In 2010, the Arab Spring began, a series of protests that swept through various countries in the Middle East and Africa (especially those in the north). Starting in Tunisia, the protests spread to numerous other countries, with the most prominent being Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain.
Capitalizing on popular discontent stemming from economic and social crises in these countries, especially due to the global economic crisis that began in 2008, imperialist countries, particularly the United States and the European Union, sought to fuel dissatisfaction among the population everywhere to overthrow nationalist governments that contradicted imperialist interests.
One of the main coups (if not the main one) was the one against the nationalist leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, which resulted in his assassination.
As mentioned earlier, the protests also reached Libya. However, the mobilizations driven by imperialism alone were not enough to topple the government. After all, Gaddafi had broad popular support.
Thus, imperialism saw the need to intervene directly. The military intervention lasted from March 19 to October 31, 2011. The operations were formally led by the United States until March 27 when it was formally handed over to NATO.
A no-fly zone was established by the United Nations Security Council as a means of deepening economic sanctions against Libya and also preventing Gaddafi’s government from using the air force to combat the “rebels” fueled by imperialism. Despite this zone, the country was bombed by the French, British, and Canadian air forces. Attacks also came from American and British warships, which fired at least 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the early hours of the attacks.
With direct action from imperialism, the rebels managed to prevail over the segment of the population supporting the government and its forces. The coup was completed with Gaddafi’s assassination.
Alright, but what does this have to do with Gabon?
Everything.
Especially with the deposed president, Ali Bongo Ondimba.
The son of Omar Bongo, a lackey dictator of French imperialism who ruled Gabon for 42 years, Ali rose to the presidency of the country in 2009 after his father’s death.
Ali Bongo did not break with imperialism. On the contrary, in addition to maintaining relations with French imperialism, he also approached the United States. Given his level of servility to the United States, he became known as “Obama’s man in Africa.”
This nickname was no exaggeration. Since the beginning of his term in 2009, Bongo sought to get closer to the United States. Relations solidified in the year 2010.
And what happened that year? The start of the Arab Spring. In relation to Gabon, it was when imperialism granted the country a temporary seat on the UN Security Council.
For what reason was Gabon given this position? Obama (and imperialism) wanted UN Security Council members to support the imperialist intervention in Syria to overthrow Muammar al-Gaddafi.
On this occasion, Ali Bongo turned Gabon into a spearhead for imperialism against Libya. In February-March 2011, the country voted in favor of two UN Security Council resolutions. One of them imposed economic sanctions on Libya. As is known, the genocidal policy of sanctions serves to target the workers of underdeveloped countries in order to incite a revolt against their respective governments when they oppose imperialism.
And the other resolution? It was the one mentioned earlier, the imposition of the no-fly zone over Libya.
Showing that Bongo was willing to be a faithful servant of the United States, he was the first African head of state to call for Gaddafi’s resignation.
According to J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council (a U.S. think tank), it was Bongo who took the initiative to oppose Gaddafi’s nationalist government in relation to African countries in the Security Council:
“While the other UNSC countries were hesitant, Gabon paved the way and helped the (U.S.) administration get the votes of African countries for resolutions against Libya.”
Bongo’s leadership in the coup against Libya showed imperialism the strategic importance of Gabon for the domination of imperial dictatorship over Africa. After all, the Gabonese president demonstrated a great ability to influence other African leaders. As reported by the American ambassador to Gabon from 2010 to 2013, Eric Benjaminson, Bongo’s ability to influence other leaders largely stemmed from government officials who had been part of his father Omar Bongo’s government.
Ali capitalized on this. According to Benjaminson, the top echelons of Gabon had direct contact with other African leaders, even through their personal phones. With this, the United States used the Gabonese to convince Gaddafi to resign.
It didn’t work. Quite rightly, Gaddafi did not resign, and imperialism was forced to intervene directly, exposing the farce that a revolution against the Libyan nationalist government was taking place.
Although Ali Bongo’s negotiations were not fruitful enough to make Gaddafi resign, the lackey president still proved valuable to Obama. He provided a wealth of information from other African countries, information he had gathered in conversations with other heads of state.
Obviously, such information was used by imperialism for intervention in Libya and the coup against the nationalist government.
In short, Ali Bongo was literally “Obama’s man in Africa.” In fact, he was a spy.
It is no coincidence that, on several of his visits to the United States, he was extremely well-received by Obama. He was the first African leader to stay at Blair House, a private residence of the U.S. president for hosting special guests. In 2014, during the African Leaders Summit in Washington, Bongo and his wife sat at the table next to Obama and then-first lady Michelle.
In short, Ali Bongo was an exemplary servant of imperialism, betraying the Libyan people, especially the people of Gabon, and Africans as a whole, by acting as a spearhead in the coup.
During Gaddafi’s nationalist government, Libya’s oil reserves were nationalized. The revenues from this energy resource were used to drive the country’s economic development. There was significant growth in Libya’s industry and infrastructure. During Muammar al-Gaddafi’s tenure, the world’s largest irrigation system was built, something essential for a desert country like Libya. This project was funded by the country’s own resources, without incurring debt with the IMF, an imperialist institution.
During the nationalist government, the literacy rate in Libya increased from 25% to 88%. Healthcare was free, and a range of social programs ensured a dignified life for the population, to the extent possible in an oppressed country.
And how is Libya today, after the coup in 2011 and the assassination of Gaddafi? Ruined. The country was plagued by a civil war that lasted about a decade, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.
With the coup, political power fragmented, and it became contested by numerous factions, leading to the proliferation of jihadism, a situation that exposes the hypocrisy of imperialism: they claim to fight terrorists, Islamic extremists. However, it is precisely their interventions in oppressed African and Middle Eastern countries that lead to the proliferation of such groups.
Among them, the main one that emerged after the coup that ousted Gaddafi was the Islamic State, known for its notorious cruelty. Not coincidentally, this group has been used by the United States and NATO to fight other nationalist governments, such as Bashar al-Assad’s in Syria.
The coup against Gaddafi, therefore, resulted in greater instability on the continent.
Furthermore, with the complete social disintegration caused by imperialism in Libya, a systematic return to slavery occurred, to the point where people were simply abducted in public to be sold as slaves.
While under Gaddafi the country became the continent’s top Human Development Index (HDI) and 53rd in the world, today it ranks 105th.
This is Ali Bongo’s legacy in Libya. He was the main point of support for imperialism in overthrowing one of the leading nationalist leaders in African history.
Ali Bongo was a traitor to the Libyan people, the Gabonese people, and Africans as a whole. His removal came at a time when a new opportunity is emerging for the development of a new African nationalism.
