Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08LIBREVILLE574
2008-12-06 11:18:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Libreville
Cable title:
GABON: RESHUFFLE OF SECURITY POSTS MAY STACK THE
how-toVZCZCXRO0163 PP RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO DE RUEHLC #0574/01 3411118 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 061118Z DEC 08 FM AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0778 INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LIBREVILLE 000574
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR GB
SUBJECT: GABON: RESHUFFLE OF SECURITY POSTS MAY STACK THE
DECK FOR THE PRESIDENT'S SON
REF: LIBREVILLE 0545
Classified By: DCM Nathan Holt for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).
-------
Summary
-------
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LIBREVILLE 000574
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR GB
SUBJECT: GABON: RESHUFFLE OF SECURITY POSTS MAY STACK THE
DECK FOR THE PRESIDENT'S SON
REF: LIBREVILLE 0545
Classified By: DCM Nathan Holt for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).
--------------
Summary
--------------
1. (C) In a move that caught some senior military officers by
surprise, Gabonese President El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba has
carried out a wide-ranging reshuffle of senior military and
security posts. Though many of the changes were routine, the
breadth of the shakeup appears unprecedented, at least in
recent years. And while carried out with the president's
customary finesse and attention to regional and ethnic
balance, the changes overall appear to leave the president's
son, Defense Minister Ali Bongo Ondimba, with an ever-firmer
grip on Gabon's security apparatus. END SUMMARY.
--------------
Out with the Old . . .
--------------
2. (C) The November 28 shakeup gives Gabon a new chief of
staff for the armed forces, a new head of the mixed
police/paramilitary gendarmerie, and a new chief naval
officer. In all, about three dozen senior officers were
shuffled in or out of senior positions in the presidency, the
defense ministry, the ministry of foreign affairs, the armed
forces and the gendarmerie.
3. (C) Gen. Jean Claude Ella-Ekogha takes the helm as chief
of staff of Gabon's armed forces (incorporating the army,
navy and air force, but distinct from the gendarmerie and the
elite Republican Guard). Ella-Ekogha had served previously
as army chief of staff and in the office of Minister of
Defense Ali Bongo. He also led a multinational peacekeeping
force in the Central African Republic. Ella-Ekogha replaces
outgoing General Jean Ntori Longho, the longest-serving
officer in the Gabonese Army. Ntori Longho told the DCM at
the ceremony marking the handover of command that he would
move into a quasi-retirement status and seemed visibly
delighted with the prospect.
4. (C) Nevertheless, Ntori Longho's departure and that of
other senior officers appears to mark more than simple
generational change. At the gendarmerie, long-serving Gen.
Honore Olery will also become a semi-retired "advisor" on
security issues, with command passing to his former deputy
General Abel Sougou. Gabon's new navy chief is Admiral Herve
Nambo Ndouany, who like many others in the new crop of
officers is viewed as closer to Minister of Defense Ali Bongo.
--------------
Ali Bongo Consolidates Influence
--------------
5. (C) The latest reshuffle is the largest since Ali Bongo
became Defense Minister in 1999, and appears to mark another
step forward in what many see as the consolidation of his
influence over Gabon's security forces. Ali Bongo appears to
have marginalized rivals like retired General Idriss Ngari,
who currently wields little power as Minister of Tourism and
National Parks. Senior Gabonese officials also note that Ali
Bongo's influence extends over all three of Gabon's main
security structures--the armed forces, the gendarmerie and
the Republican Guard. President Bongo had previously
encouraged a degree of rivalry among these forces, and has
never allowed a single individual to exercise this degree of
power over them.
6. (C) Ali Bongo has likewise continued an aggressive
campaign to improve pay, benefits and living conditions for
security forces despite tight budgets and opposition from
some in government. His brother-in-law and rival in
behind-the-scenes maneuvering to succeed President Bongo,
Foreign Minister Paul Toungui, has less ability to affect
Ministry of Defense budgets since his October 2008 transfer
from the Ministry of Finance.
