Jean-Hilaire Aubame
Encyclopedia
Jean-Hilaire Aubame was a Gabon
ese politician
active during both the colonial and independence periods. The French journalist Pierre Péan
said that Aubame's training "as a practicing Catholic and a customs official helped to make him an integrated man, one of whom political power was not an end in itself."
Born into a Fang family, Aubame was orphaned at a young age. He was raised by the stepbrother of Léon M'ba
, who became Aubame's chief political rival. Encouraged by his colleagues, Aubame entered politics, serving as Gabon's first representative in the National Assembly of France from 1946 to 1958. Aubame was also a leader in solving African problems, particularly developing the Gabonese standard of living and planning urban sites. Aubame's quick rise in Gabonese politics was spurred by the support of the missions
and administration, whereas much of M'ba's strength came from the colonists.
Despite a rivalry, Aubame and M'ba, now the President of Gabon, formed several political unions which were sufficiently politically balanced to appeal to the electorate. In appreciation for his help, M'ba appointed Aubame as foreign minister
and later President of the Supreme Court. Tensions soon rose between the two due to Aubame's refusal to merge his party with M'ba's and create a single-party state
. Aubame was installed as President of Gabon during a 1964 coup d'état against M'ba. However, the coup was toppled three days later, and although he did not participate in the coup's planning, Aubame was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor
and 10 years of exile. He was beaten almost daily by his prison guards while serving out his sentence. M'ba's successor as President, Omar Bongo
, allowed the return of Aubame to Gabon in 1972. The elder politician died in 1989 in Gabon's capital of Libreville
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Born into a Fang family near Libreville, Aubame lost his father at eight years of age and his mother at eleven. Abbé Jean Obame, stepbrother of Léon M'ba
, looked after the orphaned Aubame and arranged for schooling at several Roman Catholic missions. After he graduated, Aubame became a schoolteacher.
M'ba helped get him a job in customs
on 24 March 1931. First appointed to Libreville from 1931 to 1935, he was transferred to Bangui in 1935 and then to Brazzaville
in 1936, where he co-founded a branch of the Mutuelle Gabonaise with a brother of politician Louis Bigmann
. He was also a member of the Association des fonctionnaires, an organization which was dominated by two other soon-to-be politicians: René-Paul Sousatte and Jean Rémy Ayouné
.
Following the speech given by Charles de Gaulle
on the Appeal of 18 June 1940, Aubame sided with the Free French, and in November was sent by Libreville authorities to rally Fangs for the cause. In February 1942, Aubame met colonial administrator Félix Éboué
and quickly became his protégé. He served as an informant for Éboué on African affairs. Aubame's reward was to be one of several Africans promoted on 23 February 1943 into the European section of the civil service, and on 1 January 1944 Éboué appointed him president of the municipal commission for the Poto-Poto
section of Brazzaville.
Aubame participated in the 1944 Brazzaville Conference
and served in this post until 10 November 1946. After Éboué's sudden death in March 1944, Aubame worked as an adviser to Governor-General André Bayardelle and his secretary André Soucadoux. They encouraged Aubame to run for office, and he returned to Gabon to campaign with the support of both the administration and the missionaries.
by winning 7,069 votes out of 12,528 possible. From 1946 to 1951 he was Commissioner of shipping, the press, communication, labor and social security. He voted for Algerian independence on 27 August 1947 and for the establishment of a Council of Europe
on 9 July 1949.
On 17 June 1951, Aubame was reelected a deputy with 17,329 votes out of a total of 29,203 and on 2 January 1956 with 26,712 votes out of a total of 57,031, with this term lasting until the end of the Fourth French Republic
. Around this time, M'ba was establishing his political career after being exiled to Oubangui-Chari
. Affiliating with the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), Aubame later worked most closely with the Indépendants d'Outre-Mer, an African parliamentary group whose leaders were Senegalese Léopold Sédar Senghor
and Cameroonian Louis-Paul Aujoulat
. While a deputy he lived in Paris and toured Gabon regularly.
