Libreville's high prices stun Chipolopolo fans
By Bivan Saluseki in Libreville, Gabon
Wed 15 Feb. 2012, 11:59 CAT
HUNDREDS of soccer fans that travelled to Libreville to cheer the Chipolopolo Boys were on Sunday left stunned by the exorbitant prices of food, drinks and accommodation in the Gabonese capital.
Libreville is ranked the third most expensive city in Africa after Luanda in Angola and N'Djamena in Chad and comfortably takes the 12th slot on the list of the most expensive cities in the world.
According to Mercer's 2011 Cost of Living Survey, Luanda is the world's most expensive city with Tokyo coming second and N'Djamena in third place. Moscow follows in fourth position with Geneva in fifth and Osaka in sixth. Zurich ranks seventh, Singapore eight, while Hong Kong is ninth, Sao Paulo tenth, Nagoya eleventh and Libreville takes the twelfth slot, with the least expensive cities in the region being Tunis and Addis Ababa.
Gabonese in Libreville tried to cash in on the foreign nationals that had poured in to watch the Africa Cup final between Ivory Coast and Zambia.
A plate of chicken and chips, which usually costs as low as K11,000 in Zambia, was costing above US$40 (K200,000) while a soda was way above US$10 (K50,000) even in third rate and backyard eateries.
Alligator delicacies cost a staggering US$ 50 per plate and very few opted for the dish.
The soccer fans that wanted to have the luxuries of a beer had to painfully part with US$20 (K100,000) for a bottle of Heineken.
The highly-pegged prices of alcoholic beverages, though, could not deter many a Zambian soccer fan that drank the night away in celebration after their soccer team's victory.
The limited accommodation and the high prices meant that most of the fans that remained in Libreville opted to wind the clock by drinking the night away.
There was an increase, too, in accommodation charges with unrated guesthouses charging as much as US$400 (K2 million) per room.
Earlier on Saturday, there were chaotic scenes at Leon M'ba International Airport's Visa Section where two planes carrying the soccer fans landed in succession.
The Gabonese authorities struggled, albeit in a clumsy way, to handle the pressure from the jubilant fans, earlier buoyed by the team's performance.
The first expense to hit the fans pocket was the visa fee pegged at US $60 and most of them, seemingly unprepared for the amount, were however not deterred.
Hundreds of them braved the rains to watch the national team win the Africa Cup.
President Ali Bongo Ondimba's Gabon has been under an ambitious economic and social reforms programme although his father's iron fist on the country is still visible from the security apparatus in a country with very large natural gas deposits currently estimated at over 39 billion cubic metres.
Critics said Ondimba's late father Omar Bongo used revenues from Gabon's 2.5 billion barrels of oil reserves to guarantee his grip on power. They also claim that Omar Bongo carefully allowed just enough oil money to trickle down to the general population of 1.4 million.
Labels: FOOTBALL, GABON, INFLATION
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Tsvangirai’s secret UN plan unveiled
Posted by By Brett Mashingaidze at 28 May, at 02 : 26 AM Print
MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, this week made a secret visit to the central African state of Gabon. Tsvangirai’s visit, which was not state-sanctioned, was aboard a private jet last week.
There is no active diplomatic connection between Gabon and Zimbabwe, despite the fact that long-serving Gabonese President Omar Bongo, enjoyed cordial relations with President Mugabe – as members of the African Union.
Omar Bongo was succeeded by his son, Ali Bongo, in August 2009, getting formally sworn in on October 16 after resolution to disputed elections. Until now, the last contact between Zimbabwe and Gabon was in 2007 in Portugal, in the context of the EU-Africa Summit when the late President sought Zimbabwe’s support for the candidature of Jean Ping as Chairman of the African Union Commission.
In February 2008, Ping succeeded Alpha Konare as AU Commission Chairman, with the support of Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai’s visit attracted suspicion as he did not report the outcome of that meeting or its details to Cabinet, but there is speculation that he is trying to ‘buy’ the influence of that country at the UN Security Council.
