|
|
Gabon
Quick Overview:
Gabon is an independent republic which lies in the bight of Africa and forms part of the West Central Region of Africa. The capital city is Libreville. Other major towns are Franceville and Lambarene and Port-Gentil. The official language is French. The country is one of the world's upper-middle-income countries with the highest GDP per capita in Africa, and an economy based on oil and minerals. It has a free-market economy in which the dominant sector is private. It maintains favourable laws towards foreign investment. The local currency is the CFA-franc. Despite its natural wealth, poor fiscal management hinders the economy of Gabon. Income inequality is a severe problem. The economy is dependent on oil and thus affected by price fluctuations. Diversification of products as well as the restructuring and reducing of the civil service and a privatisation program are ways in which the government hope to improve economic growth. The Gabon oil industry is key to the economy of the country and is its most important natural resource. In particular the upstream oil industry is its major source of foreign exchange, accounting for the majority of all exports. The downstream oil industry is also well-developed with an oil refinery at Port Gentil and a number of international oil companies active in the distribution and marketing of petroleum products. The mining industry in Gabon is another key industry. Electricity is provided by the parastatal utility Societe d'Electricite et d'Eau du Gabon (SEEG). The agricultural sector in Gabon has been neglected, forcing the importation of a large percentage of the country's food needs. Tsetse fly and a lack of cultivated lands have been the major problems facing the agricultural sector which supports a large portion of the population, mostly through subsistence farming. Gabon has rich forestry resources that enable the country to commercially exploit and export both soft and hard woods. The forestry industry is the second major industry of Gabon and provides employment for many. However, deforestation is becoming a concern. The international time zone for Gabon is GMT +1. The international dialling code for Gabon is +241. The principal airlines that fly to Gabon are Air Afrique, Air Gabon and Sabena. Gabon has an international airport at Libreville as well as 5 domestic airports and over 100 smaller public and private airfields. All visitors require visas in order to visit Gabon except for nationals of Francophone African states, France and West Germany. The country has one railway, the Trans-Gabon line. The essentially poor road network is being improved and Gabon benefits from its ports and harbours which are central to the country's oil industry. International banking transactions can be carried out through the Banque des Etats de l'Afrique Centrale, the Banque Nationale de Paris affiliate BICIG, the Banque Parisbas - Gabon, Barclays, Citibank and others. Ernst & Young and representatives of other international accounting firms provide consulting and accounting services and should also be able to advise on appropriate local legal and other service providers. There are no restrictions on foreign investment in Gabon, but the State reserves the right to invest in the equity capital of ventures established in strategic sectors such as the oil and mining industries. The state of health, the current immunisation status, location and the local disease situation lead to the risk of contraction of cholera, hepatitis A, malaria, schistosomiasis, typhoid fever and yellow fever in Gabon.
Geography:
Early History to Independence
The region that is now Gabon was inhabited in Paleolithic times. By the 16th cent. AD the Omiéné were living along the coast, and in the 18th cent. the Fang entered the region from the north. From the 16th to the 18th cent. the area was part of the decentralized Loango empire, which included most of the area between the Ogooué and Congo rivers. In the 1470s, Portuguese navigators found the Ogooué estuary, and shortly thereafter they began to trade with coastal merchants for slaves who had been acquired in the interior. The Portuguese were followed by Dutch, English, and French traders, and by the late 18th cent. the French had gained a dominant position. Despite the abolition of the slave trade (1815) by the Congress of Vienna, slaves continued to be exported from the Gabon coast until the 1880s, although French naval patrols succeeded in reducing the number exported annually. In the mid-19th cent., several treaties were signed with African rulers of the Ogooué estuary and neighboring territories, and Christian missions were established. In 1849, Libreville was founded by the French as a settlement for freed slaves. Paul B. Du Chaillu (in the 1850s) and A. M. A. Aymes (in the 1860s) explored the lower Ogooué. In the late 1870s, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza reached the source of the river, and in the 1880s he founded Franceville (near the present-day border with the Republic of the Congo). In 1885 the Conference of Berlin recognized French rights to the region N of the Congo River that included Gabon. In 1886 the French assigned a governor to Gabon, which from 1889 to 1904 was included in the French Congo. From 1910 to 1957, Gabon was a part of French Equatorial Africa . The Fang and some other African peoples resisted the imposition of French rule until 1911. In 1913, Albert Schweitzer established a hospital at Lambaréné on the Ogooué. During World War II, Free French forces gained control (1940) of Gabon from the Vichy government. In 1946, Gabon became an overseas territory of France, and in 1958 the country became internally self-governing within the French Community . The New Nation
On Aug. 17, 1960, Gabon became an independent republic. Leon Mba, a Fang, was the country's first president. In Feb., 1964, Mba was ousted by a military coup led by Jean-Hilaire Aubame, but he was restored to power within a day with the help of French troops. Mba died in 1967 and was succeeded by Omar Bongo , who established (1968) the Gabonese Democratic party (PDG) as the country's sole political organization. Bongo was returned to office in the elections of 1973 and 1979. Gabon was one of the few African countries to recognize and furnish supplies to Biafra during the Nigerian civil war (1967-70). During its first decade of independence, Gabon retained close political and economic ties with France. In the early 1970s, however, the government sought increased influence in the foreign (mainly French) companies active in Gabon, and it generally tried to loosen its ties with France. Disillusionment with Bongo's repressive policies led to the formation of a large opposition movement in the early 1980s and demands for a multiparty government. Bongo was reelected to a fourth term in 1986. Popular discontent with the regime reached a high point in 1989 with seven days of riots in Port-Gentil, which were put down by the army. In 1990 opposition parties were legalized and multiparty legislative elections were held for the first time in 22 years. Amid charges of fraud, Bongo's party won a majority of seats. The same charges were leveled as Bongo was reelected in Gabon's first multiparty presidential election in 1993. Despite constitutional reforms (1995) intended to reduce election fraud, the 1998 polls, in which Bongo once again was reelected, were termed unfair by observers. Bongo's party again won a majority of the legislative seats in 2001.
Related Links:
|
News Gabon News |
Offical Sites - |
Country Guides Guide on Gabon |
Education - |