He continued to develop local Gabonese politics, in particular revitalizing the Fang clans. In fact, M'ba asserted that Aubame was too involved with the Fang to pay attention to the interests of the southern tribes, a charge Aubame ridiculed. Aubame was also a leader in solving African problems, particularly developing the Gabonese standard of living and planning urban sites. On 29 September 1951, he voted to increase the minimum wage
in the overseas territories of France, and served as vice president of its Commission from 1953 to 1955. He organized the Union Démocratique et Sociale Gabonaise (UDSG) in 1947, whose leadership came mostly from the interior, particularly Woleu-Ntem Province. The party in turn backed Aubame's reelection in 1951 and 1956. It had few philosophical differences with the M'ba-led Bloc Démocratique Gabonais (BDG), including advocating less economic dependence on France and faster "Africanization" of French political jobs. Fairly quickly, Gabonese politics became dominated by Aubame, supported by the missions and the administration, and M'ba, supported by the settlers.
against the government. The motion was rejected by a 21–19 vote. With M'ba's victory, many elected UDSG members joined the parliamentary majority, giving the ruling government 29 of the 40 legislative seats. Well installed in the government, he slowly began to reinforce his power.
After voting in favor of the Franco-African Community
constitutional referendum
of 28 September 1958, Gabon became pseudo-politically independent. Legislative elections were scheduled for 19 June 1960 through the Scrutin de Liste voting system
, a form of bloc voting
in which each party offers a list of candidates who the population vote for; the list that obtains a majority of votes is declared the winner and wins all the contested seats. Through the redistricting
of district and constituency boundaries, the BDG arbitrarily received 244 seats, while the UDSG received 77. In the months that followed, the legislative majority was plagued by internal strife. M'ba, now President of Gabon, decided to dissolve the Assembly and looked to the opposition to strengthen his position.
With Aubame, he formed a number of sufficiently balanced political unions to appeal to the electorate. On 12 February, they won 99.75% of the vote, and later that day, M'ba, running unopposed, was elected president of Gabon. For his cooperation, M'ba appointed Aubame foreign minister
, replacing André Gustave Anguilé
. In contrast to M'ba who wanted a strong executive regime, Aubame preferred a parliamentary republic. Tensions rose when a new constitution was unanimously adopted, on 21 February 1961, providing for a "hyperprésidentiel" regime. Under this system, M'ba was able to appoint ministers whose functions and limitations were decided by him.
On 19 February, he broke his ties with Aubame; all UDSG representatives were dismissed, with the exception of M'ba supporter Francis Meye. This was due to Aubame's refusal to merge the UDSG with M'ba's and create a single party state. In an attempt to oust Aubame from his legislative seat, M'ba appointed him President of the Supreme Court on 25 February. Thereafter, M'ba claimed that Aubame had resigned from the National Assembly, citing incompatibility with parliamentary functions. Aubame resolved the accusation by resigning from his post as President of the Supreme Court, complicating matters for M'ba. Faced with reports of tension between the government and the National Assembly, even though 70% of its composition were BDG members, the Gabonese president dissolved the legislature on 21 January 1964 as an "economy measure".
The electoral conditions were announced as such: The election 67 districts were reduced to 47. M'ba disqualified Aubame by announcing no one who held a post recently was banned. Any party would have to submit 47 candidates who had to pay US$160 or none at all. Thus, over US$7,500 would be deposited without considering campaign expenses. M'ba's idea was that no party other than his would have the money to enter candidates. In response to this, the opposition announced its refusal to participate in elections that they did not consider fair.
It is unlikely that Aubame participated in the planning of the 1964 Gabon coup d'état
. It appears that he joined the effort after being recruited by the new government. His nephew, Pierre Eyeguet, a former ambassador to the United Kingdom, may have known of the plot beforehand and notified his uncle, although it is unknown whether or not Aubame established contact with the plotters.
During the night of 17 February and the early morning of 18 February 1964, 150 members of the Gabonese military, gendarmerie
, and police, headed by Lieutenant Jacques Mombo and Valére Essone, seized the presidential palace. They arrested President of the National Assembly Louis Bigmann
, French commanders Claude Haulin and Major Royer, several ministers, and President M'ba, who was dragged from his bed at gunpoint. On Radio Libreville
, the military announced to the Gabonese people that a coup d'état
had taken place, and that they required technical assistance and told the French not interfere in this matter. M'ba was instructed to broadcast a speech acknowledging his defeat. "The D-Day is here, the injustices are beyond measure, these people are patient, but their patience has limits", he said. "It came to a boil."
