka told CPJ.

"We mourn the death of Bruno Ossébi and extend our condolences to his
family and friends," CPJ's Africa program coordinator, Tom Rhodes,
said. "We call on authorities to ensure a thorough and transparent
investigation is conducted."

In an interview with CPJ today, Communications Minister Alain
Akouala, who visited Ossébi in the hospital, deplored Ossébi's death
and said an official investigation was under way. "It's sad because
it was someone who took part in his own way to the debate of ideas,"
he said.

The January 21 fire at the Ossébi home coincided with a blaze at the
house of exiled political dissident Benjamin Toungamani. The fires
came three days after Mwinda published an exclusive interview with
Toungamani in which he accused President Denis Sassou-Nguessou of
corruption, according to CPJ research. Toungamani was not injured.

Both Ossébi and Toungamani were planning to become co-plaintiffs in
an international legal complaint against Sassou-Nguesso and the
presidents of neighboring Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, according to
Maud Perdriel-Vaissiere, a lawyer with France-based transnational
justice organization Sherpa. In December, Sherpa and anticorruption
group Transparency International called for a probe into how the
leaders of the three oil-rich African nations had amassed private
assets in France.

At least two counter-complaints have been filed by the leaders. In
addition, Gabonese authorities arrested a plaintiff in the case and
two journalists in late December after suspending a newspaper months
earlier for republishing French daily Le Monde's report on the Paris
assets of Gabonese President Omar Bongo.

Ossébi had also alleged in a January column that the state-run
national petroleum authority had requested US$100 billion in
financing from a French bank due to government mismanagement of oil
profits, according to CPJ research. There was no official reaction to
those allegations, according to local journalists.

I would like to get in contact with Felicien who is from Abam Eba, the
last site I worked on in Gabon. I lost his mail address in 1974 but
recently I learned that he was working in the Ministry of Education in
Gabon. If anyone could suggest a way i could get his mail or email
address I would be grateful.
Thanks

More re French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner's dealings with
presidents Omar Bongo and Denis Sassou Nguesso

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45784

http://www.legalbrief.co.za/article.php?story=20090216160539839

2,500 languages threatened with extinction: UNESCO

by Amer Ouali 2 hrs 39 mins ago
PARIS (AFP) – The world has lost Manx in the Isle of Man, Ubykh in Turkey and
last year
Alaska's last native speaker of Eyak, Marie Smith Jones, died, taking the
aboriginal
language with her.
Of the 6,900 languages spoken in the world, some 2,500 are endangered, the UN's
cultural agency UNESCO said Thursday as it released its latest atlas of world
languages.
That represents a multi-fold increase from the last atlas compiled in 2001 which
listed
900 languages threatened with extinction.
But experts say this is more the result of better research tools than of an
increasingly dire
situation for the world's many tongues.
Still there is disheartening news.
There are 199 languages in the world spoken by fewer than a dozen people,
including
Karaim which has six speakers in Ukraine and Wichita, spoken by 10 people in the
US state
of Oklahoma.
The last four speakers of Lengilu talk among themselves in Indonesia.
Prospects are a bit brighter for some 178 other languages, spoken by between 10
and 150
people.
More than 200 languages have become extinct over the last three generations such
as
Ubykh that fell silent in 1992 when Tefvic Esenc passed on, Aasax in Tanzania,
which
disappeared in 1976, and Manx in 1974.
India tops the list of countries with the greatest number of endangered
languages, 196 in
all, followed by the United States which stands to lose 192 and Indonesia, where
147 are
in peril.
Australian linguist Christopher Moseley, who headed the atlas' team of 25
experts, noted
that countries with rich linguistic diversity like India and the United States
are also facing
the greatest threat of language extinction.
Even Sub-Saharan Africa's melting pot of some 2,000 languages is expected to
shrink by
at least 10 percent over the coming century, according to UNESCO.
On UNESCO's rating scale, 538 languages are critically endangered, 502 severely
endangered, 632 definitely endangered and 607 unsafe.
On a brighter note, Papua New Guinea, the country of 800 languages, the most
diverse in
the world, has only 88 endangered dialects.
Certain languages are even showing signs of a revival, like Cornish, a Celtic
language
spoken in Cornwall, southern England, and Sishee in New Caledonia.
Governments in Peru, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and Mexico have been
successful in their efforts to prevent indigenous languages from dying out.
UNESCO deputy director Francoise Riviere applauded government efforts to support
linguistic diversity but added that "people have to be proud to speak their
language" to
ensure it thrives.
Copyright © 2009 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information
contained in
the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
without
the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/world/africa/22gabon.html





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Thanks Brad. The NYT story is also here:

IVINDO NATIONAL PARK, Gabon — The forest here seems to go on forever,
interrupted only by the broad ribbons of its rivers. Deep inside,
some of the world's rarest creatures cavort in one of the most
pristine patches of rain forest on earth, a direct but accidental
result of Gabon's reliance on one of the filthiest fossil fuels:
crude oil.

