Omar Bongo | |
|---|---|
 Bongo in 1973 | |
| 2nd President of Gabon | |
| In office 2 December 1967 – 8 June 2009 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Vice President |
|
| Preceded by | Léon M'ba |
| Succeeded by | Didjob Divungi Di Ndinge (acting) Ali Bongo |
| 2nd Vice-President of Gabon | |
| In office 12 November 1966 – 2 December 1967 | |
| President | Léon M'ba |
| Preceded by | Paul-Marie Yembit |
| Succeeded by | Léon Mébiame |
| Minister of Information and Tourism | |
| In office August 1966 – 12 November 1966 | |
| President | Léon M'ba |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Albert-Bernard Bongo 30 January 1935 Lewai, French Equatorial Africa (now Bongoville, Gabon) |
| Died | 8 June 2009 (aged 74) Barcelona, Spain |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 30+ (by various partners), including Ali |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch/service | French Air Force |
| Rank | Captain |
| ||
|---|---|---|
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Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 January 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second president of Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009. Bongo was promoted to key positions as a young official under Gabon's first President Léon M'ba in the 1960s, before being elected the second vice-president in his own right in 1966. In 1967, he succeeded M'ba to become the country's president, upon the latter's death.
Bongo headed the single-party regime of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) until 1990, when, faced with public pressure, he was forced to introduce multi-party politics into Gabon. His political survival despite intense opposition to his rule in the early 1990s seemed to stem once again from consolidating power by bringing most of the major opposition leaders at the time to his side. The 1993 presidential election was extremely controversial but ended with his re-election then and the subsequent elections of 1998 and 2005. His respective parliamentary majorities increased and the opposition becoming more subdued with each succeeding election.[1] After Cuban leader Fidel Castro stepped down in February 2008, Bongo became the world's longest-ruling non-royal leader.[2] He was one of the longest serving non-royal rulers before his death.[3][4]
Bongo was criticised for in effect having worked for himself, his family and local elites and not for Gabon and its people. For instance, French green politician Eva Joly claimed that during Bongo's long reign, despite an oil-led GDP per capita growth to one of the highest levels in Africa, Gabon built only 5 km of freeway a year and still had one of the world's highest infant mortality rates by the time of his death in 2009.[5]
After Bongo's death in June 2009, his son Ali Bongo, who had long been assigned key ministerial responsibilities by his father, was elected to succeed him in August of that year.
- ^ "West Africa Newsletter N°632: 29 March 2012 "GABON: Bongo embraces regions; President Ali Bongo is swelling the ranks of Gabon's executive with politicians from beyond his family's traditional fiefdom in the south-east....."". 29 March 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ "Bongo set to rise to senior world leader". Chicago Sun-Times. 19 February 2008. Archived from the original on 29 December 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2008.
- ^ Bongo, World's Longest-Serving President, Dies
- ^ Gabon's Long-Serving President Dies
- ^ "Bongo a "servi l'intérêt de la France" pas ses "citoyens" pour Eva Joly". AFP. 8 June 2009. Archived from the original on 11 June 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.