Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09LIBREVILLE87
2009-03-06 10:40:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Libreville
Cable title:  

GABONESE GOVERNMENT LASHES OUT AT FRANCE

Tags:  PREL GB FR 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0014
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLC #0087/01 0651040
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 061040Z MAR 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0963
INFO RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0995
RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
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).

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