Gabon, alongside South Africa and Nigeria, represents the African sub-continent in the United Nations Security Council.
Both Gabon and Nigeria won the right to represent Africa in the powerful world body when Libya was President of the General Assembly, but they went on to support Resolution 1973 which legitimised the Nato assault on Libya.
Against this background, the MDC-T leader’s visit there attracted suspicion and concern in Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai never shared with the media, Cabinet or the Council of Ministers what he visit was for.
That suggests that whatever it is he transacted in Gabon must have been very classified.
GABON AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Tsvangirai’s visit has to be read on the backdrop of Gabon’s membership at the UN Security Council and France’s presidency of that UN body.
France, which is said to be leading the “recolonisation” of Africa, assumed the presidency of the UN Security Council, taking over from Colombia. This presidency lasts one month.
President Nicholas Sarkozy, it has been suggested in Zanu-PF quarters in Zimbabwe, will try and push a UN resolution on sending UN observers and possibly peace-keepers to Zimbabwe at the next elections before that country’s presidency at the UN Security Council is over.
Elections are likely to be held at the end of this year.
A UN Security Council resolution will require the support of non-permanent members, Gabon, Nigeria and South Africa; among others.
Tsvangirai flew from South Africa to Gabon. There is speculation that his next destination will be Nigeria at some point in the coming weeks to lobby this country to support a resolution on the country.
Tsvangira’s offensive in Sadc failed to materialise so he is looking to the UN Security Council for support.
Sadc failed to send him an invite at the last Summit in Windhoek, and all hopes that the Sadc region would censure Zimbabwe crumbled.
Labels: GABON, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, NEOCOLONIALISM, SECURITY COUNCIL, UN
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Gabon leader is dead - report
by Crispian Balmer
08/06/2009 00:00:00
GABON'S President Omar Bongo has died after 41 years in power in the central African country, French media said on Sunday, but the country's prime minister said he was unable to confirm the reports.
The 73-year-old checked into a clinic in Spain last month amid reports that he was suffering from cancer, fuelling speculation over the future of the former French colony, which has a well established oil industry. There was no immediate comment from the hospital on Sunday.
Quoting a source close to Bongo's entourage, the website of French magazine Le Point reported on Sunday that Bongo had died.
But Gabon's Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong said he was surprised by the French media reports.
"If such a situation happens, I think and I know that the family of President Bongo would naturally inform me. This is not the case at the moment I am talking to you," Ndong told Gabonese television on Sunday evening.
The oceanside capital Libreville was quiet but many people hurried home after news of the French report spread, leaving the streets largely deserted. Police cars patrolled and officers stopped the few drivers on the roads to check identity papers.
Concern over the health of Africa's longest-serving ruler intensified last month after he suspended his functions as head of the oil-producing state for the first time since taking power in 1967.
But Gabon's government said last month Bongo was resting in Spain after the death of his wife in March and that he would return home to resume his functions as head of state.
Reports that Bongo was ill had fuelled debates over who would take over and speculation there might be turmoil, as in Togo when long-serving President Gnassingbe Eyadema died in 2005.
But Eurasia Group Middle East and Africa analyst Sebastian Spio-Garbrah said such fears are unfounded and Bongo's son, Defence Minister Ali Ben Bongo, was likely to take over.
"Despite widespread foreign investor worries . . . an orderly succession managed by the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) will install Bongo's well-respected son . . . or another close family member, to the presidency and avoid any messy succession crisis," he wrote in a research note last month.
In the event of the president's death, the constitution calls for Senate President Rose Francine Rogombe, a PDG ally, to step in as caretaker leader in charge of organising elections.
The prospect of turmoil in the case of the President's death has also been reduced by Bongo's long-term successes of minimising ethnic tensions in the country, analysts say.
Bongo nurtured close ties with former colonial power France, whose Total SA oil giant is one of the biggest investors in the country. - Reuters
Labels: GABON, OMAR BONGO
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