During these events, no gunshots were fired. The people did not react strongly, which according to the military, was a sign of approval. A provisional government was formed, and the presidency was offered to Aubame. The government was composed of civilian politicians from both the UDSG and BDG, such as Paul Gondjout
. As for the coup plotters, they were content to ensure security for civilians. The small Gabonese army did not intervene in the coup; composed mostly of French officers, they remained in their barracks.
Aubame was unaware of the coup until the French ambassador to Gabon, Paul Cousseran, called him on the telephone roughly a half hour after sunrise. Cousseran, meanwhile, was awoken by the noisy streets and checked to see what was happening. Aubame replied that he was to find out why there was "no government", as Cousseran never directly mentioned a coup. However, about midway through the morning an automobile carrying the revolutionary committee arrived at Aubame's residence and drove him to the governmental offices, where he had been named president.
Second Lietenant Ndo Edou gave instructions to transfer M'ba to Ndjolé
, Aubame's electoral stronghold. However, due to heavy rain, the deposed president and his captors took shelter in an unknown village. The next morning they decided to take him over the easier road to Lambaréné
. Several hours later, they returned to Libreville. The new head of government quickly contacted French ambassador Paul Cousseran, to assure him that the property of foreign nationals would be protected and to ask him to prevent any French military intervention.
In Paris, French president Charles de Gaulle
decided otherwise. M'ba was one of the most loyal allies to France in Africa. While visiting France in 1961, M'ba said: "[a]ll Gabonese have two fatherlands: France and Gabon." Moreover, under his regime, Europeans enjoyed particularly friendly treatment. Therefore, President de Gaulle, upon advice from his chief adviser on African policy, Jacques Foccart
, decided that he would restore the legitimate government. This was in accordance with a 1960 treaty between Gabon and the French, which was ironically signed by Aubame in his stint as Foreign Minister. Intervention could not commence without a formal request to the Head of State of Gabon. Since M'ba was otherwise occupied, the French contacted the Vice President of Gabon, Paul-Marie Yembit
, who had not been arrested. However, he remained unaccounted for; therefore, they decided to compose a predated letter that Yembit would later sign, confirming their intervention. Less than 24 hours later, French troops stationed in Dakar
and Brazzaville
landed in Libreville and restored M'ba to power. Over the course of the operation, one French soldier was killed, while 15 to 25 died on the Gabonese side.
, near Albert Schweitzer
's hospital
. Space was limited, so there was no representative section of the public. One needed a permit to witness the trial, and family members were restricted to one each. Press coverage was limited, and journalists were only allowed if they were representing a high-profile news agency. In addition, there were restrictions on the defence of the accused.
The prosecution called 64 witnesses to the trial. Essone, Mbene, and Aubame claimed that their involvement in the coup was due to a lack of development in the Gabonese army. Judge Leon Auge, the judge in the case, said that if "that is the only reason for your coup d'état, you deserve a severe penalty." Aubame affirmed his position that he did not participate in its planning. According to him, he formed the provisional government in a constitutional manner, at the request of some "putschists". He stated that the French intervention was a illegal act of interference, an assertion that Gondjout and Jean Mare Ekoh, a former education minister, shared.
On 9 September, the judge came to a verdict without consulting M'ba. Aubame was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor and 10 years of exile on a remote island off Settecama, 100 miles (161 km) down the coast of Gabon, as were most criminals of the case. He was not particularly popular during his political career, though according to Time
, his arrest "ballooned him to heroic proportions in the eyes of the aroused public". While serving his 10 years of labor, he was beaten regularly by prison guards. Besides Aubame, M'ba imprisoned more than 150 of his opponents, most of whom were sentenced to 20 years of hard labor. The actor and the doctor were given 10 years of imprisonment each. While appealing for peace on 18 February, he pledged "no pardon or pity" to his enemies, but rather "total punishment".