For years, these vast stretches of green have been left almost
entirely untouched because oil has supplied Gabon's people with one
of the highest per capita incomes in sub-Saharan Africa. But now the
oil is running out, and Gabon needs a new source of cash, quickly,
throwing the future of Gabon's lush, Edenic landscapes into doubt.

In forests as old as the last ice age, an iron ore mining venture
backed by Gabon's president is threatening to destroy a huge
waterfall known as Kongou Falls by damming the Ivindo River to power
a mine and its railway.

A battle has sprung up to save the falls, and for many of Gabon's
civic and environmental activists it has become a broad fight to
protect the nation's natural heritage. Of all the nations in the
Congo Basin, home to the world's second largest rain forest, Gabon
still has the largest percentage of untrammeled, virgin jungle.

"The question is not just this waterfall, beautiful as it is," said
Marc Ona Essangui, an environmental activist here. "This is about
whether the government will live up to its commitments" to the
Gabonese people.

In neighboring countries, impoverished hordes have razed and burned
their forests to plant crops and make charcoal. They have slaughtered
the gorillas, elephants, chimpanzees and hippos in jungles for meat.
But the Gabonese flocked to cities, living in comparative splendor.

Governed by the wily President Omar Bongo since 1967, Gabon has never
had a coup or a civil war, a rare achievement for a nation surrounded
by unstable, war-torn states. Fueled by oil, the country's economy
was more like that of an Arabian emirate than a Central African
nation. For many years Gabon was said, perhaps apocryphally, to have
the world's highest per capita consumption of Champagne.

Mr. Bongo, one of Africa's wealthiest men, bought peace with cash,
according to diplomats and analysts here, using a bloated bureaucracy
to put a chicken in almost every pot. Generous payoffs and the threat
of prison have silenced political opponents.

Mr. Bongo, a self-proclaimed nature lover, also set aside 10 percent
of Gabon's land as national parks in 2002, pledging that they would
never be logged, mined, hunted or farmed. But that commitment is
running into an economic reality: the country needs a new way to
generate money.

Local pygmy and Bantu ethnic groups have revered the Kongou Falls for
centuries, and it is easy to understand why. The falls begin as a
steep set of rapids that fracture in half a dozen directions,
funneling churning chutes down sheer cliffs into frothy pools.
Farther down, two branches of the Ivindo River gush down twin falls
known as the Sun and the Moon.

This was once untouched forest, but last year a Chinese crew showed
up with a letter from the Ministry of Mines authorizing it to begin
working. A Chinese consortium planned to build a huge dam, which
would power a mine and a railway to move the ore south.

Tomo Nishihara, a conservationist working for the Wildlife
Conservation Society, was worried. The boundaries of Ivindo and
another park to the north, Minkebe, had been drawn to exclude the
mine, which had been left idle as Gabon grew rich on oil.

"There are other places that it could have been built," he said of
the dam. "But I was told this project was authorized at the highest
levels."

Mr. Nishihara had been through this before. Sinopec, the Chinese
state oil company, turned up in 2006 in Loango National Park, a lush
coastal preserve where elephants wander the beach. Armed with a
government letter, the company began seismic testing in the park,
setting off loud blasts in its search for oil deposits. And it
provided little food for its workers, who hunted the rare wildlife,
according to local park officials.

Mr. Nishihara persuaded the government to tighten environmental
controls, and even lived with the Chinese workers for months to
ensure that the park was protected. Ultimately the crew packed up and
left, having found nothing worth drilling for, and the damage was
minimal. But this time, the government officials responsible for
environmental controls threw up their hands, telling Mr. Nishihara
there was nothing they could do, he said — even though French
engineers in the 1960s had concluded that they could generate as much
power at a lower cost and with less damage by building at rapids
outside the park.

The Chinese workers plowed a road through the jungle, leaving a wide,
red gash that opened this once impenetrable forest to poachers. A
large clearing was prepared as a helicopter landing pad for Mr. Bongo
to come and lay the first stone for the dam, according to local
officials.

