ALI BEN BONGO ONDIMBA- A SUCCESSION STORY

Alain Bernard Bongo aka Ali-Ben Bongo Ondimba President of Gabon as of September 2009

Son of the late President Omar Bongo and Patience Dabany, Alain Bernard Bongo was born in Brazzaville February 9, 1959.

After obtaining a law degree in France, Ali Bongo made debut in the political circle by joining PDG in 1981. He was elected to PDG's Central Committee in 1983 and entered PDG's Political Bureauin 1984. Two years later, he was elected to the Political Bureau

Ali Bongo took the post of minister of foreign affairs and cooperation in the Gabonese government in 1989. He resigned from the post in 1991 when the country's new constitution stipulated that any minister serving in the government must be at least at the age of 35. In 1996, Ali Bongo made a comeback to the Gabonese government becoming the president of the Higher Council of Islamic Affairs of Gabon. In the parliamentary election in December 1996, he was again elected as a PDG candidate in Haut-Ogooue Province.

Like father like son
Ali Bongo Ondimba with his father the late President Omar Bongo Ondimba

Ali Bongo was named as minister of national defense on Jan. 25,1999. He was promoted to the rank of minister of state in January 2006 while still keeping the job of defense chief. In September 2008, Ali Bongo was reelected as a vice president of PDG. On July 19, 2009, the ruling PDG chief Faustin Boukoubi officially nominated Ali Bongo the party's presidential candidate. Ali Bongo was dismissed as minister of national defense by interim president Rose Francine Rogombe so as to contest in the presidential election on an equal footing with other candidates. He focused the campaign on his platform of peace, development and equality.

Ali Bongo Ondimba, the son of late president Omar Bongo Ondimba and the former defense minister of Gabon, garnered 141,952 votes, accounting for 41.93 percent of the total votes in August 2009 presidential election, followed by independent candidate Andre Mba Obame with 25.88 percent of the votes. The opposition candidate Pierre Mamboundou was placed as the third with 25.22 percent of the votes.

ALI BEN BONGO ONDIMBA PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS CAMPAIGN

"If the Gabonese place the trust in me and elect me to the head of state, I certainly will not stay 40 years, rest assured." Ali Ben quoted by local media saying he would not seek to remain in power forever.

"We are going to jealously guard the peace which was left behind by the late president Omar Bongo Ondimba while stressing on durable development and the equitable distribution of resources toall the people," he said to the local population in the western province of Estuaire during his campaign.

Ali Bongo also announced to reform the education system and improve the professional training while taking into account the state potential and the market needs if he is elected.

"Our duty will be to create jobs all over," he said while promising to never interfere with the work of the two parliamentary chambers, the senate and the national assembly, in which his party has the majority representation.

ALI BONGO ONDIMBA HOBBIES

Ali Bongo Ondimba rapping and dancing (I must admit he is pretty good;-)

While he owes his political career to his father, who he says he has to thank for "giving him the genes of responsibility, dignity and honour", his mother gave him his passion for music. She is the Gabonese singer and musician Patience Dabany, who unofficially oversees his relations with the media. According to the French newspaper Le Monde, Ali Bongo's career looked likely to take a musical bent until he joined the cabinet in 1989 and shed his image as a party-goer. He says he plays the piano and drums - has composed jazz, some Brazilian bossa novas and did the soundtrack for a Gabonese film released 10 years ago.Source BBC
In February 1992, he organized a visit by American pop singer Michael Jackson to Gabon.

A FOOTBALL FAN AT HEART

Ali Bongo is football fan and a passionate fan of the Spanish club Real Madrid. Ali Bongo practices almost every Sunday at his home with his military security guards and family. Ali longs to see the Gabon national football team win the Africa Cup of Nations.

ALI BEN'S FAMILY

Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, Gabons new First Lady was born in 1963 in Paris, France and spent most of her childhood growing up in Africa.

Ali Bongo is married to Sylvia Ajma Valentin, his second wife. They have four children: a daughter, Malika Bongo Ondimba and three sons Noureddin Bongo Ondimba, Jalil Bongo Ondimba and Bilal Bongo Ondimba who was adopted by the couple in 2002.

INGE BONGO, ALI BEN BONGO'S FIRST WIFE

Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba and Inge Bongo wedding day

Ali Bongo first wife Inge Bongo a native of the United States of America currently resides in California. Inge is still legally married to Ali Bongo.
Source:bvblackspin.com

MEET THE PARENTS

FATHER, THE LATE PRESIDENT OMAR BONGO ODIMBA

Omar Bongo Ondimba was President of Gabon for 42 years from 1967 until his death in office in 2009. For more see previous post Gabon's Omar Bongo- President for Life

MOTHER DEAREST

Patience Dabany aka Marie Joséphine Kama

Patience Dabany (born 22 January 1944, Brazzaville, Congo) is a Gabonese singer and musician. She was previously married to Omar Bongo Ondimba, President of Gabon, from 1959 to 1986.

In 1958, she met Albert-Bernard Bongo, a young Gabonese student. At just 15 years of age, she married Albert on 31 October 1959. They had two children: a son Alain Bernard Bongo (9 February 1959) and a daughter, the late Albertine Amissa Bongo (1964–1993). Marie Josephine Kama, later known as Josephine Bongo, was the first lady of Gabon. She and her then-husband founded the Gabonese Democratic Party. She became involved in many social projects, including the promotion of women's rights, charities for children, etc. Working with culture he created the musical group dedicated to the Gabonese Democratic Party, Kounabeli (Superstars), where she performed as lead singer.

In 1986 Joséphine and Albert Bongo divorced. Marie embarked on a career as a professional artist, under her new name, Patience Dabany. Her first album, Levekisha, was a great success in Gabon and in many African countries. Source:wikipedia

Good luck in the new job!