Aubame, whom journalist Ronald Matthews descried as having "a curiously harsh voice, a severe appearance, and... a stern character", died in 1989 in Libreville. The French journalist Pierre Péan
said that Aubame's training "as a practicing Catholic and a customs official helped to make him an integrated man, one of whom political power was not an end in itself." Michael C. Reed speculates that, had Aubame become president instead of M'ba, he might have made the country more democratic. After his death, a Libreville high school was established in his name.
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
ese politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
active during both the colonial and independence periods. The French journalist Pierre Péan
Pierre Péan
Pierre Péan is a renowned French investigative journalist and author of many books concerned with political scandals.-Books, investigations and controversies:...
said that Aubame's training "as a practicing Catholic and a customs official helped to make him an integrated man, one of whom political power was not an end in itself."
Born into a Fang family, Aubame was orphaned at a young age. He was raised by the stepbrother of Léon M'ba
Léon M'ba
Gabriel Léon M'ba was the first Prime Minister and President of Gabon. A member of the Fang ethnic group, M'ba was born into a relatively privileged village family. After studying at a seminary, he held a number of small jobs before entering the colonial administration as a customs agent...
, who became Aubame's chief political rival. Encouraged by his colleagues, Aubame entered politics, serving as Gabon's first representative in the National Assembly of France from 1946 to 1958. Aubame was also a leader in solving African problems, particularly developing the Gabonese standard of living and planning urban sites. Aubame's quick rise in Gabonese politics was spurred by the support of the missions
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
and administration, whereas much of M'ba's strength came from the colonists.
Despite a rivalry, Aubame and M'ba, now the President of Gabon, formed several political unions which were sufficiently politically balanced to appeal to the electorate. In appreciation for his help, M'ba appointed Aubame as foreign minister
Foreign minister
A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...
and later President of the Supreme Court. Tensions soon rose between the two due to Aubame's refusal to merge his party with M'ba's and create a single-party state
Single-party state
A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election...
. Aubame was installed as President of Gabon during a 1964 coup d'état against M'ba. However, the coup was toppled three days later, and although he did not participate in the coup's planning, Aubame was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor
Hard Labor
Hard Labor is the eleventh album by American rock band Three Dog Night, released in 1974 .- Cover Artwork :The original album cover, depicting of the birth of a record album , was deemed too controversial and was soon reworked with a huge bandage covering the "birth". The cover also includes an...
and 10 years of exile. He was beaten almost daily by his prison guards while serving out his sentence. M'ba's successor as President, Omar Bongo
Omar Bongo
El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba , born as Albert-Bernard Bongo, was a Gabonese politician who was President of Gabon for 42 years from 1967 until his death in office in 2009....
, allowed the return of Aubame to Gabon in 1972. The elder politician died in 1989 in Gabon's capital of Libreville
Libreville
Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon, in west central Africa. The city is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea, and a trade center for a timber region. As of 2005, it has a population of 578,156.- History :...
.
Youth and early political career
Léon M'ba
Gabriel Léon M'ba was the first Prime Minister and President of Gabon. A member of the Fang ethnic group, M'ba was born into a relatively privileged village family. After studying at a seminary, he held a number of small jobs before entering the colonial administration as a customs agent...
, looked after the orphaned Aubame and arranged for schooling at several Roman Catholic missions. After he graduated, Aubame became a schoolteacher.
M'ba helped get him a job in customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
on 24 March 1931. First appointed to Libreville from 1931 to 1935, he was transferred to Bangui in 1935 and then to Brazzaville
Brazzaville
-Transport:The city is home to Maya-Maya Airport and a railway station on the Congo-Ocean Railway. It is also an important river port, with ferries sailing to Kinshasa and to Bangui via Impfondo...
in 1936, where he co-founded a branch of the Mutuelle Gabonaise with a brother of politician Louis Bigmann
Louis Bigmann
-Early life and political career:A member of the Mpongwe people, he was born and lived in Baraka. Bigmann attended the Ecole Montfort in Libreville, Gabon's capital...
. He was also a member of the Association des fonctionnaires, an organization which was dominated by two other soon-to-be politicians: René-Paul Sousatte and Jean Rémy Ayouné
Jean Rémy Ayouné
Jean Rémy Ayouné was the foreign minister of Gabon from 1968 to 1971.-References:...
