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Omar Bongo
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El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo on 30 December 1935) became President of Gabon in 1967. At age 31, he was Africa's fourth youngest president at the time, after Michel Micombero of Burundi and Gnassingbé Eyadéma of Togo. After Cuban President Fidel Castro stepped down in February 2008, he became the world's longest serving ruler, excluding monarchies. President Bongo is also Grand Chancellor of the International Parliament for Safety and Peace, which is an International Organisation with volunteer diplomatic service.
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.
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El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo on 30 December 1935) became President of Gabon in 1967. At age 31, he was Africa's fourth youngest president at the time, after Michel Micombero of Burundi and Gnassingbé Eyadéma of Togo. After Cuban President Fidel Castro stepped down in February 2008, he became the world's longest serving ruler, excluding monarchies. President Bongo is also Grand Chancellor of the International Parliament for Safety and Peace, which is an International Organisation with volunteer diplomatic service.
Biography
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. He is a member of the small Bateke ethnic group. 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 second lieutenant and then as a first lieutenant in the Air Force, successively in Brazzaville, Bangui and Fort Lamy (present-day N'djamena).
Political career
After Gabon's independence in 1960, Albert-Bernard Bongo started his political career, gradually rising through a succession of positions under President Léon M'ba. Bongo campaigned for M. Sandoungout in Haut Ogooué in the 1961 parliamentary election, choosing not to run for election in his own right; Sandoungout was elected and became Minister of Health. Bongo worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a time, and he was named Assistant Director of the Presidential Cabinet in March 1962; he was named Director seven months later. In 1964, during the only coup attempt in Gabon's history, M'ba was kidnapped and Bongo was held in a military camp in Libreville, though the alliance was placed back in power 2 days later.
On September 24 1965, he was appointed as Presidential Representative and placed in charge of defense and coordination. He was then Minister of Information and Tourism, initially on an interim basis, then formally holding the position in August 1966. M'ba, whose health was declining, appointed Bongo as Vice-President of Gabon on November 12, 1966. In the presidential election held on March 19, 1967, M'ba was re-elected as President and Bongo was elected alongside him as Vice-President. According to Bongo, due to "M'ba's long absence from political life", he essentially carried out the functions of the President while serving as Vice-President. He became President on December 2 1967, following the death of M'ba on November 28.
In 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 domination of the Gabonese Democratic Party and allowed multi-party elections held in 1993 and 1998 in response to popular demand. Previously, it had been a one-party state for 16 years. Bongo won both times, taking 51.2% and 66.88% of the vote respectively. To boost public support for himself, he entered into talks with the opposition, negotiating what became known as the Paris Agreement in a successful attempt to restore calmness.
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. According to official results, Bongo won the election with a large majority of 79.2%. He was sworn in for another seven-year term on January 19, 2006.
in 2004.]]
Bongo has given himself the image of a peacemaker, playing an important role in attempts to solve the crises in the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Among Gabonese, he is seen as a charismatic and straightforward figure. He is also popular for the relative stability of his country during his reign.
Allegations of corruption
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. Although such an exchange of funds remains unproven, Bush met with Bongo 10 months later in the Oval Office.
He has been cited in recent years during French criminal inquiries into hundreds of millions of euros of illicit payments by Elf Aquitaine, the former French state-owned oil group. One Elf representative testified that the company was giving 50 million 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, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea and Dos Santos from Angola is being investigated by the French magistrates after the complaint made by French NGOs Survie and due to claims that he has used millions of pounds of embezzled public funds to acquire lavish properties in France.
Personal
Bongo is currently married to Edith Lucie Sassou-Nguesso. 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 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 (Alain Bernard Bongo) served as Foreign Minister from 1989 to 1991, becoming Defence Minister in 1999.
See also
External links
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