Omar Bongo Ondimba (Le Grand Camarade)

President El Hadj Omar Bongo may not have got to see President Bill Clinton or Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (the latter because of an ostensible diary clash) but his 18-21 April visit to the US capital excited Washington's eager lobbyists...

Frenetic efforts are being made by Washington lobbyists to secure a meeting for President El Hadj Omar Bongo with President Bill Clinton with a White House encounter slated for 21 April...

At the insistence of France the CFA was devalued in January 1994 (AC Vol 35 No 2) in the wake of the demise of Francophone Africa’s doyen Félix Houphouët-Boigny and despite strong opposition from Gabon’s President Omar Bongo...

They say the Elysée is still sabotaging reforms which threaten Chirac’s relations with ‘dinosaurs’ such as Gnassingbé Eyadéma of Togo and Gabon’s Omar Bongo...

Omar's absence Gabonese President Omar Bongo once the doyen of Francophone Africa was notably absent from the Paris meeting...

President El Hadj Omar Bongo will be one of the grimmer-faced heads of state attending the Francophone Summit in Paris on 26-28 November...

Several African heads of state including Togo's Gnassingbé Eyadéma Gabon's Omar Bongo and the late Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaïre have included marabouts in their retinue...

But Elf's friend President Omar Bongo of Gabon a staunch opponent of the 1994 devaluation now sees the advantages of a further devaluation which would reduce the nominal cost of producing in Africa...

Even conservative leaders such as Gabon's Omar Bongo and Senegal's Abdou Diouf recognise that Juppé began the reform of cooperation policy that was pushed through by his Socialist successors Jospin and Josselin in early 1998 (AC Vol39 No4)...

Maïnassara can also probably count on emergency assistance from Gabon's veteran President Omar Bongo an early backer who plugged him into the Franco-African masonic network...