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Gabon: a Neo-Colonial Enclave of Enduring French Interest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Michael C. Reed
Affiliation:
Doctoral Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle

Extract

French culture, economy, and polity have long dominated the small African country of Gabon. The French control of the colonial era, which reached its nadir in the 1898–1930 period of the brutal ‘concessionary companies’, has been replaced, since independence in 1960, by an insidious rapprochement with Paris, fashioned by Gabon's leadership. A French journalist long familiar with the continent has written, ‘Gabon is an extreme case, verging on caricature, of neocolonialism ’.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

1 Péan, Pierre, Affaires africaines (Paris, 1983), p. 20. This journalist offers a scathing analysis of franco-Gabonese collusion in high places.Google Scholar

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4 Most experts believe that the Government's 1981 figure of 1.3 million is inflated. The population has been put at 800,000 by a recent United Nations census, and at only 645,000 according to the World Bank in 1980. See ‘Gabon: three different population figures’, in Africa Diary (New Delhi), 21, 22–8 10 1981, pp. 10707–8.Google Scholar

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1 Although relatively little has been written about the history of twentieth-century Gabon, the nineteenth century has received considerable attention, notably by three Gabonese scholars: Ambouroue-Avaro, Joseph, Un Peuple gabonais à l'aube de la colonisation. Le Bas Ogowe au XIXe siècle (Paris, 1981);Google ScholarM'Bokolo, Elikia, Noirs et Blancs en Afrique Equatoriale. Les Sociétés côtières et la pénétration française (Paris, 1981);Google Scholar and N'Nah, Nicolas Metegue, L'Implantation coloniale au Gabon. Résistance d'un peuple (Paris, 1981).Google Scholar See also Birmingham, David and Phyllis, M. Martin (eds.), History of Central Africa (London, 1983);Google ScholarChamberlain, Christopher, ‘Competition and Conflict: the development of the bulk export trade in Central Gabon during the nineteenth century’, Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1977;Google ScholarCoquery-Vidrovitch, Catherine, Brazza et la prise de possession du Congo: la misslon de l'ouest africain (Paris, 1969);Google ScholarGaulme, François, Le Pays de Cama, un ancien état côtier du Gabon et ses origines (Paris, 1983);Google ScholarMartin, Phyllis M., The External Trade of the Loango Coast, 1576–1870 (Oxford, 1972);Google Scholar and Patterson, K. David, The Northern Gabon Coast to 1875 (Oxford, 1975).Google Scholar

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1 Péan, Affaires africaines, p. 40.

2 Comte, loc. cit. p. 41.

1 M'Bokolo, loc. cit. p. 201.

2 Gardinier, op. cit. p. 161.

3 Mbokolo, loc. cit. p. 203.

1 Ibid. p. 201.

2 Comte, loc. cit. p. 42.

3 See ‘Gabon: putsch or coup d'état?’, in Africa Report (New York), 03 1964, pp. 1215;Google ScholarPubMed and Gardinier, op. cit. pp. 58–61. It is reported that several hours before the coup began the Cabinet Director, Albert-Bernard Bongo, became aware of abnormal activity among the military, but apparently not even M'Ba took his warnings seriously. Comte, loc. cit. p. 45, offers this interesting note.

1 Gardinier, op. cit. pp.59–60.

2 Comte, loc. cit. p. 46.

1 Germain Mba spent some years in Europe working as a journalist until 1971, when Houphouët-Boigny persuaded Bongo that he should be forgiven. Mba was first made Gabonese Ambassador to West Germany, but while in Libreville prior to leaving for Tokyo to become Ambassador to Japan, he was mysteriously murdered (it is assumed, because his body was never found) on the night of 16 September 1971. Houphouët-Boigny was reported to be furious about Mba's death, which fuelled the controversy about Bongo's connections with Le Clan des gabonais. See ‘Gabon: l'assassinar de Germain Mba’, in Jeune Afrique, 560, 28 09 1971, p. 27;Google Scholar and Péan, op. cit. pp. 5–17.

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1 ‘M. Bongo est mécontent des forces de l'Ordre et appelle ceux qui critiquent le régime gabonais des aveugles’, in Afrique nouvetle (Dakar), 1246, 24–30 06 1971, p. 7.Google Scholar See also ‘Institution d'un parti unique au Gabon par le President Bongo’, in Ibid. 1076, 21–7 March 1968, pp. 6–7.

2 Bernetel, Paul, ‘Foccart, est-ce fini?’, in Jeune Afrique, 733, 24 01 1975, p. 22;Google Scholar and ‘Gabon: Bongo seeks Bonn investment’, in Africa Diary, 12–18 March 1978, p. 8911.

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3 Ibid. p. 76.

4 Gabon-Nigena: il suffit de faire le premier pas’, in Jeune Afrique, 497, 14 07 1970, p. 25;Google Scholar and les petits ex-Biafrais sont tous rentrés au Nigeria’, in Afrique Nouvelle, 1228, 18–24 02 1971, p. 6.Google Scholar

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2 Libreville, cité la plus chère du monde, lutte contre la hausse des prix au Gabon’, in Afrique nouvelle, 1191, 4–10 06 1970, p. 6.Google Scholar

3 Gabon: une vague de xénophobie’, in Jeune Afrique, 734, 31 01 1975, p. 25;Google Scholar and ‘Gabon; mobilisation contre la hausse’, in Ibid. 738, 28 February 1975, p. 27.

1 Jos-Blaise Alima, ‘Gabon: retrouver le paradis perdu’, in Ibid. 936, 13 December 1978, pp. 77–8.

2 Péan, Affaires africaines, p. 21.

3 Ibid. p. 40.

1 Ibid. pp. 35–6.

2 France: SAC and Gabon', in Africa Confidential, 22, 2 09 1981, p. 8.Google ScholarPubMed

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2 Bernetel, loc. cit. pp. 20–1.

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4 In the category of ‘financial risk’, Cameroun with 4·5 was the best bet, while Gabon, South Africa, Kenya, and Zimbabwe were next, scoring 3·5. As regards ‘Business Environment Risk’, Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire, and South Africa were the most favoured, each scoring. In the critical category, ‘Risk of Expropriation and Nationalisation’, Gabon was, once again, the ‘best’, scoring 4·6, just above Côte d'Ivoire. Misser, loc. cit. pp. 57 and 59.

5 Although Bongo prefers to deal with the French droite, even l'extrême-droite– the French newspaper, Le Canard enchainé revealed that Jean-Marie Le Pen had solicited electoral funds — he burns no bridges, and has long maintained close relations with the socialists. See ‘Gabon: money for taking’, in Africa Confidential, 26, 12, 1985, pp. 78.Google ScholarPubMed

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3 Remde, loc. cit. p. 36; Gabon: birthday present’, in Africa Confidential, 28, 2, 21 01 1987, p. 8;Google Scholar and Murray, Roger, ‘Dynamic Projects Keep on Course’, in African Business, June 1986, pp. 45 and 47.Google Scholar

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1 Kpatindé, loc. cit. p. 30.

2 Jeune Afrique, 16 July 1986, p. 7.

3 Armah, Ayi Kwei, ‘Africa and the Francophone Dream’, in West Africa, 3582, 28 04 1986, p. 884.Google Scholar

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