The 79th General Assembly will open next week in New York. This will be the first time that the President of the Gabonese Transition will participate. As a symbol, the trip to New York comes after the one in China during which a large number of economic agreements were signed on the sidelines of the FOCAC for a total amount of 4.3 billion dollars (about 2,500 billion FCFA).
This Chinese sequence, which is already hailed as the materialization of the effectiveness of Gabonese economic diplomacy driven by the Head of State, confirms the dynamism and international ambition of the new authorities in Libreville. In the United States, the world will of course be discussed. But it will also be an opportunity for the Gabonese number 1 to discuss other subjects, particularly those of an economic nature.
Taking stock of the progress of the Transition
The speech at the United Nations will certainly be an opportunity to recall the popular, inclusive and participatory nature of the transition, the respect of the announced timetable of the Transition and the objective of a rapid return to constitutional order. Without a doubt, the broad popular support for the transition embodied by the Committee for the Transition and its President General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema will also be mentioned. Finally, we must expect to recall the special and unprecedented nature of a Transition that is taking place without violence, persecution of journalists and without witch hunts since the entire political spectrum is represented in all the institutions of the Transition. The Gabonese transition is, for all international observers, most of whom have regularly travelled to Libreville, a textbook case, as the peaceful and consensual course of events contrasts with the rough, vengeful and exclusive nature observed in other countries also experiencing a period of transition. From this point of view, General Oligui Nguema’s speech will be particularly scrutinized and undoubtedly widely commented on.
The return of Gabonese diplomacy to the forefront
Like all major international events, the aisles of the United Nations General Assembly are also and above all an opportunity to lobby to praise the attractiveness of one’s country. Let’s bet that this will be the case for the President of the Gabonese Transition who should meet there with the country’s main bilateral and multilateral partners to encourage them to further support the Transition process and, in general, invite them to invest and support government initiatives for the benefit of the Gabonese population. These meetings are also a place to solicit the support of countries in the context of Gabon’s candidacies for positions of responsibility within the international organizations of which it is a member. This is particularly the case for Noël Nelson Messone, candidate for the General Directorate of UNESCO and Prosper Zo’o Minto’o, candidate for the Directorate of ASECNA. These candidacies of Gabonese at the head of international institutions are an illustration of a newfound international ambition for the Gabonese Republic.
Environmental diplomacy a strong focus for Gabon
The protection of biodiversity, conservation and more broadly sustainable development have been major themes of Gabonese international discourse for many years. They should be recalled next week in New York, everyone remembering the strong words spoken by General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema during his speech at the last summit on the forests of the Congo Basin in Brazzaville in October 2023. “Together we can go further”he had launched in a poignant speech that struck the minds. The reminder and the commitment of the Gabonese number 1 to continue to assume its global environmental responsibilities will necessarily echo the difficulties of global financing of the energy transition and the resolution of major global environmental disorders.
Restore pride and desire
One of the fundamental objectives of the President of the Transition will undoubtedly be to restore Gabon’s image, tarnished over the last five years by a governance that has become incomprehensible and illegible in the eyes of the Gabonese and the international community. The President of the Transition should make this a point of honour before quickly returning to domestic issues, in particular the upcoming referendum on the new Constitution.
Ike Ngouoni Aïla Oyouomi, former Spokesperson of the Gabonese Presidency
2024-09-20 22:37:24
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