Lettre envoy�e par le BDP-Gabon Nouveau � Jimmy Carter, ancien pr�sident am�ricain, et � son �pouse, au sujet de la fraude �lectorale du 6 d�cembre 1998 (29 d�cembre 1998)

Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter
The Carter Center
Atlanta, GA

Tuesday, December 29, 1998

Dear President and Mrs. Carter:

As a Gabonese citizen now residing permanently in the United States, I wish to bring to your attention the situation now facing the small republic of Gabon, a country which as you certainly know has been the political and economic hostage of Omar Bongo, the despotic autocrat who has been its self-proclaimed ruler for the past 31 years.

On December 6, 1998, presidential elections were held in Gabon which saw the last hope for a peaceful political transition irremediably shattered by Bongo's desire to maintain himself in power forever. As one could have expected, Omar Bongo self-proclaimed himself president of Gabon again for another seven-year term by adjudicating himself an electoral victory that no true believer in the principles of democracy could ever validate. As a matter of fact, According to a French newspaper, your own foundation, the Carter Center, which was supposed to send observers to this election, finally decided not to do so because it concluded that these elections would not be fair and transparent. The new seven-year term Bongo has just fraudulently secured will, if used, confirm him in his sad position as the second longest ruling president in Africa (38 years) after Togo's Eyadema.

Dear President and Mrs. Carter,

Bongo has caused only misery and despair to his people. In a country which, in sub-Saharan Africa, ranks first in income per capita, one is surprised to find the kind of deprivation which the Gabonese have been subjected to by a cleptocratic regime that, for three decades, has confiscated the country's treasury for its own private use, leaving the rest of the nation in a state of underdevelopment that is utterly startling: no hospitals and medecine for the poor, no roads that deserve that name, a sickly reliance on mineral wealth that has exposed the country to the heavy fluctuations in oil prices, no self-sufficiency in foods and other commodities, a rampant AIDS epidemic, galloping inflation, and much more. To cap these socio-economic failures, Bongo has developed a sophisticated Gestapic system whose object is to suppress the sociopolitical liberties of our nation.

Since 1990, the year when Gabon resumed pluralist politics after 23 years of dictatorship, Bongo has used multiparty elections as a cover that would help him give legitimacy to his continued abuses of the Gabonese people's human and civil rights. As you know, the 1989-1990 upheavals in Gabon almost led to the collapse of the Bongo regime. He was able to cling to power only thanks to France's military and political support. Since then, Bongo has used all possible frauds to maintain a firm grip on power, while giving to the international community the false illusion of political stability and legitimacy.

Dear President and Mrs. Carter

Because of its insidiousness, Gabon is now living under one of the most debilitating forms of despotisms one could ever imagine. The recent election in Gabon may mislead one into thinking that Bongo won reelection (66%) due to considerable popular support. Nothing is further from the truth. Bongo's actual popularity is at the lowest and he could never win a truly democratic election in Gabon, despite the divisions in the opposition. Let me explain the insidious and pervasive ways in which the Gabonese dictatorship works under the misleading cover of "democracy":

• Since 1990, each important election (for president or parliament) held in Gabon has been fraudulently won by Bongo. Each of these victories has elicited sociopolitical protests that have often turned into outright popular insurrections. Military interventions have often crushed such demonstrations, sometimes at the cost of innocent lives. After eight years of struggle during which the Gabonese have kept hope that they may be able to get rid of Bongo through the peaceful means of democratic elections, they have only seen such elections stolen from them again and again.

• The most immediate consequence of this has been that the people have ended up losing all hope of ever getting rid of Bongo through peaceful means. Psychologically, such a realization has led to an incredible fatalism that has caused the people to start to fear for their social positions within the country because Bongo has used his powers to make it clear that anyone who was not supportive of him would not be able to earn a living in Gabon. The 1998 presidential elections have epitomized such fears. The Gabonese have now come to the realization that their vote does not really count because Bongo has always imposed himself, even when he has been voted out of office. They have come to the conclusion that any possibility of alternance during Bongo's lifetime was not possible. Faced with such an impossibility, their lives have been reduced to the survival instincts that come with fatalism: discouragement has crippled them, and the international community has not been supportive of their efforts.

• When we thought we were making some progress in matters of democracy and freedom of expression, we have once more been gagged by Bongo's system. Bongo is no longer afraid of popular insurrections because he has been able to contain all of them militarily so far. This has therefore emboldened him into sinking back to his pre-1990 Gestapic ways with impunity. Thus, fear of political retribution from the current regime has paradoxically re-surfaced in the country at a time when we thought this sort of regime was no longer possible in Gabon. Since 1990, our populations had the courage to oppose and fight Bongo's regime because they expected Bongo to lose through transparent elections. Unfortunately, these expectations have been deceived each time and, today, people are more than ever afraid to speak up their minds, to declare their political stances or even to demonstrate. They think that all those efforts have become useless: they have come to realize that Bongo can be deposed only through military force. Because of this, realist fatalism has forced them not to risk their lives anymore for a struggle that was lost in advance. Any activism in the current conditions of political threats and retributions could only lead to their losing their meager jobs or their being banned from any sort of public office as long as they would be against Bongo's regime.

