Omar Bongo Ondimba (Le Grand Camarade)

President Jacques Chirac had refused to see him he told Africa Confidential and advised him in a long and stormy telephone conversation to accept the proposal of the international mediators led by Gabon's President Omar Bongo that he share power with Sassou and serve as titular president for a transitional period...

Gabon's Omar Bongo with friends in France on both left and right has little to fear from the new government and may find the reform of Cooperation to his liking but he is understood to have complained to De Charette about 'confusion' on the French side...

Gabon's President Omar Bongo is in the bizarre position of being Sassou's son-in-law while acting as an informal political advisor to Lissouba whose style he finds more palatable...

On Zaïre and on other issues Nigeria Sudan and Kenya make common cause with Mobutu's Francophone allies: Gabon's President Omar Bongo; Congo's President Pascal Lissouba Cameroon's President Paul Biya; Côte d'Ivoire's President Henri Konan-Bédié; Chad's President Idriss Déby; Niger's President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara; and the mother of Francophone allies France's President Jacques Chirac...

President Omar Bongo's government in Gabon has cut out his old ally France's Elf Aquitaine in favour of a deal with Energy Africa an affiliate of the fast-rising South African firm Engen...

This strengthens the influence of Gabon's President Omar Bongo in Cabinda...

Also worrying Brazzaville's elite is the naming of Gabon's President Omar Bongo in France's investigation of corruption involving Elf Aquitaine...

We hear that Presidents Blaise Compaoré (Burkina Faso) Idriss Déby (Chad) and Henri Konan Bédié (Côte d'Ivoire) were told once the attack was underway but Gabon's President Omar Bongo was kept informed from the start...

Known affectionately by Gabonese President Omar Bongo as 'Baby Foccart' after the veteran French Africanist McCormick has moved up after the departure of MacArthur DeShazer who became Executive Director of Africare's Summit on Africa...

Jacques Chirac was preceded by Presidents Abdou Diouf of Senegal Omar Bongo of Gabon and (most senior of all) Gnassingbé Eyadèma of Togo - not perhaps the best augury for the summit's official theme 'democracy and good governance'...