Discover

'El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba' (born 'Albert-Bernard Bongo' on 30 December 1935) became President of Gabon in 1967. He was just 31 and the world's youngest president at the time. Following the February 2005 death of Togolese president Gnassingbé Eyadéma, he became Africa's longest serving ruler, and remains in office today. He is the world's fourth longest serving ruler.

Contents

Political career

Personal

References

Political career

He was elected vice president in March 1967, alongside Leon M'ba, and became president following the death of M'ba on November 28, 1967. Early in the 1970s (it has been reported as both 1970 and 1973), Bongo converted to Islam, taking the name Omar Bongo. In 2003 he added Ondimba as his surname.
In the early 1990s Bongo ended the one-party domination of the Gabonese Democratic Party and allowed multi-party elections held in 1993 and 1998 in response to popular demand. Bongo won both times, taking 51.2% and 66.88% of the vote respectively. Despite the reforms, it is generally thought that a non-independent judiciary and widespread corruption and patronage limited the ability of citizens to effectively change their government.
In 2003 the constitution was changed to eliminate any restrictions on the number of terms a president can serve. Bongo's critics accuse him of intending to rule for life. Bongo announced his candidacy for the 2005 presidential election on October 1. On October 6 it was announced that the election would be held on November 27, although security forces would vote two days earlier.^[1] According to official results, Bongo won the election with a large majority of 79.2%.^[2] He was sworn in for another seven-year term on January 19, 2006.^[3]
President Bongo is also Vice-President of the International Parliament for Safety and Peace, which is an International Organisation with volunteer diplomatic service.[1][2]
Bongo is one of the wealthiest heads of state in the world, with this attributed primarily from the benefits of oil revenue and alleged corruption. In 2005, an investigation by the United States Senate Indian Affairs Committee into fundraising irregularities by lobbyist Jack Abramoff revealed that Abramoff had offered to arrange a meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and Bongo for the sum of 9 million USD. Though it is unproven as to whether or not the exchange took place, Bush met with Bongo 10 months later in the Oval Office.^[4]
He has been cited in recent years during French criminal inquiries into hundreds of millions of euros of illicit payments by Elf, the former French state-owned oil group. One Elf representative testifed that the company was giving 50 millions euros per year to Bongo to exploit the petrol lands of Gabon. As of June 2007, Bongo, along with President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo, Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso, Theodor Obiang of Equatorial Guinea and Dos Santos from Angola is being investigated by the French magistrates after the complaint made by French NGOs ''Survie'' and ''Sherpa [3]'', due to claims that he has used millions of pounds of embezzled public funds to acquire lavish properties in France.
[4]

Personal

The youngest in a family of twelve children, Bongo was born on 30 December 1935 in Lewai, a town of the Haut-Ogooué province in southeastern Gabon near the border with the Republic of the Congo. Lewai was renamed Bongoville in honour of Bongo's work to develop the town.
After his primary and secondary education in Brazzaville (then the capital of French Equatorial Africa), Bongo held a job at the Post and Telecommunications Public Services, before starting his military training. This training allowed him to serve as a sub-lieutenant and then as a lieutenant in the Air Force, successively in Brazzaville, Bangui and Fort Lamy (present-day N'djamena). Shortly after Gabon’s independence in 1960, young Albert Bernard Bongo started his political career. He held a succession of positions under the country's first president, Léon Mba, initially working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and eventually entering the government as a minister.^[5]
Bongo is currently married to Edith Lucie Sassou-Nguesso. She is the daughter of Congolese president Denis Sassou-Nguesso.
His first child, daughter Pascaline Mferri Bongo Ondimba was born 10 April 1956 in Franceville, Gabon. She was Foreign Minister of Gabon from, and is currently director of the presidential cabinet.
He was married to Patience Dabany. Together they have a son, Alain Bernard Bongo, and daughter Albertine Amissa Bongo. Ali-Ben served as Foreign Minister from 1989 to 1991, becoming Defence Minister in 1999.

References

1. "Opposition cries foul over presidential poll plans", IRIN, October 6, 2005.
2. "Bongo wins re-election in Gabon", BBC News, November 30, 2005.
3. "Gabon's President Begins Another Term", Associated Press (ABC News), January 19, 2006.
4. Philip Shenon, "Lobbyist Sought Million for Bush Meeting" ''The New York Times'', Section A, Page 1, 10 November 2005.
5. http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:cRg2vdVCUncJ:www.un.org/summit2005/presskit/summit_bongo.pdf+lewai+gabon&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6