Foreign News
From Libreville, An Ugly Postcard
By Chidi Amuta
The immediate past president of Gabon, Mr. Ali Bongo Ondimbo, has joined the new crop of video -posting toppled rulers.
The luxurious expanse of his gold plated presidential mansion in Libreville has shrunk into a tiny sitting space surrounded by book shelves and inconsequential furniture. From here, he has posted an online video that casually urged the world to ‘make some noise’ to draw attention to his altered circumstances. He of course pretends to be unaware of what is happening around him as he admits he is confined to a room while the whereabouts of his wife and family are yet uncertain.https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-6709758369371331&output=html&h=280&slotname=2123119829&adk=465047999&adf=2676246547&pi=t.ma~as.2123119829&w=644&fwrn=4&fwrnh=100&lmt=1693736032&rafmt=1&format=644×280&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalaccordnewspaper.com%2Ffrom-libreville-an-ugly-postcard-by-chidi-amuta%2F&host=ca-host-pub-2644536267352236&fwr=0&fwrattr=true&rpe=1&resp_fmts=3&wgl=1&uach=WyJtYWNPUyIsIjEwLjEyLjYiLCJ4ODYiLCIiLCIxMDMuMC41MDYwLjEzNCIsW10sMCxudWxsLCI2NCIsW1siLk5vdC9BKUJyYW5kIiwiOTkuMC4wLjAiXSxbIkdvb2dsZSBDaHJvbWUiLCIxMDMuMC41MDYwLjEzNCJdLFsiQ2hyb21pdW0iLCIxMDMuMC41MDYwLjEzNCJdXSwwXQ..&dt=1693736032201&bpp=1&bdt=948&idt=404&shv=r20230830&mjsv=m202308290101&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3Df5adffd583b64c9b-229526ea10d600fc%3AT%3D1666132495%3ART%3D1693736013%3AS%3DALNI_Ma693dnNsBzLrK_vRGO5C1xWYmQPA&gpic=UID%3D00000b12d62d6e07%3AT%3D1666132495%3ART%3D1693736013%3AS%3DALNI_Malo7GCYB-ozwNUzBx8cU6CU7j_2w&prev_fmts=0x0%2C644x280&nras=1&correlator=4018695916601&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=1995591903.1666132495&ga_sid=1693736032&ga_hid=1156506440&ga_fc=1&u_tz=60&u_his=6&u_h=800&u_w=1280&u_ah=739&u_aw=1280&u_cd=24&u_sd=1&dmc=4&adx=25&ady=1407&biw=1029&bih=659&scr_x=0&scr_y=0&eid=44759842%2C44759875%2C44759926%2C44796632%2C44801881&oid=2&pvsid=2968901827039517&tmod=829431005&uas=0&nvt=1&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalaccordnewspaper.com%2Fcategory%2Fopinion%2F&fc=1920&brdim=0%2C23%2C0%2C23%2C1280%2C23%2C1044%2C738%2C1044%2C659&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7CoEebr%7C&abl=CS&pfx=0&fu=128&bc=31&ifi=3&uci=a!3&btvi=1&fsb=1&xpc=sE2HGBXB0s&p=https%3A//www.nationalaccordnewspaper.com&dtd=411 https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-6709758369371331&output=html&h=280&slotname=2824164842&adk=1841859071&adf=1676647969&pi=t.ma~as.2824164842&w=644&fwrn=4&fwrnh=100&lmt=1693736032&rafmt=1&format=644×280&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalaccordnewspaper.com%2Ffrom-libreville-an-ugly-postcard-by-chidi-amuta%2F&host=ca-host-pub-2644536267352236&fwr=0&fwrattr=true&rpe=1&resp_fmts=3&wgl=1&uach=WyJtYWNPUyIsIjEwLjEyLjYiLCJ4ODYiLCIiLCIxMDMuMC41MDYwLjEzNCIsW10sMCxudWxsLCI2NCIsW1siLk5vdC9BKUJyYW5kIiwiOTkuMC4wLjAiXSxbIkdvb2dsZSBDaHJvbWUiLCIxMDMuMC41MDYwLjEzNCJdLFsiQ2hyb21pdW0iLCIxMDMuMC41MDYwLjEzNCJdXSwwXQ..