Ali Bongo

Ali Bongo Ondimba (born Alain-Bernard Bongo; 9 February 1959) also known as Ali Ben Bongo is a Gabonese former politician and dictator who was the third president of Gabon from 2009 until he was deposed in a coup in 2023. A member of the Gabonese Democratic Party, Bongo is the son of Omar Bongo, who was president from 1967 until his death in 2009.

During his father's presidency, Bongo was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1991, represented Bongoville as a deputy in the National Assembly from 1991 to 1999, and was the Minister of National Defense from 1999 to 2009. After his father's death, Bongo was elected president in the 2009 presidential election, marking the first political dynasty in the country. He was reelected in 2016, with elections being marred by numerous irregularities, arrests, human rights violations and post-election protests and violence.

On 30 August 2023, following the results of the general election, the military, led by Bongo's cousin Brice Oligui Nguema, ousted him from the presidency in a coup d'état due to lack of transparency in the election process and established a junta called the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions. He was briefly detained, then released. This effectively made Bongo the first Gabonese president not to die in service and has put an end to the long 56-year rule of the Bongo dynasty.

Early life and career

Birth

Ali Bongo was born Alain-Bernard Bongo in Brazzaville, as the son of Albert-Bernard Bongo (later Omar Bongo Ondimba) and Josephine Kama (later Patience Dabany). His mother was 18 years old at the time of his birth. He was conceived 18 months before their marriage and there have been rumors of his being Bongo's adopted son, a claim that he dismisses. Alain-Bernard changed his name to Ali when he and his father converted to Islam in 1973. In 2003, they both adopted the Obamba patronymic "Ondimba" in memory of Omar's father, Basile Ondimba.

Education and music career

Bongo was educated at a private school in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, and then studied law at the Sorbonne. In 2018, he received an honorary doctorate of law degree from Wuhan University in China. In 1977, as Alain Bongo, he released a funk album, A Brand New Man, produced by Charles Bobbit.

Early political career

After graduating from his law course, he entered politics, joining the Gabonese Democratic Party (French: Parti Démocratique Gabonais, abbreviated PDG) in 1981; he was elected to the PDG Central Committee at the party's Third Extraordinary Congress in March 1983. Subsequently, he was his father's Personal Representative to the PDG and in that capacity he entered the PDG Political Bureau in 1984. In September 1986, he was elected to the Political Bureau at an ordinary party congress.

From 1987 to 1989, Bongo held the post of High Personal Representative of the President of the Republic. In 1989, his father appointed him to the government as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, replacing Martin Bongo. He was considered a reformist within the ruling PDG in the early 1990s. In the 1990 parliamentary election, the first election after the introduction of multiparty politics, he was elected to the National Assembly as a PDG candidate in Haut-Ogooué Province. After two years as Foreign Minister, a 1991 constitutional amendment setting a minimum age of 35 for ministers resulted in his departure from the government.

In 1991, following his departure from the government, Bongo took up his seat as a Deputy in the National Assembly. In February 1992, he organized a visit by American pop singer Michael Jackson to Gabon.

Bongo became President of the Higher Council of Islamic Affairs of Gabon (Conseil supérieur des affaires islamiques du Gabon, CSAIG) in 1996. Prior to the December 1996 parliamentary election, a supporter of Defense Minister Idriss Ngari challenged Bongo for the PDG nomination to his parliamentary seat, but Bongo was successful in winning the nomination and retaining the seat. In surviving that challenge, he benefited from the assistance of his maternal uncle Jean-Boniface Assélé, one of his key political allies. After over seven years as a Deputy, Bongo was appointed to the government as Minister of National Defense on 25 January 1999.

In the December 2001 parliamentary election, Bongo was elected to the National Assembly as a PDG candidate in Haut-Ogooué Province. At the PDG's Eighth Ordinary Congress in July 2003, he was elected as a vice-president of the PDG. During the 2005 presidential election, he worked on his father's re-election campaign as Coordinator-General of Youth. Following that election, he was promoted to the rank of Minister of State on 21 January 2006, while retaining the defense portfolio.