.
Following the speech given by Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
on the Appeal of 18 June 1940, Aubame sided with the Free French, and in November was sent by Libreville authorities to rally Fangs for the cause. In February 1942, Aubame met colonial administrator Félix Éboué
Félix Éboué
Félix Adolphe Éboué was a Black French colonial administrator and Free French leader. He was the first black French man appointed to high post in the French colonies, when appointed as Governor of Guadeloupe in 1936...
and quickly became his protégé. He served as an informant for Éboué on African affairs. Aubame's reward was to be one of several Africans promoted on 23 February 1943 into the European section of the civil service, and on 1 January 1944 Éboué appointed him president of the municipal commission for the Poto-Poto
Poto-Poto
Poto-Poto is the name of one of the original residential neighborhoods of the city of Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo.-History:...
section of Brazzaville.
Aubame participated in the 1944 Brazzaville Conference
Brazzaville Conference of 1944
After the Fall of France during World War II, and the alignment of many West African French colonies with the Free French, Charles de Gaulle recognized the need to revise the relationship between France and its colonies in Africa...
and served in this post until 10 November 1946. After Éboué's sudden death in March 1944, Aubame worked as an adviser to Governor-General André Bayardelle and his secretary André Soucadoux. They encouraged Aubame to run for office, and he returned to Gabon to campaign with the support of both the administration and the missionaries.
Deputy to the French National Assembly
Aubame lost in the 1945 elections, though on 10 November 1946 became Gabon's first representative to the French National AssemblyFrench National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
by winning 7,069 votes out of 12,528 possible. From 1946 to 1951 he was Commissioner of shipping, the press, communication, labor and social security. He voted for Algerian independence on 27 August 1947 and for the establishment of a Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
on 9 July 1949.
On 17 June 1951, Aubame was reelected a deputy with 17,329 votes out of a total of 29,203 and on 2 January 1956 with 26,712 votes out of a total of 57,031, with this term lasting until the end of the Fourth French Republic
French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
. Around this time, M'ba was establishing his political career after being exiled to Oubangui-Chari
Oubangui-Chari
Oubangui-Chari, or Ubangi-Shari, was a French territory in central Africa which later became the independent Central African Republic . French activity in the area began in 1889 with the establishment of an outpost at Bangui, now the capital of CAR. The territory was named in 1894.In 1903, French...
. Affiliating with the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), Aubame later worked most closely with the Indépendants d'Outre-Mer, an African parliamentary group whose leaders were Senegalese Léopold Sédar Senghor
Léopold Sédar Senghor
Léopold Sédar Senghor was a Senegalese poet, politician, and cultural theorist who for two decades served as the first president of Senegal . Senghor was the first African elected as a member of the Académie française. Before independence, he founded the political party called the Senegalese...
and Cameroonian Louis-Paul Aujoulat
Louis-Paul Aujoulat
Louis-Paul Aujoulat was a Cameroonian politician and missionary doctor. Following his long and illustrious political career he served as France's representative to the World Health Organization.-Early life:...
. While a deputy he lived in Paris and toured Gabon regularly.
He continued to develop local Gabonese politics, in particular revitalizing the Fang clans. In fact, M'ba asserted that Aubame was too involved with the Fang to pay attention to the interests of the southern tribes, a charge Aubame ridiculed. Aubame was also a leader in solving African problems, particularly developing the Gabonese standard of living and planning urban sites. On 29 September 1951, he voted to increase the minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
in the overseas territories of France, and served as vice president of its Commission from 1953 to 1955. He organized the Union Démocratique et Sociale Gabonaise (UDSG) in 1947, whose leadership came mostly from the interior, particularly Woleu-Ntem Province. The party in turn backed Aubame's reelection in 1951 and 1956. It had few philosophical differences with the M'ba-led Bloc Démocratique Gabonais (BDG), including advocating less economic dependence on France and faster "Africanization" of French political jobs. Fairly quickly, Gabonese politics became dominated by Aubame, supported by the missions and the administration, and M'ba, supported by the settlers.