&dt=1693736032202&bpp=1&bdt=949&idt=441&shv=r20230830&mjsv=m202308290101&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3Df5adffd583b64c9b-229526ea10d600fc%3AT%3D1666132495%3ART%3D1693736013%3AS%3DALNI_Ma693dnNsBzLrK_vRGO5C1xWYmQPA&gpic=UID%3D00000b12d62d6e07%3AT%3D1666132495%3ART%3D1693736013%3AS%3DALNI_Malo7GCYB-ozwNUzBx8cU6CU7j_2w&prev_fmts=0x0%2C644x280%2C644x280&nras=1&correlator=4018695916601&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=1995591903.1666132495&ga_sid=1693736032&ga_hid=1156506440&ga_fc=1&u_tz=60&u_his=6&u_h=800&u_w=1280&u_ah=739&u_aw=1280&u_cd=24&u_sd=1&dmc=4&adx=25&ady=1695&biw=1029&bih=659&scr_x=0&scr_y=0&eid=44759842%2C44759875%2C44759926%2C44796632%2C44801881&oid=2&pvsid=2968901827039517&tmod=829431005&uas=0&nvt=1&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalaccordnewspaper.com%2Fcategory%2Fopinion%2F&fc=1920&brdim=0%2C23%2C0%2C23%2C1280%2C23%2C1044%2C738%2C1044%2C659&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7CoEebr%7C&abl=CS&pfx=0&fu=128&bc=31&ifi=4&uci=a!4&btvi=2&fsb=1&xpc=PIXeAiBNBA&p=https%3A//www.nationalaccordnewspaper.com&dtd=452
In the last couple of months, some of the footages of Mr. Ali Bongo’s public appearances before the coup showed an infirm man recovering from a debilitating stroke but still firmly in power as the c heir to a family political dynasty that has presided over Gabon for the last 55 years. The younger Bongo is the son of former President, Omar Bongo who often wore high wedge shoes covered by a baggy James Brown -style ‘bongo’ trousers to enhance his dimunitive proportions.
In spite of his personal infirmity and the obviously dysfunctional state of Gabon, Mr. Bongo went ahead to prepare for last weekend’s presidential election. He predictably ‘won’ the election. Opposition parties and groups throughout Gabon however dismissed the election as a fraudulent sham. Mr. Bongo clung to his victory and power nonetheless but was quickly toppled in a palace military coup, barely four days after. The election would have given him a third term in an office he assumed in 2009. He had tweaked the constitution to give himself room for a third presidential term.
Soon after the election of last weekend, it was predictable that his party, the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) which he inherited from his late father would win. With a time tested combination of rigging, violence and official intimidation, the perpetual victory of the ruling party was fairly much guaranteed. But opposition forces had of late increased in strength and been joined by masses of disenchanted youth and the urban poor. Gabon, a nation of a little over 2.4 million people has the fourth highest GDP per head in sub Saharan Africa but lately wracked by unemployment and poverty.
Mounting political opposition led to a belated coalition of 16 opposition parties into an electoral alliance that presented a joint candidate to challenge Mr. Bongo at last weekend’s presidential election. That did not alter what was a foregone outcome in what has become a typical African sit -tight tradition of democratic persistence disguised as succession.
In continuation of a recent fashion among French speaking African countries, Gabon has fallen to the new coup contagion. The military struck barely four days after the election results were announced. In a televised photo opportunity that has become typical of the recent Franco-phone coups, a group of soldiers appeared on Gabonese national television to announce that they had decided to topple the democratic order ‘in the name of the Gabonese people’.
Predictably, they declared last weekend’s presidential elections as flawed, dubious and therefore annulled. Typically, the soldiers have suspended the constitution and all institutions of the state. They have also placed the ousted president under house arrest while taking in one of his sons on a charge of ‘high treason.’ As it turns out, the cop leader and transitional president is Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, commander of the presidential guards and a cousin of Ali Bongo.