--------------
COMMENT
--------------
7. (C) Although President Bongo appears to have fully
recovered from his collapse and brief loss of consciousness
in early November (reftel),the question of who might succeed
him and when is now even more central for key political
players and the population at large. The president's son Ali
is playing hardest and most publicly to position himself as
the apparent successor. The latest changes at the top of
various security forces, while carefully calibrated to
LIBREVILLE 00000574 002 OF 002
include ethnic and regional balance, also appear to be
carefully calibrated to advance Ali Bongo's agenda. End
Comment.
REDDICK
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR GB
SUBJECT: GABON: RESHUFFLE OF SECURITY POSTS MAY STACK THE
DECK FOR THE PRESIDENT'S SON
REF: LIBREVILLE 0545
Classified By: DCM Nathan Holt for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).
--------------
Summary
--------------
1. (C) In a move that caught some senior military officers by
surprise, Gabonese President El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba has
carried out a wide-ranging reshuffle of senior military and
security posts. Though many of the changes were routine, the
breadth of the shakeup appears unprecedented, at least in
recent years. And while carried out with the president's
customary finesse and attention to regional and ethnic
balance, the changes overall appear to leave the president's
son, Defense Minister Ali Bongo Ondimba, with an ever-firmer
grip on Gabon's security apparatus. END SUMMARY.
--------------
Out with the Old . . .
--------------
2. (C) The November 28 shakeup gives Gabon a new chief of
staff for the armed forces, a new head of the mixed
police/paramilitary gendarmerie, and a new chief naval
officer. In all, about three dozen senior officers were
shuffled in or out of senior positions in the presidency, the
defense ministry, the ministry of foreign affairs, the armed
forces and the gendarmerie.
3. (C) Gen. Jean Claude Ella-Ekogha takes the helm as chief
of staff of Gabon's armed forces (incorporating the army,
navy and air force, but distinct from the gendarmerie and the
elite Republican Guard). Ella-Ekogha had served previously
as army chief of staff and in the office of Minister of
Defense Ali Bongo. He also led a multinational peacekeeping
force in the Central African Republic. Ella-Ekogha replaces
outgoing General Jean Ntori Longho, the longest-serving
officer in the Gabonese Army. Ntori Longho told the DCM at
the ceremony marking the handover of command that he would
move into a quasi-retirement status and seemed visibly
delighted with the prospect.
4. (C) Nevertheless, Ntori Longho's departure and that of
other senior officers appears to mark more than simple
generational change. At the gendarmerie, long-serving Gen.
Honore Olery will also become a semi-retired "advisor" on
security issues, with command passing to his former deputy
General Abel Sougou. Gabon's new navy chief is Admiral Herve
Nambo Ndouany, who like many others in the new crop of
officers is viewed as closer to Minister of Defense Ali Bongo.
--------------
Ali Bongo Consolidates Influence
--------------
5. (C) The latest reshuffle is the largest since Ali Bongo
became Defense Minister in 1999, and appears to mark another
step forward in what many see as the consolidation of his
influence over Gabon's security forces. Ali Bongo appears to
have marginalized rivals like retired General Idriss Ngari,
who currently wields little power as Minister of Tourism and
National Parks. Senior Gabonese officials also note that Ali
Bongo's influence extends over all three of Gabon's main
security structures--the armed forces, the gendarmerie and
the Republican Guard. President Bongo had previously
encouraged a degree of rivalry among these forces, and has
never allowed a single individual to exercise this degree of
power over them.
6. (C) Ali Bongo has likewise continued an aggressive
campaign to improve pay, benefits and living conditions for
security forces despite tight budgets and opposition from
some in government. His brother-in-law and rival in
behind-the-scenes maneuvering to succeed President Bongo,
Foreign Minister Paul Toungui, has less ability to affect
Ministry of Defense budgets since his October 2008 transfer
from the Ministry of Finance.
--------------
COMMENT
--------------
7. (C) Although President Bongo appears to have fully
recovered from his collapse and brief loss of consciousness
in early November (reftel),the question of who might succeed
him and when is now even more central for key political
players and the population at large. The president's son Ali
is playing hardest and most publicly to position himself as
the apparent successor. The latest changes at the top of
various security forces, while carefully calibrated to
LIBREVILLE 00000574 002 OF 002
include ethnic and regional balance, also appear to be
carefully calibrated to advance Ali Bongo's agenda. End
Comment.
REDDICK