For the moment, the dam appears to be on hold. The workers have
withdrawn, telling local officials that they need further
negotiations with the Gabonese government on the deal's terms.
Meanwhile, the price of iron has fallen, and the financial crisis
raises questions about the mine's prospects. But the government has
said it will do whatever it takes to push the project along.

"Whatever happens, whatever anyone says," Mr. Bongo declared last
year, the mining project "will go ahead."

Gabon's government had long banked on ecotourism, but few tourists
have made the trek to Gabon. It is distant and expensive, and the
tourism infrastructure remains poor.

"They thought they could be Africa's Costa Rica overnight," said Joe
Walston, the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's program
in Gabon. "But it doesn't work that way. It takes years."

Franck Ndjimbi, a top official at Gabon's national park agency, said
that the government's commitment to conservation remained very
strong.

"We have ambitions for Gabon to be a model of conservation and an
ecotourism destination known by all the world," he said. "This is a
long-term commitment."

But Yvan Essongué, who manages a visitors center in Loango National
Park, said the government needed to spend more money protecting the
parks, not looking for minerals in them.

"We see poachers all the time, but had no boat to chase them," said
Mr. Essongué, who works with park rangers. "We only have 15 rangers
for this huge park. If we are not careful, we will lose everything
that makes our country special."

I just read every word I could find on the impending dam
construction, looking for the first time at all the photos I could
find on the gorgeous waterfalls, cataracts, turbulent waters,
featured in photos offered even by National Geographic.  I am totally
stunned at the concept of yielding this treasure of the planet to any
mining project, whether Gabonese, Chinese or other.  We in America
must treasure our global fortunes, not as possesions of our own,
whether they are Alaskan wilds, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park,
and even our own Niagara Falls.  These are treasures, irreplaceable,
that belong to all citizens of the world.  National borders may come
and go, may even melt away in future times of unforseen civilization,
but these magical spaces are gifts that must transcend temporary
means for wealth and exploitation, however great, if we are to retain
pride in ourselves as a civilized people, a noble planet.  Gabon is
so very special with the second largest rain forest on the planet.
You have chosen wisely a mere seven years ago to preserve ten percent
of this beauty for all time.  Do not abandon your promise for
temporary gain; solve the hydro generation differently as possibly
the French advocated in the 1960s.  The cost difference will be
regained thousands of times over by those who come to your land
seeking the unique beauty you may show them forever, and you will
benefit forever in the joy, the pride and the soul of your people and
the Africa we all love so very much.

Sincerely,

Alfred C. Webber, Jr.
Peace Corps Volunteer
Togo Fisheries, Sokode, 1966
1-610-793-1129
webberstudio@...
PO Box 97
Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania USA

Very well written, but it's as if you were actually addressing Bongo himself,
rather than a bunch of old RPCVs who fondly remember wanting to do well for
Gabon. Better to post it on:

http://www.omarbongoondimba.com/

That is, you could post it there, if there were actually an address to send it
to. Regrettably, the only person you can contact there is the webmaster...

Now THAT's democracy à l'africaine!

-Brad




________________________________
De : webberstudio <webberstudio@...>
À : gabondiscussion@yahoogroups.com
Envoyé le : Lundi, 23 Février 2009, 21h09mn 02s
Objet : [Gabon Discussion] The Incredible Beauty of Gabon


I just read every word I could find on the impending dam
construction, looking for the first time at all the photos I could
find on the gorgeous waterfalls, cataracts, turbulent waters,
featured in photos offered even by National Geographic.  I am totally
stunned at the concept of yielding this treasure of the planet to any
mining project, whether Gabonese, Chinese or other.  We in America
must treasure our global fortunes, not as possesions of our own,
whether they are Alaskan wilds, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park,
and even our own Niagara Falls.  These are treasures, irreplaceable,
that belong to all citizens of the world.  National borders may come
and go, may even melt away in future times of unforseen civilization,
but these magical spaces are gifts that must transcend temporary
means for wealth and exploitation, however great, if we are to retain
pride in ourselves as a civilized people, a noble planet.  Gabon is
so very special with the second largest rain forest on the planet.
You have chosen wisely a mere seven years ago to preserve ten percent
of this beauty for all time.  Do not abandon your promise for
temporary gain; solve the hydro generation differently as possibly
the French advocated in the 1960s.  The cost difference will be
regained thousands of times over by those who come to your land
seeking the unique beauty you may show them forever, and you will
benefit forever in the joy, the pride and the soul of your people and
the Africa we all love so very much.

