Tag: Oligui Nguema

Why were those African Countries Invited to the White House for the US-Africa Summit ? The Case of Gabon

On By Dr. Y.In Great Economy, Great MomentsLeave a comment
American President Donald Trump and his 5 peers from Africa at the US-Africa Summit. From left to right: Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El-Ghazouani of Mauritania, Donald Trump of US, Brice Oligui Nguema of Gabon, Joseph Boakai of Liberia, and Umaro Embalo Sissoco of Guinea Bissau (Source: Koaci.com)

In July 2025, the presidents of 5 “unusual” African countries were invited to the White House to dine with the President of the United States at the US-Africa Summit. “Unusual” because these were not the normal countries used to being invited to the White House, they were less common choices : Senegal, Gabon, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, and Mauritania. The choice of the countries was so surprising that even the American president was astonished that the Liberian president spoke such good English without a translator… seemingly forgetting that Liberia is the first African country established by free slaves from America with the capital Monrovia, named after American president James Monroe. In fact, Liberia was the only English-speaking country invited to the summit. Compared to other African heavyweights like Nigeria, Egypt or South Africa, these countries have rather small populations and economies. And in all honesty, how many Americans know that the capital of Mauritania is Nouakchott or can even say it? or that of Gabon is Libreville? Many speculated that the visit had something to do with trade; after all, these countries had, until then, very little trade with the US. So what is it? It is said that Senegal, Liberia, and Mauritania were seen as relatively stable and reform-oriented, making them attractive for: aviation and energy deals, private investment, and infrastructure partnerships.There is nothing wrong that we know of with those deals or development as a whole… but we need to understand why.

Flag of Gabon

We will focus first on the only country invited to the summit which was not part of West Africa, Gabon. With a population a little over 2.5 million inhabitants, one could wonder what American interests in this little country of Central Africa look like, if not oil? After all, it is no secret that for many years, Gabon was the cash cow of France because of its large oil reserves and strong connections with the defunct Elf leadership. Gabon is also rich in uranium and manganese, and has one of the world’s largest iron deposit. Gabon has significant iron ore reserves, particularly in the Belinga area, which is estimated to hold about one billion tons of iron ore. Additionally, the Baniaka Iron Ore Project has an estimated reserve of 758 million tons with a grade of 36.7% iron.

To the visible answers. A few months ago, the president of Gabon Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, a former military man who came to power via a coup d’etat and whom the Western media have never called Junta but instead often acclaimed (Gabon and the Double Standards of the International Community), unveiled several infrastructure deals including the Belinga–Boué–Mayumba railway (901 km), a new deep-water port, the Boué hydroelectric dam, and a push for local processing of mineral resources. Gabon is an important oil producer in the region and its government is pursuing large-scale projects including railways, ports, and energy infrastructures. There were also visits with Exxon Mobil and Boeing.

Map of Gabon

The not-so visible answers. Gabon is trying to diversify away from oil. Introducing the Iboga plant, which many believe to be the plant much talked about in the Black Panther movie. The Iboga plant from which ibogaine is extracted is a psychoactive plant central to the Bwiti spiritual traditions of Gabon. It is no secret that the West is currently facing an opioid crisis, and several pharmaceutical companies have already been using iboga on the low, without giving much rights to the country of Gabon. The Iboga primarily grows in Gabon, and the country is attempting to transform the plant into a regulated, economically, valuable, and internationally recognized medicinal resource. The government’s strategy is based on 3 pillars: regulate and control cultivation, partner with pharmaceutical companies and position Gabon as the global hub, as it rightfully is, for legal ibogaine production. This is similar to the how Morocco positioned itself as the world’s leading exporter of medical cannabis. The task is not small, given that these same Western firms have already been manufacturing (without openly labeling) drugs with it. Let us pray we do not have a repeat of what happened to teff, the national grain of Ethiopia – The Need for Countries to Protect What is Theirs : How a Dutch Patented the Ethiopian National Grain. This looks like a part of The New Scramble for Africa: The US does not want to let China and Russia supplant its influence in Africa. Moreover, everything needs to be built in Africa, so to anyone this should be like golden opportunity. Everyone wants a piece of Africa! And you… why do you think Gabon was invited to this summit?

Gabon Oligui Nguema Wins by Landslide

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments2 Comments
Flag of Gabon

When you are a chosen one of the West, democracy is just a word. You can win with numbers similar to those of a banana republic, and you will get applauded. You can trade your military fatigues for a suit, so long as you keep your friendship with the metropolis, you will be loved, cherished, and praised, and your intelligence will be lauded above all else. After all, you are there to serve the external masters, and they have given you carte blanche. This past Saturday, Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema won the presidential elections in Gabon with an overwhelming 90.35% of the vote (only in our tropical banana republics can we see this). It reminds us of a time when another ‘great democrat’ (who, mind you, has been in power for over 30 years) of Rwanda won by 99%! My goodness! And the West will give us great lessons of democracy! When Traoré got his country and parliament to give him 5 years of confidence (Burkina Faso’s Transition Government Gets a 5-year Confidence Vote by the People)… there was an outcry in the MSM. Even when Maduro in Venezuela got 51+%, the mighty international community called him a dictator. What of Kagame? Double Standards is all! Honestly, the problem is not Oligui Nguema, but rather the double standards, and that concept which has been drilled into our heads called democracy, but which in reality is a tool used by the West to praise those who serve well or to destroy the ‘bad’ students who refuse to bow down (Africans and the Trap of Democracy, and Africans, let us not Fall in the Trap of Democracy!). By the way, did you notice that since we published our article on Friday, the MSM have now taken to calling him ‘coup leader’ when before it was not the case? 