Deputy to the Gabonese Territorial Assembly
In 1952 he was elected as Woleu-N'Tem's representative in Gabon's Territorial Assembly. He was re-elected in the March 1957 elections, where the UDSG also placed first, winning 18 of the 40 contested seats, against 16 for BDG. M'ba's party won 21 seats against 19 for Aubame's party after a recount. However, in the absence of an absolute majority, on 21 May 1957, both parties were obligated to submit a list of individuals that both agreed were suitable for inclusion in the government. That same day, M'ba was appointed vice president of the government. Soon, divisions within the government grew, and Aubame resigned from his position and filed a motion of censureCensure
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spiritual penalty imposed by a church, and a negative judgment pronounced on a theological proposition.-Politics:...
against the government. The motion was rejected by a 21–19 vote. With M'ba's victory, many elected UDSG members joined the parliamentary majority, giving the ruling government 29 of the 40 legislative seats. Well installed in the government, he slowly began to reinforce his power.
Opposition leader
French Community
The French Community was an association of states known in French simply as La Communauté. In 1958 it replaced the French Union, which had itself succeeded the French colonial empire in 1946....
constitutional referendum
French constitutional referendum, 1958
A constitutional referendum was held in France on 28 September 1958. Voters were asked whether they approved of the adoption of a constitution for the French Fifth Republic written by Charles de Gaulle. It was overwhelmingly approved, with 82.6% in favour...
of 28 September 1958, Gabon became pseudo-politically independent. Legislative elections were scheduled for 19 June 1960 through the Scrutin de Liste voting system
Voting system
A voting system or electoral system is a method by which voters make a choice between options, often in an election or on a policy referendum....
, a form of bloc voting
Plurality-at-large voting
Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...
in which each party offers a list of candidates who the population vote for; the list that obtains a majority of votes is declared the winner and wins all the contested seats. Through the redistricting
Redistricting
Redistricting is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, often in response to population changes determined by the results of the decennial census. In 36 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to...
of district and constituency boundaries, the BDG arbitrarily received 244 seats, while the UDSG received 77. In the months that followed, the legislative majority was plagued by internal strife. M'ba, now President of Gabon, decided to dissolve the Assembly and looked to the opposition to strengthen his position.
With Aubame, he formed a number of sufficiently balanced political unions to appeal to the electorate. On 12 February, they won 99.75% of the vote, and later that day, M'ba, running unopposed, was elected president of Gabon. For his cooperation, M'ba appointed Aubame foreign minister
Foreign minister
A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...
, replacing André Gustave Anguilé
André Gustave Anguilé
André Gustave Anguilé is a former Gabonese politician and diplomat. He was the foreign minister of his country from 1960–1961.-References:...
. In contrast to M'ba who wanted a strong executive regime, Aubame preferred a parliamentary republic. Tensions rose when a new constitution was unanimously adopted, on 21 February 1961, providing for a "hyperprésidentiel" regime. Under this system, M'ba was able to appoint ministers whose functions and limitations were decided by him.
On 19 February, he broke his ties with Aubame; all UDSG representatives were dismissed, with the exception of M'ba supporter Francis Meye. This was due to Aubame's refusal to merge the UDSG with M'ba's and create a single party state. In an attempt to oust Aubame from his legislative seat, M'ba appointed him President of the Supreme Court on 25 February. Thereafter, M'ba claimed that Aubame had resigned from the National Assembly, citing incompatibility with parliamentary functions. Aubame resolved the accusation by resigning from his post as President of the Supreme Court, complicating matters for M'ba. Faced with reports of tension between the government and the National Assembly, even though 70% of its composition were BDG members, the Gabonese president dissolved the legislature on 21 January 1964 as an "economy measure".
The electoral conditions were announced as such: The election 67 districts were reduced to 47. M'ba disqualified Aubame by announcing no one who held a post recently was banned. Any party would have to submit 47 candidates who had to pay US$160 or none at all. Thus, over US$7,500 would be deposited without considering campaign expenses. M'ba's idea was that no party other than his would have the money to enter candidates. In response to this, the opposition announced its refusal to participate in elections that they did not consider fair.