The coup in Gabon comes barely two months after that in Niger which is still the centre of feverish activity within ECOWAS and the African Union. The Gabon coup merely increases the tally of a series of coups that have ravaged Franco-phone Africa. In quick succession, Sudan, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger and now Gabon have all literally fallen onto the sword. Previous coups in the countries under review have been advanced and marketed as the result of a series of identical causes ranging from insecurity caused by Sahelian jihadist terrorists to economic adversity and political misrule by leaders enthroned by democratic elections.
The Gabonese coup has pointedly indicated an open political dimension. The Gabonese military has added its voice to that of African opposition parties who have of late decried abuses in recent African democratic elections. The Gabonese coup makers have been clear and direct in joining their voice to that of opposition parties and groups. They have openly rejected the conduct and outcome of last weekend’s presidential election in Gabon as well as the long misrule under the Bongo dynasty.
Without doubt, all the coup makers in French -speaking West and Central Africa have acquired their audacity as a result of one single factor: the reduction and even outright decline in French presence and influence in the region. The disengagement of France from its former African coloniesis is the direct result of a latter day revolt by African countries against certain extant exploitative colonial era arrangements between France and its former African colonies. This arrangement which has gained recent currency defines an essentially exploitative economic relationship between France and its former African colonies.
According to the outlines of the arrangement, France has retained tight control over the international financial transactions of these former colonies as well as curtailed the autonomy of their central banks. This has made these countries subject to French supervision and ultimate financial authority. Therefore, the political storm at the bottom of these recent coups seems to be a general revolt of former African French colonies against the last vestiges of a colonial relationship that has left these countries politically independent but
Financially and economically dependent on Paris.
The progressive French disengagement from Africa has also removed the safety switch of ready French intervention and stabilization forces which used to be the guarantee against instability and wider insecurity in these countries. In the absence of standby French intervention and stabilization forces, the frail armies of these countries have taken to an easier recourse to coups to assert some authority.
The frenzy of coups in West and Central Africa will destabilize the region strategically in the near term. It may end up destabilizing not just the region but also upsetting an already stressed global order. The decline of French influence and military presence in the region exposes Western oriented countries in West and Central Africa to direct jihadist terrorist threat. More dangerously, West and Central Africa are now under the direct threat of recent Russian ambition and influence through the conspicuous presence and activities of the Wagner Group of mercenaries in the region.
For Africa, the recent spate of coups challenges our leaders to increase confidence in democracy by ensuring that the processes and practice of democracy meet the hopes of the people. But this is not just an African challenge. For the free world, there is a clear and urgent task of restoring confidence in democracy by using diplomatic pressure to roll back the specter of coups in Central and West Africa.
For the West, there is an immediate issue of defending a vital sphere of western influence from the ills of authoritarian rule and potential Russian influence. The ultimate question for the West is not merely diplomacy as usual. It is also an overarching moral burden. When and where does democracy deserve and qualify to be defended by its global champions? There must be a clear indication that global democracy has a guarantor that will stoutly defend it whenever and wherever it is under threat. Democracy is clearly under threat in Africa today. How the West responds will determine whether the forces of authoritarianism championed by China and Russia will prevail in the contest for a new world order or beat a retreat.
Oil prices rose past $100 (£74) a barrel on Wednesday after further strikes in the conflict between the US and Iran and continuing Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia.
In back and forth attacks, the US hit five Iranian tankers in reprisal strikes after Tehran targeted one of its warships.
Brent crude – which is the global benchmark for prices – has not been as expensive since the end of July, when a ceasefire between Iran and the US collapsed.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement also attacked oil facilities in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and have been targeting tankers in the Red Sea.
Brent crude did dip back down to $99.90 a barrel, but any fresh flare-ups in the Middle East could see it pushed higher again.
Tit-for-tat strikes between Iran and the US have escalated in the past week, more than six months after conflict broke out when the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on 28 February.
Oil prices have fluctuated wildly since the war began, and pressure on the industry has been exacerbated by wider regional instability.
Before the conflict Brent crude had been priced at about $70 (£52) a barrel.
But the war has seen the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The rising costs have sparked huge price leaps in petrol around the world for motorists at the pumps.
The US strikes on the five Iranian tankers saw four in the Gulf of Oman linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) hit as well as another near Kharg Island.
