Yearbook 2012
Gabon. The government was reformed in February after the Constitutional Court affirmed the outcome of the December 2011 parliamentary elections, when the ruling party PDG (Gabon’s Democratic Party) won a landslide victory.
Agriculture Minister Raymond Ndong Sima became prime minister, the first in the post that did not belong to the prisoners.
In France, judges went on to investigate how Gabon’s late President Omar Bongo and his immediate circle were able to acquire a number of luxury properties in the country. This is after a report from the non-profit organization Transparency International, which combats corruption.
President Ali Ben Bongo, who in 2009 succeeded his father Omar as head of state, announced in October that the former French colony was considering introducing English as a second language. The statement was preceded by a visit to Rwanda that had done this before.
- AbbreviationFinder.org: Provides most commonly used acronyms and abbreviations for Gabon. Also includes location map, major cities, and country overview.
Opposition leader André Mba Obame, who claims he won the 2009 presidential election, returned to the country in August after 14 months in exile.
Nearly five tons of seized ivory were burned in June. The president lit the fire to show that Gabon is serious about fighting poaching. Falling oil production means that the government wants to develop other sectors, including the tourism industry.
Gabon was elected to the UN Human Rights Council in November. Gabonese Jean Ping, who since 2008 was the African Union Commission President, resigned from the post when he was defeated by South Africa’s candidate.
At the beginning of the year, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea hosted the African Football Championships.
Population 2012
According to countryaah, the population of Gabon in 2012 was 1,947,575, ranking number 150 in the world. The population growth rate was 3.700% yearly, and the population density was 7.5588 people per km2.
HISTORY
A French possession since 1839, used as a land for the resettlement of freed slaves (hence the name of the capital), Gabon was then part of French Equatorial Africa. Independent since 1960, the country enjoyed substantial political stability first with the presidency of Léon M’ba, then after the death of the latter (1967) of Albert-Bernard (since 1973, after his conversion to Islam, Omar) Bongo. The Parti Démocratique Gabonais (PDG) remained a single party from 1968 to 1993, when violent demonstrations for the democratization of the political system they forced the government to open up to multi-partyism. The result of the elections, which confirmed Bongo’s leadership, was contested by the opposition and the country came to the brink of civil war. The situation returned to normal only after negotiations (Paris, 1994) following which Bongo set up a transitional national unity government pending new elections, which still saw the PDG (1997) prevail, as well as those held subsequently. Bongo was re-elected to the presidency in 1998 in 2005. Upon his death (2009), his son Ali Bongo Ondimba took over; although his appointment was strongly contested by the opposition, in the elections held in December 2011 the PDG obtained 73 seats out of 123 in the Parliament, and in the presidential consultations held in August 2016 in a climate of strong tensions the politician was was reconfirmed in the position, obtaining 50.6% of the votes against the 47.2% won by the challenger Jean Ping. In May 2018, following the dissolution of the National Assembly by the Constitutional Court due to the alleged inability of the government to organize parliamentary elections within the terms established by the Constitution, Prime Minister FE Issoze-Ngondet, in office since October 2016, has resigned. The results of the political elections held in October 2018 confirmed the supremacy of the PDG, which obtained over 80 deputies out of 143 in the first round, and in the same month Ondimba was re-elected to the presidency of the country. In July 2020, RC Ossouka Raponda was appointed premier, the first woman to hold this position in the history of the country.
Traditionally linked to France, in foreign policy Gabon has exercised a certain leadership over the countries of central Africa, intervening several times in the solution of major regional conflicts (crisis in relations between Chad and Libya, worsening of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo).