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Historical Dictionary of Gabon
Fourth Edition
Douglas A. Yates
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Yates, Douglas A. (Douglas Andrew), 1964–, author. | Preceded by (work): Gardinier, David E. Historical dictionary of Gabon.
Title: Historical dictionary of Gabon / Douglas A. Yates.
Description: Fourth edition. | Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield, 2018. | Series: Historical dictionaries of Africa | Third edition by David E. Gardinier and Douglas A. Yates, published 2006 by Scarecrow Press.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017035813 (print) | LCCN 2017037046 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538110126 (electronic) | ISBN 9781538110119 (hardcover : alk. paper)
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017035813
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Editor’s Foreword
In a continent not known for its success stories, Gabon has done relatively well. To some extent, this is because it has a generous amount of natural resources, being a major exporter of manganese and uranium as well as forest products to say nothing of oil, which provides more than half of its gross national product, tax revenue, and exports. The country also has a small population fairly homogeneous ethnically and religiously but growing rapidly. Gabon also enjoys political stability, coming to independence in 1960 under strongman Leon Mba, ruled by Omar (formerly Albert) Bongo for nearly 42 years, and with Omar’s son Ali in charge since 2009. Not surprisingly, former French colony and French-speaking Gabon has been one of France’s best allies in Africa and is likely to remain so.
This fourth edition of Historical Dictionary of Gabon provides a good overview of the country in its chronology and introduction. The list of acronyms is helpful, as are all the rulers listed in the appendices. The dictionary provides entries on people, places, events, institutions, and important features of the polity, economy, society, and culture of the country, and the bibliography contains an amazing number of titles, in French and English, organized under relevant headings. All parts of the book have been updated and expanded, and this latest edition is far larger and more useful than its predecessors.
The author of the first and second editions was David E. Gardinier, one of the few specialists then on Francophone Africa, especially Gabon. The third edition was the joint work of Professor Gardinier and Douglas A. Yates, who was a professor of international affairs at the American University of Paris and is now a professor of African studies at the American Graduate School in Paris. A political scientist, Yates has focused on problems of oil-rent dependency on democracy and development in Gabon. Under the mentorship of the historian Gardinier, he evolved in his methods of bibliographic research and historiographical writing. Gabon deserves to be better known, and it is largely thanks to these two dedicated scholars that a great deal of information is readily available.
Jon Woronoff Series Editor
Preface
It is with great pleasure that this fourth edition is finally appearing since it has been more than a decade since the last edition appeared and Gabon, although not particularly large, is nevertheless an important African country as a key regional partner of its former colonial power France, as a world conservation site of tropical rain forest flora and fauna, and as a pillar of the international petroleum industry in the Gulf of Guinea. Gabon has enjoyed high rates of growth during the past decade largely because of high commodity prices, and its government has used its forest and mineral rents to embark on an ambitious infrastructure and development program that has seen many new roads and bridges connect its remotest villages in the jungle with its main population centers of urban Libreville and Port-Gentil along the Atlantic coast. It hopes to harness its mineral rents to promote sustainable development, preparing for the inevitable postpetroleum economy.
The genesis of this historical dictionary was in 1981 when David Gardinier, a historian at Marquette University who had a long history of research and writing on Francophone Africa, starting with a Fulbright scholarship in 1958 during his graduate student days at Yale University when he first became interested in Gabon, was invited by the series editor Jon Woronoff to add a dictionary about Gabon to the new series, which had commenced only seven years earlier. After that, Gardinier updated the original dictionary with second and third editions, always conducting an extensive review of the published literature, both in Africa and in France, and expanding our knowledge of missionary work and education through original archival research.
I was originally invited to work on the third edition of this historical dictionary by David Gardinier, who mentored me in the historian’s craft of bibliographic research (i.e., finding published sources) and who had warned me at the outset that one of the hardest parts of writing this dictionary was finding the published works of new authors from the younger generation. I was younger then and did not really understand what he meant. Now I do. So I would like to acknowledge my deep gratitude to Professor Gardinier for his mentorship and patience with me during our two-year collaboration on the third edition and for the entries that remain in this fourth edition, which were largely researched and written by him. I would also like to thank Jon Woronoff, the series editor, for his close reading and support on my first solo flight. Finally, I want to thank April Snider, Kellie Hagan, and the rest of the
editorial staff at Rowman & Littlefield for the copyediting, proofreading, and production of this reference work, without whom the quality and exactness would not have achieved its professional end result.
Reader’s Notes
The absence of any universally accepted system of transliteration of African names into French or English and the development of variant spellings through the centuries that Europeans have used in Equatorial Africa pose problems for authors who wish to achieve accuracy and consistency.
Because French is the official language of Gabon, I have used the French transliteration for places and individuals. In the case of variant spellings, I have followed David Gardinier’s use in previous editions of this historical dictionary of F. Meyo-Bibang and J.-M. Nzamba’s Notre Pays, Le Gabon (1975). For the names of some of the Bantu Peoples, one is faced with the additional problem of whether to use the basic stem or the plural, for example, Kota or Bankota. In this case, I have chosen the form most widely used in the sources. Thus, I have found Bakèlè, Bakota, and Bapounou more frequently used than Kèlè, Kota, and Pounou or Punu on the one hand and Loumbou, Téké, and Vili more often than Baloumbou, Batéké, and Bavilia on the other. To aid the reader, I have given both forms in some cases, for example, Bakota or Kota, Loumbou or Baloumou.
A large number of Gabonese men and unmarried women have adopted the practice of adding the family name of their mother after that of their father. Thus, in the case of Casimir Oyé Mba, Oyé is the name of his father’s family and Mba the name of his mother’s. The two names are normally connected by a hyphen. Some married women have adopted the French custom of placing their maiden name after that of their married name. Thus, Honorine Dossou-Naki, whose maiden name was Naki, is married to Samuel Dossou. In order to facilitate the rapid and efficient location of information and to make this book as useful a reference tool as possible, extensive cross-references have been provided in the dictionary section. Within individual entries, terms that have their own entries are in boldface type the first time they appear. Related terms that do not appear in the text are indicated in the See also and the end of the entry. See refers to other entries that deal with the topic.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
ABCFM American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
ACCT Agence Culturelle pour Coopération Technique
ACP African, Caribbean, and Pacific (Countries)
ADERE Alliance démocratique et républicaine
AEF Afrique Equatoriale Française
AGEG Association Générale des Etudiants du Gabon
AGP Agence Gabonaise de Presse
APEEG Association des Parents d’Elèves et d’Etudiants du Gabon
APSG Association pour le Socialisme au Gabon
ARD Alliance des Républicains pour le Développement
AU African Union
BDG Bloc Démocratique Gabonais
BEAC Banque des Etats de l’Afrique Centrale
BEPC Brevet d’Etudes du Premier Cycle
BGD Banque Gabonaise de Développement
CAC Christian Alliance Church
CAR Central African Republic
CCCE Caisse Centrale de Coopération Economique
CCFOM Caisse Centrale de la France d’Outre-Mer
CEEAC Communauté Economique des Etats de l’Afrique Centrale
CEMAC Communauté Economique et Monétaire du l’Afrique Centrale
CFA Colonies Françaises Africaines; Communauté Financière Africaine
CFTC Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens
CGAT
CGT
Confédération Générale Aéfienne du Travail; Confédération Générale Africaine du Travail
Confédération Générale du Travail
xvi • ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
CGT-FO Confédération Générale du Travail-Force Ouvrière
CICIBA Centre International des Civilisations Bantu
CIRMF Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville
CMA Christian & Missionary Alliance
CMG Comité Mixte Gabonais
CNTG Confédération Nationale des Travailleurs Gabonais
COGEMA Compagnie Générale des Matières Nucléaires
COGES Comité Gabonais d’Etudes Sociales et Economiques
COMILOG Compagnie Minière de l’Ogooué
COMUF Compagnie des Mines d’Uranium de Franceville
COSYGA Confédération Syndicale Gabonaise
EC European Community (CE in French)
EDF European Development Fund (FED in French)
EEC European Economic Community (CEE in French)
EIB European Investment Bank (BEI in French)
ENA Ecole Nationale d’Administration
EU European Union
FAC Fonds d’Aide et de Coopération
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization
FEA French Equatorial Africa (AEF in French)
FEANF Fédération des Etudiants d’Afrique Noire
FESAC Fondation de l’Enseignement Supérieur en Afrique Centrale
FESYGA Fédération Syndicale Gabonaise
FIDES Fonds d’Investissement pour le Développement Economique et Sociale
GEC Groupe d’Etudes Communistes
IOM Indépendants d’Outre-mer
MB MORENA des Bûcherons
MO MORENA Originel
MORENA Mouvement de Redressement National
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS • xvii
OAMCE Organisation Africaine et Malgache pour la Coopération Economique
OAU Organization of African Unity
OCTRA Office du Chemin de Fer Transgabonais
OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
ORSTOM Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique d’Outremer
PBFM Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions
PDA Parti Démocratique Africain
PDG Parti Démocratique Gabonais
PGCI Parti Gabonais du centre indépendant
PGP Parti Gabonais du Progrès
PLD Parti des Libéraux Démocrates
PUNGA Parti d’Union Nationale Gabonaise
RDA Rassemblement Démocratique Africain
RGR Rassemblement des Gauches Républicains
RNB Rassemblement National des Bûcherons
RPF Rassemblement du Peuple Français
RPG Rassemblement pour le Gabon
RSDG Rassemblement Social et Démocratique Gabonais
SEDECE Service de Détection et Contre-espionnage
SEEG Société d’Eau et d’Energie du Gabon
SHO Société Commerciale, Industrielle, et Agricole du HautOgooué
SME Société des Missions Evangéliques
SNBG Société Nationale des Bois du Gabon
SNEA Société Nationale Elf-Aquitaine
SOGARA Société Gabonaise de Raffinage
SOGAREM Société Gabonaise de Recherches et d’Exploitation Minières
SOMIFER Société des Mines de Fer de Mekambo
SONADIG Société Nationale des Investisseurs du Gabon
UAM Union Africaine et Malgache
xviii • ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
UDE Union Douanière Equatoriale
UDEAC Union Douanière Economique de l’Afrique Centrale
UDSG Union Démocratique et Sociale Gabonaise
UDSR Union Démocratique et Sociale de la Résistance
UGSC Union Gabonaise des Syndicats Croyants
UN Union Nationale
UNSC Union Nationale des Syndicats Croyants
UPG Union du Peuple Gabonais
URAC Union des Républiques d’Afrique Centrale
USC Union des Syndicats Confédérés
USG Union Socialiste Gabonaise
Peoples of Gabon.
Map of Gabon.
Map key.
Political map of Gabon.
Chronology
1472 Portuguese arrive in the Estuary of the Gabon or Como River.
1482 Diego Cam reaches mouth of the Congo River.
1515 First French commercial ships arrive in the Estuary.
1600 Dutch located on Corisco and Elobey Islands off northeast coast.
1698 Dutch make reprisal attack on Ndiwa of Coniquet Island.
1760s–1840s Atlantic slave trade reaches its height.
1778 Portugal cedes to Spain its claims to the coasts between the Niger and Ogooué rivers.
1839 9 February: Mpongwe clan head King Denis cedes sovereignty to France.
1840s–1850s Fang descend northern tributaries of the Como River.
1842 18 March: Mpongwe clan head King Louis cedes sovereignty to France. 22 June: American Protestants (ABCFM of Boston) found mission at Baraka in Estuary and open schools.
1843 11 June: French found outpost at Fort d’Aumale in the Estuary.
1844 28 September: French Catholic missionaries (Holy Ghost Fathers) locate near Fort d’Aumale.
1849 31 July: Immaculate Conception Sisters of Castres, France, located near Fort d’Aumale. August: French found Libreville as settlement for Vili liberated from slave traders.
1852 18 September: Benga clan heads at Cape Esterias make treaty with French.
1862 1 June: Orungu chiefs at Cape Lopez make treaty with French.
1868 18 January: Nkomi chiefs at Fernan Vaz make treaty with French.
1870 27 July: American Presbyterians assume the missionary field of the ABCFM.
1874 Dr. Robert Nassau founds Presbyterian mission above Lambaréné in the middle Ogooué.
xxiv • CHRONOLOGY
1875–1885 Savorgnan de Brazza explores the Ogooué and Congo basins.
1880 7 January: Ntâkâ Truman first Mpongwe ordained a Presbyterian pastor.
1881 February: Catholic missionaries found a post at Lambaréné
1883 12 March: Vili chiefs at Loango make treaty with French; Catholic missionaries found a post there.
1885 12 December: Franco-German treaty fixes frontier with the Cameroons.
1886 April: French Congo established with Gabon as autonomous colony.
1889 July: Fang bring first okoumé to Libreville for export to Europe.
1892–1893 Presbyterians transfer their Ogooué missions to French Protestants (SME of Paris).
1893 Société du Haut-Ogooué receives concession over vast areas of timberrich rain forests.
1894 Jean-Rémy Rapontchombo first Gabonese to earn a baccalauréat in France. 15 March: Franco-German agreement further defines frontier with the Cameroons.
