By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/franco1phony092909.html
UNITED NATIONS, September 29 -- With the son of long time Gabonese strongman Omar Bongo having already been congratulated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy for his victory in a now contested election, French economic interests have been the target of protests in Port Gentil. Tuesday at the UN, Inner City Press asked France's Secretary of State for Cooperation and Francophony Alain Joyandet for his the Sarkozy administration's view of the court challenges to Ali Bongo's election, and about Total. Video here, from Minute 14:28.
Joyandet answered that the constitution was "fully respected," the election "only suffered from a few weaknesses or irregularities," and that "the institutional situation is satisfactory and we are pleased with it." Maybe this explains the protests?
He argued that Bongo pere gave "forty years of stability."About Total, Joyandet said that Gabon only represents three percent of its oil supply "so Gabon is not strategically crucial." One wanted to ask about Total in Burma / Myanmar, but Joyandet's focus is Africa.
When challenged about the son taking over from a father widely accused of corruption, Joyandet answered that "there are other democracies where the son has followed the father... we're in a country where it happened."
On Guinea, where the death toll of protesters has risen past 150, Joyandet said that his foreign minister Bernard Kouchner has called for a meeting with other European countries, that ECOWAS should take the lead but he expects the issue to be raised at the United Nations. We'll see.
Footnote: on Cote d'Ivoire, Joyandet said that UN envoy Choi has said that the obstacles to an election at the end of November are only technical, not political. Joyandet said, in essence, this is the last change for Cote d'Ivoire and Laurent Gbagbo. Unanswered was: or what?
