The Coup d'Etat of August 30 allowed the Gabonese to turn a dark page in their history, permanently shaking the Bongo clan. A new strong man has appeared on the political scene, at the highest summit of the State. This is General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguéma, who proclaimed himself President of the Transition.
While many thought that, as in the case of Niger, Burkina Faso or Mali, he would be part of a resolute opposition to the former French colonial power, he somewhat demonstrated temperance, never raising the tone to denounce the asymmetrical relations between his country and France and ignoring the historically unequal relationships, in which Gabon has languished since the dawn of time. Such a situation, far from allowing a real liberation of this Central African country, risks rather compromising its future, with in view decades of subjugation and domination, synonymous with backwardness.
Certainly, Gabon has a long history with France and is considered the heart of French precariousness in Central Africa, with a French military base in Libreville etc. Omar Bongo himself, during his lifetime, had very well elucidated this relationship of dependence, indicating that “France without Gabon is a car without fuel, and Gabon without France is a car without a driver”. Such an assertion illustrated in a very beautiful way the subjugation of Gabon vis-à-vis the French ogre, in an unequal relationship of predator to predated. A relationship of submission and exploitation, even brutalization and constraints, in what then appears to be a distorted form of rampant neocolonialism. Olingui Nguema hardly calls into question such a position, preferring to rely on the certainly unequal relationships existing between France and Gabon, to strengthen his hold on power.
Already, a few hiccups are coming to light, but do not seem to embarrass the new regime. We can cite, among others, the swearing-in of General Brice Clotaire Olingui Nguéma on September 4, before a Constitutional Court hated only a few days before, or even, an oath-taking, on a transition charter, a charge known only to the supporters of the current regime.
This shows that French domination still has good days ahead of it, in this small state which believes itself to be the eldest daughter of France.
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