Oligui Nguema told Al Jazeera that he ‘will restore dignity to the Gabonese people‘. We can only hope for the best for the people of Gabon.

You can check out Le Monde, BBC, RFI, AP, The Print, and Al Jazeera… there is such a discrepancy compared to the treatment of the leaders of the AES in the media. 

Gabon and the Double Standards of the International Community

On By Dr. Y.In Great MomentsLeave a comment
Flag of Gabon

This Saturday April 12, 2025, Gabon will go to the presidential elections to elect its next president. There are honestly just a few candidates, more like 2 real ones, and one of them is General Brice Oligui Nguema, a military leader who orchestrated a coup that removed Ali Bongo almost 2 years ago [Is the Wind of Change blowing in Gabon too?], while the other candidate is just there for show. Oligui Nguema is the only military leader who made a coup on the continent in the past few years, and has been applauded by the West and the mainstream media. While Colonel Assimi Goita, Captain Ibrahim Traore, or General Abdourahamane Tchiani have been insulted and called all sorts of names, like junta leaders, little captains, illiterates, etc, for wanting the freedom of their people and leading coups that have kicked out the West’s puppets, colonial powers and external forces that were leeching onto their lands and resources, Oligui Nguema on the other hand has been applauded, saluted, and lauded. Why? because he represents the status quo in the relationship between Gabon and the West, particularly France; after all Gabon is known as the cash cow of France. Now, he has traded his military uniform to take part in the presidential elections, and every single Western news outlets has been applauding him, calling him, like BBC, the “coup-mastermind-turned-transitional leader … highly articulate ….” The double standard of the west is appalling!

Excerpts below are from the BBC, but the same praises are sung by France24, RFI, Reuters, and others. 

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President Ali Bongo

Little more than 19 months after the bloodless coup that brought an end to more than five decades of rule by the Bongo family [Oligui Nguema is a nephew of Ali Bongo, thus still a part of the Bongo Family], the people of Gabon are about to head to the polls to choose a new head of state – bucking a trend that has seen military leaders elsewhere in Africa cling on to power.

The overwhelming [western] favourite in the race on Saturday is the man who led that peaceful putsch and has dominated the political scene ever since, Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema.

Having abandoned his soldier’s fatigues and military status in favour of a politician’s suit, this highly articulate former commander of the elite Republican Guard [since he is the one they like, he is articulate, while those of the AES are illiterates] faces seven other candidates.

Basking in popularity among a population relieved to be rid of dynastic rule [the leaders in the AES also bask in popularity among their people, but that doesn’t count since they are not going in the direction wanted by the west] – and assisted by electoral regulations that disqualified some key challengers [that is not questionable?] – the 50-year-old appears almost certain to secure an outright majority in the first ballot.

… His chances of avoiding a second round run-off are bolstered by the fact that his main challenger – one of the rare senior political or civil society figures not to have rallied to his cause – is the old regime’s last prime minister, Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, known by his initials ACBBN.

Victory will bring a seven-year mandate and the resources to implement development and modernising reform at a pace that the rulers of crisis-beset African countries could not even dream of.

With only 2.5 million people, Gabon is an established oil producer [yet, given that it is France’s cash cow, it looks nothing like the Gulf countries] and the world’s second-largest exporter of manganese.

Map of Gabon

… Oligui Nguema took shrewd advantage, reaching out to build a broad base of support for his transitional regime. He brought former government figures, opponents and prominent hitherto critical civil society voices into the power structure or institutions such as the appointed senate. Political detainees were freed, though Ali Bongo’s wife and son remain in detention awaiting trial on corruption charges [There is no problem with the west if Nguema keeps Bongo’s wife and son in detention, but Tchiani cannot hold Bazoum – double standards].

He did not resort to the sort of crackdowns on dissent or media freedom that have become a routine tool of Francophone Africa’s other military leaders, in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger [Nguema is good for the West, not bad like those of the AES – double standards].

… On the diplomatic front, in marked contrast to the assertively anti-Western posture adopted by the regimes in West Africa, Oligui Nguema despatched senior figures to cultivate international goodwill and reassure Gabon’s traditional partners of his determination to restore civilian constitutional government within a tightly limited timeframe [nice puppy].

Relations with France, the former colonial power and previously a close ally of the Bongo regime, are warm [of course].

… When Oligui Nguema brushed off some parliamentarians’ concern about the concentration of executive power in the presidency by abolishing the post of prime minister, there was little fuss [Just imagine the ruckus the MSM will make if Goita or Tchiani eliminated the prime minister office].

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