Omar Bongo was born on December 30, 1935, in Lewai (since renamed Bongoville), French Equatorial Africa, a town of the Haut-Ogooué province in what is now southeastern Gabon near the border with the Republic of the Congo.The youngest of twelve siblings, iOmar enjoyed living in his little house with his little little family. He was a member of the small Bateke ethnic group. He changed his name to El Hadj Omar Bongo when he converted to Islam in 1973.
He left his local village for the primary school in Congo- Brazzaville and then the technical college, where he got a diploma in commerce. Returning home to his birthplace in 1958, he worked for a year as a civil servant, before being conscripted into the air force.
Demobilised in October 27, 1960, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Libreville. His talents were spotted early and in March 1962 he became deputy director and in October director of Leon M’Ba’s Presidential office. From February 1963 to April 1964 he was in charge of Information though considered too young for full ministerial rank.
After the attempted coup of February 1964, M’Ba brought him in as a man he could trust, to take charge of National Defence. On September 24 this appointment was confirmed when he was given cabinet rank as Defence Minister. He held this portfolio in addition to the wide powers he had as President’s aide. He was also the Special Commissioner in the State Security Court set up to try the 1964 coup plotters.
Rapid promotion followed as M’Ba visited Paris increasingly frequently for medical consultations. In August 1966 he became Minister of Information. In September M’Ba, from his Paris sick bed, had confirmed him as Vice-President; in November he was placed in charge of Co-ordination, Defence, Planning, Information and Tourism.
In the Presidential elections of March 1967 he was confirmed as Vice-President on a joint ticket with M’Ba by 90% of the electors. By the time M’Ba died on November 27, 1967, he was already firmly in power and he took over the next day as President. He also took on the posts of Prime Minister and the Ministries of Defence, Information, Planning and Interior in December 1967.
He pledged to remain within the major guide lines defined by his predecessor, but he said, “My views are personal and some of my methods are different, for I am neither the same age (he was 32, M’Ba 65 on his death) nor the same training, nor the same character as my predecessor.” He maintained the strong alliance with France and belief that private enterprise was the answer for Gabon’s development. He frequently repeated his favourite slogan, “Give me a sound economy and I will give you stable politics.”
He announced a new policy of “renewal”, brought in younger ministers, released a number of political detainees and within a year on March 12, 1968, announced the formation of the new Gabonese Democratic Party, with himself as secretary-general, in an attempt to attract the opposition into a national movement.
On May 8, 1958, he decided to recognise Biafra, despite his earlier support for the Federal government. He did this after talks with Houphouet Boigny of the Ivory Coast, in Pans. Houphouet has been described as Bongo’s mentor. This may be putting it too strongly, but he has certainly had considerable influence. He claimed this was for humanitarian reasons and afterwards allowed Libreville to be used as a staging post for French supplies and arms for Biafra.
In numerous cabinet reshuffles, he dropped old politicians and brought in younger technocrats and, in December 1970, gave up the Interior portfolio and took on Development and Mines, giving himself a total of seven portfolios in all. He also promoted himself an air force general of a reserve division, showing the importance he places on his military background.
In September 1970, after the end of the Biafran war, reconciliation was effected with Nigeria at the OAU summit and several thousand Biafran refugee children were sent back to their country. His relations with France remained as close as any in Frenchspeaking Africa. He went on a six-day official visit to France and got lavish treatment from President Pompidou. Gabon still depends on France for most investment funds. The French firms ELF-SPAFE produce four-fifths of the offshore oil.
He considered himself secure enough to mark the independence anniversary in August 1972, with the release of Jean Hilaire Aubame, the opposition leader declared Prime Minister during the abortive 1964 coup. He also released a number of other prisoners.
He has set his heart on the achievement of three major economic projects. The Kinguele dam was started in 1969 and he was able to open the first two power units in January 1973. Work on development of Owendo port started in June 1968 and was nearing completion in 1973. But the project closest to his heart, the building of a great Trans-Gabon railway to open up the interior of the country, was refused finance by the World Bank in April 1973 because Gabonese terms were considered to be too favourable to French companies.
A clever man who shot up the ladder of power because of his all-round ability and industriousness (he sometimes works 14 hours a day). He assimilates information at an incredible speed, asks for opinions then cuts through the problem with an almost brutal decisive¬ness. But he is not afraid to go back on his own decisions (as when he changed sides on the Biafran war). By his own admission his weaknesses are his impatience and impulsiveness.
He does not stand on ceremony and believes in performance rather than style. He is right wing in his opinions, endorsing development by Western free enterprise, leaning heavily on French friendship and carrying on an open trade with the “White South” including two cargo flights a week to Rhodesia. In his own words “money has no colour”.
He is essentially a realist with little time for pure intellectualism and little tolerance for lively student dissent. An authoritarian, who expects to be obeyed, he believes in strict division of responsibilities, in making his ministers realise their dependence by frequent cabinet reshuffles and in stressing to the National Assembly members that they owe their positions to him.
Bongo's first marriage was to Louise Mouyabi-Moukala. They had a daughter, Pascaline, born at Franceville in 1956. Pascaline was Gabon's Foreign Minister and subsequently Director of the Presidential Cabinet.
Bongo's second marriage was to Marie Josephine Kama, later known as Josephine Bongo. He divorced her in 1986, after which she went on to launch a music career under a new name, Patience Dabany. They had a son, Alain Bernard Bongo, and a daughter, Albertine Amissa Bongo. Born at Brazzaville in 1959, Alain Bernard Bongo (later known as Ali-Ben Bongo) served as Foreign Minister from 1989 to 1991, then as Defence Minister from 1999 to 2009, and was then elected President in August 2009 to replace his father.
Bongo then married Edith Lucie Sassou-Nguesso, nearly 30 years his junior, in 1990. She was the daughter of Congolese President Denis Sassou-Nguesso. She was a trained pediatrician, known for her commitment to fighting AIDS. She bore Bongo two children. Edith Lucie Bongo died on 14 March 2009, four days after her 45th birthday in Rabat, Morocco, where she had been undergoing treatment for several months. The statement announcing her death did not specify the cause of death or the nature of her illness. She had not appeared in public for around three years preceding her death. She was buried on 22 March 2009 in the family cemetery in the northern town of Edou, in her native Congo.
In all, Bongo had more than 30 children with his wife and others.