1895–1899 Catholics establish missions in the N’Gounié River basin.
1899 Concessionary system extended throughout Gabon. 23 July: André Raponda-Walker is the first Gabonese to be ordained a Catholic priest.
1900 27 June: Franco-Spanish convention defines frontier with Spanish Guinea (Rio Muni). October: Brothers of Saint-Gabriel open the École Montfort in Libreville.
1904 1 July: Capital of French Congo transferred to Brazzaville.
1907 First public school opens in Libreville.
1910 15 January: Gabon becomes part of the federation of French Equatorial Africa.
1913 Dr. Albert Schweitzer begins his medical mission at Lambaréné
1918 Loango coast transferred from Gabon to the Middle Congo. Jean-Félix Tchicaya and Hervé Mapako-Gnali sent to the Ponty School in Senegal. Libreville branch of the Ligue des Droits de l’Homme founded.
1921–1934 Forced labor for construction of the Congo–Ocean Railroad.
1922 Léon Mba named Fang canton chief at Libreville. Laurent Antchouey and Louis Bigmann found L’Echo Gabonais at Dakar.
1925 15 April: Haut-Ogooué region transferred to the Middle Congo.
1928–1929 Awandji revolt against administrative and concessionary exactions.
1930 World depression hits Gabon and the okoumé industry.
1933 Léon Mba exiled to Ubangi-Shari. Americans from the Christian and Missionary Alliance enter the N’Gounié River valley.
1935 First Gabonese enrolled at the École Renard at Brazzaville.
1935–1936 The Great Revival throughout northern Gabon.
1937 October: François-de-Paul Vané wins election to the Governor-General’s Council of Administration.
1940 September–November: Free French defeat Vichy supporters and gain control of Gabon.
1942 Governor-General Félix Eboué creates the first public school with grades 7 to 10.
1944 30 January–8 February: Brazzaville Conference considers reforms for Black Africa.
1945 18 November: Jean-Félix Tchicaya elected to the First Constituent Assembly.
1946 11 April: Forced labor abolished. 7 May: Black Africans made French citizens. 5 July: FIDES formed to make public investments in Black Africa. 13 October: Gabon becomes Overseas Territory of the Fourth French Republic. 16 October: Haut-Ogooué region returned to Gabon; Gabon’s international boundaries fixed. November: Jean-Hilaire Aubame first elected to French National Assembly. December: First elections held for Territorial Assembly.
1947 Comité Mixte Gabonais founded by Léon Mba. September: Union Démocratique et Sociale Gabonaise founded by Jean-Hilaire Aubame.
1953 September: Compagnie Minière de l’Ogooué (COMILOG) created to exploit the manganese of Franceville (production begins in 1962).
1954 April: Bloc Démocratique Gabonais (BDG) founded by Senator Paul Gondjout.
1956 SOMIFER organized to exploit the iron of Mekambo. January: First petroleum produced in Port-Gentil area. November: Elections for municipal governments with African mayors. December: Uranium discovered in the Haut-Ogooué (production begins in 1961).
1957 April: First Executive Council with Léon Mba as its top African official.
1958 28 September: Gabon votes for membership in the French Community; FEA federation abolished. 29 November: Gabon becomes an autonomous republic with Léon Mba as prime minister.
1959 Evangelical Church of South Gabon becomes independent. 19 February: Constitution with a parliamentary system adopted. 23 June: Gabon organizes a customs union with the three other Equatorial African states.
1960 15 July: Gabon signs cooperation agreements with France. 17 August: Gabon becomes independent republic. 20 September: Gabon admitted to UN membership. 15 November: François Ndong named the first Gabonese Catholic bishop. 16–17 November: Mba arrests Gondjout and other ministers despite their parliamentary immunity.
1961 Evangelical Church of Gabon achieves independence. 12 February: Legislative elections. 21 February: Constitution with a presidential regime adopted. 12 December: Gabon organizes Fondation de l’Enseignement Supérieur en Afrique Central (FESAC) with three other Equatorial African states.
1963 June: Gabon joins the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
1964 21 January: Mba dissolves the National Assembly and orders new elections. 17–20 February: Military coup leads to French intervention to restore President Mba. 12 April: BDG wins majority of seats in assembly elections. 8 December: Gabon forms UDEAC with Cameroon and the three Equatorial African states.
1965 4 September: Death of Albert Schweitzer at Lambaréné.