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TEXT SOURCES
http://www.ali9.org
bvblackspin.com

GABON'S OMAR BONGO - PRESIDENT FOR LIFE

El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba changed his name from Albert-Bernard Bongo when he converted to Islam.

If you would like to know how to rule a country for decades then you should consult President Omar Bongo of Gabon. Omar Bongo has been president of Gabon for the past 40 years, and was outdone only by Togo’s late President Gnassingbe Eyadema in terms of longevity of leadership. Not even presidents of Zaire’s Mobutu Sese Seko and Malawi’s Kamuzu Banda, who proclaimed themselves as presidents-for-life, ruled for so long.
At 4’11’ an African Napoleon Bongo became President of Gabon in 1967. He was just 31 and the world’s youngest president at the time. Bongo was born 1935 in Lewai, a town of the Haut-Ogooué province in southeastern Gabon near the border with the Republic of Congo. Lewai was renamed Bongoville in honour of Bongo’s work to develop the town. He went to school in Brazzaville, and received military training in Chad.

Bongo is currently married to Edith Lucie Sassou-Nguesso. She is the daughter of Congolese president Denis Sassou-Nguesso. President Bongo has more than 30 children - though not all of them with his wife.

Bongo the Family Man

The President and his daughter Pascaline in the plane. Pascaline Mferri Bongo Ondimba was born 1956 served as Gabon Foreign Minister previously and is currently director of the presidential cabinet.

Bongo was married to Patience Dabany whom he married when she was 15 years old in the late 1950s. Omar and Patience divorced in 1986. Together they have a son, Alain Bernard Bongo, and daughter Albertine Amissa Bongo. Alain served as Foreign Minister from 1989–1991, becoming Defense Minister in 1999.

Bongo’s political career kicked off after he won the trust of the father of Gabon’s independence, President Leon Mba. He was appointed the director in the president’s office in 1962, when he was only 27 years old. During a military coup attempt in 1964, Mba was kidnapped and Bongo was held in custody in a military camp in Libreville. Both were rescued by French paratroopers. France, which has huge oil interests in Gabon, has always played a key role in the African country’s stability. The renegade soldiers attempted to install a civilian, Jean Hilaire Obame, as president in order to legitimize their actions. He was in office for just two days, before being forced to return power to the Mba. Having remained faithful to Mba when the military tried to seize power, Bongo was rewarded with the vice-presidency in 1967. When Mba died after a short illness in the same year, Bongo was the obvious successor.

President Bongo ruled Gabon over a one-party state for 16 years, until presidential elections were held in 1993 which he won. However successive democratic election in Gabon have been marred by allegations of rigging.

President Bongo and Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba, First Lady of Gabon dancing

Now in his 70s, Bongo is showing no signs of giving up. Having changed the constitution to allow a president to serve two seven-year terms, Bongo could be in office until 2012.

On the international stage, the Bongo has cultivated an image as a peacemaker, playing a pivotal role in attempts to solve the crises in the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Gabon he is seen as a charismatic and straightforward figure. He is also popular amongst the Gabonese because his reign has guaranteed stability. He regards the principle of keeping the youth happy as sacred. Like a godfather, he uses his own money to solve the problems of those who call on him. In 2000 he put an end to a student strike by providing about $1.35m for the purchase of the computers and books they were demanding.

President George W. Bush welcomes President Omar Bongo Ondimba of Gabon to the Oval Office Wednesday, May 26, 2004. Photo Courtesy of the United States White House

President Bongo is one of the wealthiest heads of state in the world, with this attributed primarily from the benefits of oil revenue and alleged corruption. In 2005, an investigation by the United States Senate Indian Affairs Committee into fund raising irregularities by lobbyist Jack Abramoff revealed that Abramoff had offered to arrange a meeting between U.S. President George Bush and Bongo for the sum of US$9 million. Though it is unproven as to whether or not the exchange took place, Bush met with Bongo 10 months later in the Oval Office.More Information Click here

Bongo is claimed to have an $800 million palace with a night club, a banquet hall for 3,000 persons, a bathtub large enough to swim several strokes in, and a panel with buttons that can make lights dim, walls recede, rooms turn, etc.

“Where the man does not succeed the woman always ends up succeeding”. Omar Bongo speaking about the Gabonese woman.

OMAR BONGO IN HIS WISDOM

Bongo on a Bicycle

"The most powerful State in the world, which up to now was relatively protected from terrorist violence, is no longer an inviolable sanctuary."

"We do not control the trade of our resources, which are an important factor of prosperity for the dominant nations."

"But it is important to observe that when Europe or the United Nations impose sanctions that are supposed to be aimed against a certain regime, usually generally millions of people end up being directly punished."

"The world is now aware that the most unavoidable and most dangerous weapon that exists is the blind decisiveness of a man ready to sacrifice his life for an obscure cause."

"The African Union has to act in order to put an end to armed conflicts that undermine the continent, to fight against the devastation caused by AIDS and other contagious diseases, to promote sustainable development of its member states."

"In spite of our poverty and our economic dependence, we do not have to give in, neither because we are sometimes abandoned nor because of the wish of some nations to impose their economic or political models."

"It is not right to associate the fight against international terrorist networks with an imaginary crusade against Islam."

"Globalization, far from putting an end to power diplomacy between States, has, on the contrary, intensified it."

"I am in favor of complete freedom of information and of free access to the new communication tools, in particular the Internet. "

"Information on the Internet must be as free as in the newspapers."

"I'm not aiming for the Nobel Peace Prize! "

More Information
Omar Bongo Official Site
Omar Bongo Quotes from Brainy Quote