Bongo was re-elected to the National Assembly in the December 2006 parliamentary election as a PDG candidate in Haut-Ogooué Province. He retained his post as Minister of State for National Defense after that election, although he was reduced to the rank of ordinary Minister in December 2007. In September 2008, at the PDG's Ninth Ordinary Congress, he was re-elected as a vice-president of the PDG.

Election and presidency

Omar Bongo died at a Spanish hospital on 8 June 2009. Ali Bongo appeared on television that night to call "for calm and serenity of heart and reverence to preserve the unity and peace so dear to our late father". Having been appointed to key positions by his father, it was widely considered likely that he would emerge as his father's successor following the latter's death in June 2009.

Some press reports predicted a power struggle, suggesting that a "fierce rivalry" existed between Bongo and his sister Pascaline, who was Director of the Presidential Cabinet. The degree of support for Ali Bongo within the PDG leadership was also questioned in the press, and it was argued that many Gabonese "see him as a spoilt child, born in Congo-Brazzaville, brought up in France, hardly able to speak indigenous languages and with the appearance of a hip hop star".

Bongo was one of ten candidates who submitted applications to become the PDG's candidate in the early presidential election, scheduled for 30 August 2009. PDG Deputy Secretary-General Angèle Christine Ondo announced on 16 July that the party leadership had chosen Bongo by consensus as the PDG candidate, although this decision still needed to be formally confirmed at a party congress. An extraordinary PDG congress designated Bongo as the party's candidate on 19 July. He thanked delegates for their choice, saying he was "aware of the legitimate concerns" of the people. He vowed to battle corruption and "redistribute the proceeds of economic growth" as president.

Despite standing as a presidential candidate, Bongo was retained as Minister of Defense in the government appointed on 22 July 2009. Rogombé urged calm and called for the candidates to be "worthy" of the votes they would receive. The opposition strongly protested Bongo's continued inclusion in the government. After Interim President Rose Francine Rogombé said that Bongo would be replaced so that all candidates would be on an equal footing for the election, Interior Minister Jean-François Ndongou was appointed to take over from Bongo as Minister of Defense in an interim capacity when the election campaign officially began on 15 August 2009.

A few days after the election on 30 August 2009, it was announced that he had won the election with 42% of the vote, and that result was promptly confirmed by the Constitutional Court. The opposition rejected the official results, and riots broke out in Gabon's second largest city, Port-Gentil. In response to allegations of fraud, the Constitutional Court conducted a recount before again declaring Bongo the winner with 41.79% of the vote on 12 October 2009. On 16 October, he was sworn in as president .

Various African presidents were present for the ceremony. Bongo expressed a commitment to justice and the fight against corruption at the ceremony and said that fast action was needed to "give back confidence and promote the emergence of new hope". He also alluded to his father's governing philosophy of preserving stability through regional, tribal, and political balance in the allocation of power, while also stressing that "excellence, competence and work" were even more important than "geographical and political considerations".

Later in the day, he announced the reappointment of Paul Biyoghe Mba as Prime Minister. He made the announcement personally "to underline the importance of this moment". According to Bongo, Biyoghe Mba had the necessary experience and managerial competence "to lead us through the next stage", and he said work would start "immediately".

On 17 October, the composition of Biyoghe Mba's new government was announced. It was reduced to 30 ministers, fulfilling Bongo's campaign promise to reduce the size of the government and thereby reduce expenses. The government was mostly composed of new faces, including many technocrats, although a few key ministers, such as Paul Toungui (Foreign Minister), Jean-François Ndongou (Interior Minister), and Laure Olga Gondjout (Communications Minister), retained their posts.

On 9 June 2011, Ali Bongo and Barack Obama met at the White House.

In 2012, clashes between the supporters of opposition figure André Mba Obame and police occurred in Libreville.