Touadéra met Macron after being introduced by Mahamat Kaka at President Ali Bongo Ondimba's presidential palace...

Touadéra met Macron after being introduced by Mahamat Kaka at President Ali Bongo Ondimba's presidential palace...

Pointing out that the Congo Basin absorbs even more greenhouse gas than the Amazon Macron believes pursuing this issue trumps any sensitivities about visiting Libreville as President Ali Bongo Ondimba prepares to run for re-election...

Pointing out that the Congo Basin absorbs even more greenhouse gas than the Amazon Macron believes pursuing this issue trumps any sensitivities about visiting Libreville as President Ali Bongo Ondimba prepares to run for re-election...

This year at the UN the demand was reiterated by several presidents such as Ghana's President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Gabon's Ali Bongo Ondimba Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari Kenya's William Ruto and Congo-Kinshasa's Félix Tshisekedi...

This year at the UN the demand was reiterated by several presidents such as Ghana's President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Gabon's Ali Bongo Ondimba Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari Kenya's William Ruto and Congo-Kinshasa's Félix Tshisekedi...

On 24 November the Banque Gabonnaise et Française Internationale's (BGFI) international holding company in which the family of Gabonese President Ali Bongo has a stake of at least 11% published its first reaction (AC 19/11/21 The bank at the heart of the scandal & AC Vol 62 No 13 A fox guarding the hen house)...

The BGFI 11% of which belongs to the family of Gabon's President Ali Bongo grew out of the now-defunct French Intercontinental Bank (Fiba) which was at the centre of one of the biggest corruption cases of the 20th century the Elf scandal in France (AC Vol 48 No 6 Financial secrecy)...

BGFI was a creation of two presidents: Omar Bongo of Gabon – who died in 2009 his son Ali Ben Bongo taking his place – and Denis Sassou-Nguesso of neighbouring Congo-B...

Of that 51% stake just over 15% was owned by the president personally and a further 19% by three of his children – including Ali Bongo who succeeded his father as president – according to Stephen Smith and Antoine Glaser's landmark book on France's post-colonial African networks Ces Messieurs Afrique...

While President Nicolas Sarkozy instigated a post-genocide rapprochement with Rwanda in 2010 he hardly hid his sympathy for old françafrique allies such as Ali Bongo Ondimba in Gabon and he stuck to the traditional positive portrayal of colonial rule in Algeria...

While President Nicolas Sarkozy instigated a post-genocide rapprochement with Rwanda in 2010 he hardly hid his sympathy for old françafrique allies such as Ali Bongo Ondimba in Gabon and he stuck to the traditional positive portrayal of colonial rule in Algeria...

These include Congo-Brazzaville's Denis Sassou-Nguesso Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta and Gabon's Ali Ben Bongo...

Raponda has moved rapidly to install women in 11 of the 33 ministerial posts – but the big jobs remain with regime stalwarts mostly unchanged and mostly longstanding close colleagues of President Ali Bongo Ondimba: such as Interior Minister Lambert Noël Matha and Oil Minister Vincent de Paul Massassa (AC Vol 60 No 25 The son also rises)...

Raponda has moved rapidly to install women in 11 of the 33 ministerial posts – but the big jobs remain with regime stalwarts mostly unchanged and mostly longstanding close colleagues of President Ali Bongo Ondimba: such as Interior Minister Lambert Noël Matha and Oil Minister Vincent de Paul Massassa (AC Vol 60 No 25 The son also rises)...

The choice of Raponda is shrewd: she is close to Ali Bongo's mother Patience Dabany and the ruling family's inner coterie who have long dominated the management of power – but she is also a credible younger generation technocrat...