1966 11 November: Mba names Albert-Bernard Bongo to replace PaulMarie Yembit as vice president of government.
1967 16 February: Constitution amended to create position of vice president of the republic. 19 March: Mba reelected president and Bongo elected vice president; BDG wins all seats in National Assembly. 28 November: Death of Mba elevates Bongo to the presidency. 13 December: Vice presidency of the republic abolished.
1968 12 March: After abolishing existing parties, Bongo establishes a single party, the Parti Démocratique Gabonais (PDG). 9 November: Position of vice president of the government reinstituted.
1970s Thousands of Equatorial Guineans seek refuge from the Macias Nguema regime.
1970 August: University of Libreville created.
1972 29 July: Constitution amended to institutionalize the government role of the PDG.
1973 18–20 January: First Extraordinary Congress of the PDG. 25 February: Bongo reelected president and a new National Assembly elected.
1974 New cooperation agreements signed with France. 12 February: Gabon becomes a member of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
1975 15 April: Constitutional amendments define role of the PDG in government and create position of prime minister.
1977 Recession linked to downturn in petroleum income begins. July: Air Gabon created.
1978 July: Expulsion of 11,000 Beninese. September: First section of the Transgabonais Railroad opens to N’Djolé.
1979 24–27 January: Second Extraordinary Congress of the PDG discusses economic crisis. 11 March: Opening of deep-water port at Owendo. 18 November: Second Ordinary Congress of the PDG. 30 December: Bongo reelected president.
1980 20 February: Legislative elections held. 10 December: Elections for provincial, departmental, and municipal assemblies held.
1981 7 February: Opening of Africa No. 1 at Moyabi. 8 February: New agreement for scientific and technical cooperation signed with France. 24–30 March: Ten thousand Cameroonians repatriated in the wake of violence emanating from a football match. 17 August: Constitutional reform makes the prime minister the head of government; Bongo relinquishes multiple cabinet posts. December: Surfacing of opposition Mouvement pour le Redressement National (MORENA).
1982 17–18 February: Visit of Pope John Paul II. 26 November: Condemnation of MORENA members to 20 years of hard labor.
1983 Opening of a deep-water port at Port-Gentil. January: Creation of the International Center of Bantu Civilization (CICIBA). 17 January: Opening of the Transgabonais to Booué. March: Third Extraordinary Congress of the PDG; constitutional revision makes PDG the sole legal party. October–December: Crisis in relations with France in wake of publication of Affaires Africaines. 17 October: Creation of the Economic Community of the States of Central Africa (CÉÉAC). December: Estates-general of education summoned to propose solutions to educational problems.
1985 January: Bongo’s speech denouncing Lebanese merchants sparks looting of their shops. 3 March: Legislative elections held. August: Discovery of vast new oil reserves at Rabi Kounga. 9 August: MORENA in Paris forms government in exile. 11 August: Execution of Captain Alexandre Mandja, convicted of plotting to assassinate the president.
1986 Start of a prolonged economic recession linked to downturn in petroleum prices and a weak dollar. September: Third Ordinary Congress of the PDG. November: Bongo reelected president. 30 December: Inauguration of the Transgabonais railway to Franceville.
1987 Opening of the Scientific and Technical University at Masuku. 28 June: Local elections held with competing lists within the PDG. 7 October: Discovery of lode of rare metals near Lambaréné.
1988 28 December: Discovery of lode of phosphates at Lambaréné. 30 December: Opening of minerals port at Owendo.
1989 May: Father Paul Mba-Abessolé returns after 12 years in exile for talks with Bongo. August: End of the schism in the Evangelical Church of Gabon. October–November: Uncovering of two related plots to assassinate the president and overturn his regime.
1990 January: PDG reaffirms necessity of one-party regime but creates special commission on democracy. 16–20 January: Student protests at the Omar Bongo University leave dozens wounded. March: Intensification of strikes and popular demonstrations. 23 March: Opening of the national conference involving both ruling and opposition parties to negotiate reforms. 27 April: New government headed by Casimir Oyé-Mba includes ministers from opposition parties. 22 May: Constitutional amendments install multiparty democracy. 23 May: Death of opposition leader Joseph Rendjambe produces riots at Port-Gentil. 24 May: French military intervention at PortGentil to protect French lives and property. 29 May: Presidential Guard restores order among the African population of Port-Gentil. 20–24 June: First Congress of MORENA elects Father Paul Mba-Abessolé president. 16 September–28 October: Elections for National Assembly marred by wide-
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