GABONESE GOVERNMENT LASHES OUT AT FRANCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L LIBREVILLE 000087 C O R R E C T E D COPY (NUMBERING) SIPDIS PARIS AND LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2019 TAGS: PREL GB FR SUBJECT: GABONESE GOVERNMENT LASHES OUT AT FRANCE REF: A. LIBREVILLE 0016 ¶B. LIBREVILLE 0076 ¶C. KANEDA-EMBASSY LIBREVILLE E-MAIL (2/26/09) Classified By: DCM Nathan Holt for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) Gabon's foreign minister convoked the diplomatic corps March 6 to deliver a scathing indictment of the French "media campaign" against President El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba, which the foreign minister says threatens to seriously damage relations with France. He noted bitterly that the campaign had been carried out in both public and private media, with no reaction from the French government. The remarks came less than 48 hours after Bongo returned from a month in Morocco, where his wife is in a military hospital, gravely ill. The French Ambassador sat stoically throughout the presentation and departed in haste. End summary. -------------- Somber Tone -------------- ¶2. (C) With cameras rolling, a grim-faced Foreign Minster Paul Toungui told the diplomatic corps there had been a "persistent," "pernicious" and "indecent" media campaign against the person of the Gabonese president. He added that the Gabonese Government has the "strong conviction" that there is collusion between French media and "certain actors with undeclared motives." Privately, sources close to the president have made it clear that he blames senior French politicians for the "campaign." ¶3. (C) Toungui cited a barrage of media reports on Bongo's real estate holdings and bank accounts. He also complained of biased reporting on the "allegedly illegal" arrest of NGO representatives implicated in subversive activities. (Note: a reference to the December 31, 2008, arrest of NGO activist Marc Ona and others (Ref. A). Ona faces trial on subversion charges, and is scheduled to receive the prestigious Goldman Prize for environmental activism at a ceremony in the United States next month. End Note.) -------------- "Destabilization" -------------- ¶4. (U) This campaign for the "destabilization" of Gabon, Toungui continued, had provoked his government's "profound indignation." The campaign had been carried out in both public and private media in France, Toungui said, and there had been "no reaction" from the French state. Toungui made no specific reference to the recent seizure of Bongo's accounts at two leading French banks (Ref. B). He did, however, lambaste those who believe that countries in different stages of development are "identical". As best we can determine, the only official French comment on the seizure of the bank accounts was a one-line statement by the foreign ministry that this was a "judicial affair of a civil nature" (Ref. C). ¶5. (C) Concluding, Toungui said the media campaign threatens to seriously tarnish the historical relations that unite Gabon and France. At the end of his prepared remarks, Toungui distributed a written statement recapitulating the same themes. He took no questions. French Ambassador Jean-Didier Roisin sat stoically throughout the meeting and departed in haste. "A soap without perfume," commented one diplomat on Toungui's unusually blunt presentation. "They can huff and puff but this won't go away," said another. -------------- Bongo's Return -------------- ¶6. (C) The government's statement came less than 48 hours after the return of President Bongo from an unprecedented month-long absence in Morocco, where he has been at the side of his gravely ill wife. Bongo, who is also thought to be ailing, appeared alert and reasonably vigorous in televised coverage of his return. The normally staid Toungui, who until January was Gabon's long-serving finance minister, is the customary spouse of Pascaline Bongo, the president's daughter and chief of staff. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶7. (C) Bongo's anger at France, and his belief that senior French officials are involved in the "media campaign" against him, are genuine. This is an attitude born of deep knowledge, and even deeper cynicism, about French politics. The Gabonese are particularly offended that the attacks on Bongo coincide with his wife's illness and other difficulties (Ref. B). Some in Bongo's circle understand that no state or cabal of politicians can orchestrate global NGO and media activity, particularly in the face of public evidence of Bongo's vast wealth. The president, however, takes a harder line. Franco-Gabonese relations had appeared to be on the mend after President Sarkozy sacked development minister Jean-Marie Bockel in March 2008--in the aftermath of Bockel's criticism of Bongo and other long-term French African clients. That rapprochement, for now, is over. End Comment. REDDICK