Sincerely,

Alfred C. Webber, Jr.
Peace Corps Volunteer
Togo Fisheries, Sokode, 1966
1-610-793-1129
webberstudio@ aol.com
PO Box 97
Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania USA







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Rhena Schweitzer Miller, the only child of Nobel Prize-winning
humanitarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who carried on his medical
missionary work in the West African country of Gabon after his death
in 1965, has died. She was 90. Miller died of natural causes Sunday
at her daughter's home in Pacific Palisades, according to Dr. Lachlan
Forrow, president of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship.

Although Miller was not close to her famous father until the last
years of his life, she embraced his "reverence for life" philosophy
and helped organize the fellowship, which has supported the Albert
Schweitzer Hospital in Lambarene, Gabon, for nearly 70 years. She ran
the hospital from 1965 to 1970. She led a relief effort for Biafran
refugee children during the Nigerian-Biafran War of the late 1960s.

Later, with her physician-husband, Dr. David Miller, she conducted
healthcare projects in several underdeveloped countries.

"Rhena was an extraordinary woman in her own right, embodying fully
her father's ethic of reverence for life and his insistence that 'my
life is my argument,' " Forrow said.

Several years ago, Miller discovered a trove of correspondence
between her parents, who spent most of their married life apart. "The
Albert Schweitzer-Helene Bresslau Letters, 1902-1912," published by
Syracuse University Press in 2003 with an introduction by Miller,
shed light on Schweitzer's intellectual development and the influence
of his wife, who founded a home for unwed mothers at the turn of the
20th century and later worked with him as his anesthesiologist in
Lambarene.

Schweitzer was an Alsatian physician, theologian, musicologist and
concert organist who with his wife established a hospital for lepers
in Lambarene in 1913. Tormented by the misery he saw there, he
developed a philosophy that stressed the unity and interdependence of
all life and devoted the next 50 years to his medical missionary
work. His achievements were honored with the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.

Miller was born in Strasbourg, France, on Jan. 14, 1919, her father's
44th birthday. When she was about 6, her father returned to Gabon,
but she remained in Europe with her mother, whose delicate health
ruled out the challenges of living in equatorial Africa. She grew up,
married and had children largely outside of her father's presence.

Despite their separate lives, she absorbed his moral teachings about
the sanctity of even the lowest forms of life. He would not allow her
to pick wildflowers, for instance, and if they came across a worm
stranded on a sidewalk, "he made me pick it up out of the sun and
carry it back to the grass," she recalled in an interview years ago.

Although she wanted to follow in his footsteps and become a doctor,
he forbade her to study medicine, a decision that hurt her deeply,
Forrow said. Schweitzer was temperamental and "not the saint some
people made him out to be," Miller told the Saturday Evening Post in
1994, "but he was an exceptional human being, I'm quite sure."

In the late 1930s, she and her mother made two trips to the United
States to raise funds for the Schweitzer Hospital and mobilize
support for the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. Founded in 1940, the
nonprofit group has sent scores of graduate medical students to work
in Lambarene as well as in underserved communities in the United
States.

When her mother died in 1956, Miller wrote to her father suggesting a
reunion on their birthday. He invited her to Lambarene and somewhat
reluctantly agreed to let her become his lab technician. She studied
in Zurich for two years and returned to Gabon in 1960 with her
diploma. Soon after, he surprised her by making her the head of his
laboratory.

Just before he died in 1965 at age 90, he surprised her again by
asking her to run the hospital for him. "He didn't even prepare her
totally for it," said Miller's daughter, Dr. Christiane Engel, "but
he had a big admiration for her and also realized that humanitarian
work was the essence in her life."

After the Nigerian-Biafran War broke out in 1967, Miller brought 80
Biafran children to Lambarene and took care of them until the war
ended in 1970. She then took them back to Nigeria and was able to
reunite many of them with relatives. She informally adopted one of
the children and paid for his entire education, Engel said.

Miller had four children with her first husband, Jean Eckert, who
built organs for Schweitzer. In addition to Engel, of Pacific
Palisades, she is survived by Monique Egli and Philippe Eckert of
Switzerland and Catherine Eckert of Italy; eight grandchildren and
five great-grandchildren.

After her divorce from Eckert, she married Dr. David Miller in 1970.
A researcher for what was then the U.S. Center for Disease Control
and chief medical advisor to the Nigerian Red Cross, he worked with
her through the 1970s on nutrition studies in India, Bangladesh,
South Vietnam, Ethiopia, Egypt and Haiti. Between 1979 and 1985 they
led healthcare projects in Yemen and Pakistan. He died in 1997.

Miller's ashes will be buried next to her parents' graves in
Lambarene.