Omar Bongo, world's longest-serving president dies; his
country of Gabon closes its borders
June 8
LIBREVILLE, Gabon - Gabon's President Omar Bongo, the world's longest-serving
president whose 42-year rule was a throwback to an era
when Africa was ruled by "Big Men," died of cardiac arrest in a
Spanish hospital on Monday. He was 73.
Doctors at the Quiron Clinic in Barcelona announced Bongo's
death around 2:30 p.m., Gabonese Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong
said. Bongo was admitted to the hospital last month.
In Gabon, the government responded by announcing the closure of
the country's international airport and all of its land and sea
borders, and the mood in Libreville, the capital, appeared tense,
as security forces fanned out and took positions in front of key
government buildings and important electrical installations.
People rushing to get home as soon as the news was announced
caused huge traffic jams. Some residents could be seen hurrying
home with rice bags, apparently to stockpile food in advance of
possible store closures.
The country's constitution calls for Senate leader to assume
power and organize presidential elections in 90 days of Bongo's
death. But there has been speculation that one of Bongo's sons -
who is currently minister of defence - would try to seize power
upon his father's death, as happened in nearby Togo.
Hours before Bongo's death, Ndong had said in Barcelona that he
saw the president and declared him "alive and well." Gabonese
officials had become increasingly belligerent with journalists,
including calling a meeting with the French ambassador in Gabon in
order to scrutinize the coverage of the president's death by French
media outlets.
Bongo, who was believed to be one of the world's wealthiest
leaders, became the longest-ruling head of government - a category
that does not include the monarchs of Britain and Thailand - when
Cuba's Fidel Castro handed power to his brother last year.
Bongo had kept a
tight grip on power in the oil-rich former French colony since he
became president in 1967, and his ruling party has dominated the
country's parliament for decades. Opposition parties were only
allowed in 1990, amid a wave of pro-democracy
protests.
Elections since then have been marred by allegations of rigging
and unrest. In 2003, parliament - dominated by his supporters -
removed presidential term limits from the constitution.
While most
Gabonese genuinely feared Bongo and there was little opposition,
many accepted his rule because he had kept his country remarkably
peaceful and governed without the sustained brutality
characteristic of many dictators.
Bongo, meanwhile, amassed a fortune that made him one of the
world's richest men, according to Freedom House, a private
Washington-based democracy watchdog organization, although nobody
really knows how much he was worth.
Earlier this year, a French judge decided to investigate Bongo
and two other African leaders on accusations of money laundering
and other alleged crimes linked to their wealth in France.
The probe followed a complaint by Transparency International
France, an association that tracks corruption. French media have
reported that Bongo's family owns abundant real estate in France -
at one time owning more properties in Paris than any other foreign
leader.
Born Albert Bernard Bongo on Dec. 30, 1935, the youngest of 12
children, Bongo served as a lieutenant in the French air force,
then climbed quickly through the civil service, eventually becoming
vice-president. He assumed the presidency Dec. 2, 1967, after the
death of Leon M'Ba, the country's only other head of state since
independence from France in 1960.
Bongo set up a one-party state. Six years later, he converted to
Islam and took the name Omar.
His presidential security staff numbered 1,500, according to the
U.S. State Department, while the entire military numbers just
10,000 troops.
Bongo sought international approval and in May 2004 he visited
then-President George W. Bush at the White House. He also tried to
cast himself as a mediator, working to end conflicts in Chad and
Central African Republic, where his country has a small contingent
of peacekeepers.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his "sadness and
emotion" at Bongo's death on Monday and pledged that France would
remain "loyal to its long relationship of friendship" with
Gabon.
"It is a great and loyal friend of France who has left us - a
grand figure of Africa and a chief of state who knew how to win the
esteem and the respect of all of his peers, notably for his
numerous initiatives in favour of peace on the African continent,"
Sarkozy said in a statement.
Gabon is the fifth-biggest oil exporter in sub-Saharan Africa,
and Bongo built a vast system of patronage, doling out largesse in
part through the salaries and benefits that came with cabinet
posts.
But oil dependency means the country has more oil pipeline
(1,425 kilometres) than paved roads (937 kilometres). Only one per
cent of its land is cultivated and Gabon produces virtually no
food. Instead, basics such as tomatoes are imported from France,
the former colonial master, and neighbouring Cameroon, pushing
prices so high that Libreville, the capital, is the world's eighth
most expensive city, according to Employment Conditions Abroad
International.
Ndong, the prime minister, went on state TV in Gabon late Sunday
night to deny news reports in the French media that Bongo had died,
saying: "I was surprised - like many of my compatriots - to learn
from French TV that the president of Gabon is dead," he said.
"If such a thing were to happen, I believe and I know that the
family of President Bongo would inform me. That is not the case for
the moment. I have not been told of the death of the president of
Gabon," he said.
Just hours later, he flew to Spain to hold a news conference at
the Quiron Clinic, where he declared that the president was fine.
At that time, he continued to insist that the head of state was
only at the hospital for a checkup.
-
Associated Press Writers Todd Pitman and Rukmini Callimachi in
Dakar, Senegal, and Daniel Woolls in Madrid, contributed to this
report.
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