Like fellow dinosaurs such as Togo's Gnassingbé Eyadéma and Zaïre's late Mobutu Sese Seko  Bongo (in power since 1968) was shocked by his marginalisation by Paris and Washington...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
            Vol 40 No 20 | 
            - BURKINA FASO
	     He is certainly less likely to listen to Paris than  for example  Gabon's Omar Bongo  Senegal's Abdou Diouf or Togo's Gnassingbé Eyadéma...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Second place will probably be won by veteran Colonel (Retired) Mamadou Tandja  MNSD President  backed by Togo'sPresident Gnassingbé Eyadéma...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	    The pact commits General Gnassingbé Eyadéma to holding fresh parliamentary elections next year and then stepping down in 2003 (which he was scheduled to do anyway)...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	       What made Hassan different from Africa's other absolutists (such as his pupils and friends  former Zaïre's Mobutu Sese Seko and Togo's Gnassingbé Eyadéma) was his enduring ability to manage change and make himself useful to countries more powerful than his own...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
            Vol 40 No 16 | 
            - SIERRA LEONE
	     He turned up at the Lome signing with friends Compaoré and Togo's President Gnassingbé Eyadéma and was praised as a force for regional stability by his new UN and Western friends...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
            Vol 40 No 16 | 
            - FRANCE
- AFRICA
	     There is an African rhythm; it must be respected'  he told a group of African journalists before going to meet Togo's President Gnassingbé Eyadéma whose regime has one of the worst human rights records in Africa...
 Presidents Paul Biya  Lansana Conté and Gnassingbé Eyadéma all enjoyed dubious presidential victories (1997  1998  1998)...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Longer standing coup-makers such as Togo's Gnassingbé Eyadéma and Gambia's Yahya Jammeh  whose elections and attempts to legitimise their rule haven't won international acceptance  are off the hook...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
            Vol 40 No 11 | 
            - SIERRA LEONE
	      Meanwhile on 21 May  host Togo refused entry to Amnesty International Secretary General Pierre Sané  who had been due to meet President Gnassingbé Eyadéma...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Key to UNITA’s success has been the retraining of officers in Morocco (several hundred Moroccan soldiers are said to be helping with logistics and communications in the north-east following meetings in 1998 between Jonas Savimbi and King Hassan II) and help from Francophone sympathisers  such as Togo’s Gnassingbé Eyadéma and Burkina Faso’s Blaise Compaoré  with arms procurement and transshipment...