Tehran responded by launching missiles at a US base in Jordan – most of which were shot down – and said it attacked two US vessels and eight oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Houthis and Saudi Arabia have also been exchanging strikes since July after their own informal ceasefire unravelled.
On Monday the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of bombing a prison in al-Hazm and killing 11 people.
Then on Tuesday the Saudi authorities said Houthis had struck civilian and economic sites in the cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran.
The latest round of escalation comes after Iran targeted a US warship with ballistic missiles, which Centcom said were “successfully evaded”. It added that no American troops were harmed during the attacks.
In response, the US said that the five Iranian oil tankers it targeted were “part of a multi-billion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies”.
One of the ships it had struck, the M/T Riesco, sunk in the Gulf of Oman, Centcom later said, posting a video on X of the damaged vessel.
Kharg Island – where one Iranian tanker was attacked in the latest round of US strikes – hosts Iran’s main terminal for exporting oil.
Some 90% of the country’s crude oil passes through the island in the Gulf, transported through pipes from the mainland.
Also on Tuesday, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement attacked energy facilities and civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, injuring 73 people, according to Saudi authorities.
The drone and missile attack caused fires at oil facilities and installations that led to a temporary halt in operations, Saudi Arabia’s military and energy ministry said.
When asked by reporters about the latest tit-for-tat strikes between the US and Iran, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said the situation was “pretty straightforward”.
“Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships. And, for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers. And I think you’ll see that again today,” Rubio told reporters during a trip in Colombia.
The US strikes on Tuesday came hours after Iran’s Navy claimed it had seized an uncrewed US submarine in the Strait of Hormuz.
US Navy Capt Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for Centcom, said that the “underwater drone operated by US forces malfunctioned more than a day ago” and was used to survey regional waters “in support of ongoing operations”.
The defective drone was “an older model that neither collected sensitive data nor carried any classified sonar or radar equipment”, he said, adding that US operations in regional waters were ongoing.
The United States must do its part in the fight against drug trafficking, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said, following recent revelations of corruption at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
“We insist that they have a very important part to play over there and they shouldn’t just keep pointing the finger at Mexico,” Sheinbaum said at a press conference in the National Palace.
She said Mexico has succeeded in slashing the flow of fentanyl into the United States by more than 70 per cent, a figure acknowledged by U.
S. authorities.She added that the United States is also where the distribution of drugs and money laundering take place on a massive scale due to the high rate of drug consumption.
Sheinbaum also noted that Sara Carter, director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, has acknowledged that drug abuse in the United States is a public health issue.
In May, Carter’s office released a document in which the U.S. federal government acknowledges the need for a national public health policy to address drug addiction.
Earlier this year, Carter visited Mexico and expressed interest in the Mexican government’s initiatives aiming to tackle the root causes of violence and prevent drug use.
Study says 12 per cent of Australian adolescents had used e-cigarettes in their lifetime and almost six per cent had used tobacco.
The study, published by the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health also said that 3.
5 per cent had used nicotine pouches on Wednesday.According to the survey by the journal 1,848 students aged 14-18 across the Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia have put their health at risk using a range of different nicotine products.
More than two per cent of respondents had used all three products.
Among adolescents who had used nicotine pouches, a newly emerging nicotine product of concern, 82 per cent had also vaped and 71 per cent had smoked cigarettes, the survey showed.
Males reported higher use of nicotine pouches and cigarettes than females, it said, adding that nicotine pouch use was reported by 4.8 per cent of males, compared with 1.5 pe rcent of females.
Meanwhile, tobacco cigarette use was reported by 6.9 per cent of males and 4.1 per cent of females.
The study shows the need for targeted strategies to prevent teenage nicotine addiction and to support young people to quit, said lead author Lauren Gardner, a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney.
“Many teens who have used one nicotine product have also tried others,” Gardner said.
The researcher added that the findings showed the need for prevention strategies addressing “shared risk factors for nicotine use more broadly, rather than focusing on just vaping or smoking.”
Public health experts said the findings highlight the need for governments to protect young people from nicotine products, crack down on illegal sales and fund evidence-based prevention campaigns.
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