Gabon - History
Gabonese have mixed feelings about their cultural history. Many are pleased to be living in a developing country and have embraced Western culture. However, the Gabonese are also proud of their heritage and feel that they risk losing their own traditions by accepting Western influences.
Gabon experienced a peaceful transition to independence on 17 August 1960, and has maintained close economic and political ties to France. During the later years of the colonial era, Gabonese intellectuals educated in French traditions began embracing the ideas of self-governance, independence, and democracy. However, unlike in many other African colonies, an anti-colonialist movement never developed in Gabon. Although nationalist parties did form in the 1950s, their rhetoric was not anti-French, nor was it pro-Socialist. Thus, France was able to engineer Gabon’s transition to independence, and the centralized state infrastructure was maintained.
Leon Mba was the first president of independent Gabon. Mba, an Estuary Fang and former customs agent, was a member of the French-educated Gabonese elite. Because of the strength of his influence in the 1930s and 1940s, he was threatening to the colonial administration, which exiled him to the Central African Republic. Mba returned to Gabon after World War II and reinforced his ties to France. Mba was proud of his connection to France, and during the independence process he sought to maintain Gabon’s close connections to French interests. Mba designed policies to protect France’s economic interests in Gabon as well as the political and economic interests of fellow elite, French-speaking Gabonese.
During Mba’s term in office, his political party, the Gabonese Democratic Bloc (Bloc Démocratique Gabonais or BDG) dominated the government with the firm backing of the French. Economic relations between the two countries remained much the same as they had during the colonial era. In 1964, the Gabonese military staged a coup, seizing Mba and forcing him to resign the presidency. The coup was inspired by the widespread negative response to Mba’s autocratic and Francophile policies. It was rumored that Mba’s main political opponent, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, may have been involved in planning and executing the coup; however, this was never confirmed. Regardless of Aubame’s earlier involvement, once Mba was seized, military leaders asked Aubame to form a provisional government and use his contacts to secure France’s cooperation with the coup.
Military leaders believed the French, who had not responded to a coup in neighboring French Congo the previous year, would not interfere with Gabonese internal affairs. However, the French did respond to the coup with immediate and overwhelming force. In less than 48 hours, the coup was reversed and Mba was restored to power. Following Mba’s return to power, the leaders of the coup, including Aubame, were imprisoned or exiled. After his release from prison in 1972, Aubame lived out the remainder of his days in France and had no further involvement in Gabonese political affairs.
Late in 1966, the constitution was revised to provide for automatic succession of the vice president should the president die in office. In March 1967, Leon M'Ba and Omar Bongo (then Albert Bongo) were elected President and Vice President. M'Ba died later that year, and Omar Bongo became President.
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