This insidious dictatorship, Dear President and Mrs. Carter, has only one parallel: Hitlerism. Thanks to French military and intelligence assistance, as well as his own, Bongo is so well informed about his political opponents that the Gabonese administration has simply become Bongo's blackmailing tool: one gets and/or maintains a position therein only when one vows allegiance to his regime. In a country where the government is the sole true employer, one is forced to conclude that Bongo has simply hijacked the Gabonese administration, and turned it into a partisan body, instead of the neutral body it should have remained. Thousands of Gabonese are therefore living under the fear of revealing their true political affiliation because they know they would lose their position or be physically threatened.

Dear President and Mrs. Carter

Anyone who has witnessed, or heard of the unfortunate Jewish plight under Hitler's Gestapo regime may find striking similarities between Hitler's unbridled dictatorship and cruelty, and Bongo's pervasive and insidious dictatorship. The fact that the successive French governments have provided unwavering support to such a man is beyond comprehension. However, one thing is certain: French support to Bongo has shown that France has never sought the well-being of the Gabonese people. The Gabonese nation has clearly lost trust in a French government whose open support to Bongo has created the conditions for the continued suffering and deprivation of the Gabonese people.

Dear President and Mrs. Carter

Africans, and the Gabonese people among them, are now looking forward to an American leadership that would help us dismantle the parodies of democracy that African despots have adopted, only to legitimize and consolidate their grip on power. America has been at the forefront of the developed nations that have sought the establishment of lawful and democratic states in Africa. Particularly, the Clinton administration has been one which has brought new hopes to Africans, hopes that one day America would make the kind of inroads into Africa that would help to liberalize our political landscapes and lead to successful development within the context of genuine democracy. The record of the Carter Center in helping to foster respect for human rights and democratization in Africa can only stand as the encouraging evidence that America is no longer willing to let despots of Bongo's sort prevail over the will of their peoples.

Dear President and Mrs. Carter

Gabonese are now looking up to America for the kind of fruitful collaboration that would not only help us rid ourselves of our despot, but also bring the kind of development that France's treacherous ways have not been able to help us secure. We believe that with America, we might be able to develop our country better and create the kind of political, social and cultural atmosphere that will lead to the long-awaited well-being that the Gabonese deserve.

Dear President and Mrs. Carter

As a result of the December 6, 1998 fraudulent elections, I have launched a political movement called "BDP-Gabon Nouveau: Bongo Doit Partir, pour la construction d'un Gabon Nouveau (Bongo Must Go, for the construction of a new Gabon). This movement seeks to organize itself around the specific objective of leading to Bongo's departure from office by all the means at the disposal of the Gabonese people. This is because we believe that Bongo's departure and the suppression of his system are the sole conditions for true democratization in Gabon. His record has been totally negative at this level, and each year he spends in power only causes more suffering and poverty to the country.

The BDP-Gabon Nouveau defines itself as an exiled political movement that recognizes that:

• Gabon is still under a firm autocratic rule that makes it impossible for people who want true freedom to survive therein, unless they sell their soul to Bongo.

• After over ten years of negotiations (since 1988) with, and activism against, the Bongo regime, all internal political actions that have sought a peaceful transition to truly democratic rule have failed. Gabon therefore needs a political voice in exile that would vent to the world its desire for freedom and a more humane treatment. BDP-Gabon Nouveau will seek to fulfill this task, even though its members may become the target of physical termination by the Mafia behind Bongo's regime. In the past, this Mafia state has been responsible for the assassination of political opponents within and outside of Gabon. They may resume such activities against the members of the BDP-Nouveau because what they fear most is a political organization that would militate against them from abroad, above all if it is from the United States.

• Bongo and his French allies do not want the establishment of true democracy in Gabon, and have therefore chosen to hold Gabon and its peoples hostage by suppressing all their political, cultural and socio-economic aspirations. This has denied the Gabonese the right to the pursuit of their happiness.

• It is false to assume that Bongo is the only protection against violence and the total collapse of the country into anarchy as some foreign observers (mostly French officials) have held it. On the contrary, we believe that the apparent stability of Gabon is an artificial one under which the fire of revolt is constantly burning; that this fire is suppressed only by the dictatorial and dehumanizing means Bongo uses to discourage opposition and maintain himself in power: military menace through his French-trained Presidential Guard, socio-economic threats, instigation of ethnic divisions, etc. As a result, it is Bongo's continued presence at the head of the state that represents a clear and present danger for the stability of Gabon. Because of his authoritarian grip on power, Gabon will ultimately break up into irreparable violences. We need American assistance in helping us get rid of our dictator before it is too late.

• The United States remain the only super-power that has the capacity to help countries such as Gabon to get rid of their tyrants and would-be kings. The Gabonese people are therefore looking up to the United States for actions that may help this transition occur sooner than later.

Dear President and Mrs. Carter

We Gabonese people have had enough of Bongo's animalisation of his country's citizens. We are asking for America's help and support as we struggle to build for Gabon a brighter future of political, social, cultural and economic liberties. Only Omar Bongo stands between this future and the Gabonese people. As a result of Bongo's illegal proclamation of himself as the winner of the December 1998 presidential elections, we respectfully call for the Carter Center's refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the Bongo regime. We request that the Carter Center helps us build the sort of political pressure that will lead to Bongo's isolation from the international community, and his ultimate departure. We trust that not only America and the Clinton administration, but also the Carter Center, have the power to help us accomplish this noble and humanitarian goal. The Gabonese nation will be very grateful to America for that.

Yours very sincerely,

 Dr. Daniel Mengara
Coordinateur, BDP-Gabon Nouveau