It is unlikely that Aubame participated in the planning of the 1964 Gabon coup d'état
1964 Gabon coup d'état
The 1964 Gabon coup d'état was staged between 17 and 18 February 1964 by Gabonese military officers who rose against Gabonese President Léon M'ba. Before the coup, Gabon was seen as one of the most politically stable countries in Africa...
. It appears that he joined the effort after being recruited by the new government. His nephew, Pierre Eyeguet, a former ambassador to the United Kingdom, may have known of the plot beforehand and notified his uncle, although it is unknown whether or not Aubame established contact with the plotters.
1964 Gabon coup d'état
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
, and police, headed by Lieutenant Jacques Mombo and Valére Essone, seized the presidential palace. They arrested President of the National Assembly Louis Bigmann
Louis Bigmann
-Early life and political career:A member of the Mpongwe people, he was born and lived in Baraka. Bigmann attended the Ecole Montfort in Libreville, Gabon's capital...
, French commanders Claude Haulin and Major Royer, several ministers, and President M'ba, who was dragged from his bed at gunpoint. On Radio Libreville
Radio Libreville
Radio Libreville is a radio station based in Libreville, Gabon's capital. The station played an important role politically in Gabon throughout the 1960s and 1970s and was the state's communication system to the nation....
, the military announced to the Gabonese people that a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
had taken place, and that they required technical assistance and told the French not interfere in this matter. M'ba was instructed to broadcast a speech acknowledging his defeat. "The D-Day is here, the injustices are beyond measure, these people are patient, but their patience has limits", he said. "It came to a boil."
During these events, no gunshots were fired. The people did not react strongly, which according to the military, was a sign of approval. A provisional government was formed, and the presidency was offered to Aubame. The government was composed of civilian politicians from both the UDSG and BDG, such as Paul Gondjout
Paul Gondjout
Paul Marie Indjendjet Gondjout was a Gabonese politician and civil servant, and the father of Laure Gondjout, another prominent Gabonese politician. Gondjout was a member of the Mpongwe ethnic group, and served in the French colonial administration from 1928, and founded the Cercle amical et...
. As for the coup plotters, they were content to ensure security for civilians. The small Gabonese army did not intervene in the coup; composed mostly of French officers, they remained in their barracks.
Aubame was unaware of the coup until the French ambassador to Gabon, Paul Cousseran, called him on the telephone roughly a half hour after sunrise. Cousseran, meanwhile, was awoken by the noisy streets and checked to see what was happening. Aubame replied that he was to find out why there was "no government", as Cousseran never directly mentioned a coup. However, about midway through the morning an automobile carrying the revolutionary committee arrived at Aubame's residence and drove him to the governmental offices, where he had been named president.
Second Lietenant Ndo Edou gave instructions to transfer M'ba to Ndjolé
Ndjolé
Ndjolé is a town in Gabon, lying north east of Lambaréné on the River Ogooué, the N2 road and the Trans-Gabon Railway. It is known as a base for logging and as a transport hub. Ndjolé is the last city that can be reached by barge traffic traveling up the Ogooué River. Above Ndjolé there are...
, Aubame's electoral stronghold. However, due to heavy rain, the deposed president and his captors took shelter in an unknown village. The next morning they decided to take him over the easier road to Lambaréné
Lambaréné
Lambaréné is the capital of the political district Moyen-Ogooué in Gabon. The city counts 24,000 inhabitants and is located 75 kilometres south of the equator....
. Several hours later, they returned to Libreville. The new head of government quickly contacted French ambassador Paul Cousseran, to assure him that the property of foreign nationals would be protected and to ask him to prevent any French military intervention.
In Paris, French president Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
decided otherwise. M'ba was one of the most loyal allies to France in Africa. While visiting France in 1961, M'ba said: "[a]ll Gabonese have two fatherlands: France and Gabon." Moreover, under his regime, Europeans enjoyed particularly friendly treatment. Therefore, President de Gaulle, upon advice from his chief adviser on African policy, Jacques Foccart
Jacques Foccart
Jacques Foccart was a chief adviser for the government of France on African policy as well as the co-founder of the Gaullist Service d'Action Civique in 1959 with Charles Pasqua, which specialized in covert operations in Africa.From 1960 to 1974, he was the President of France's chief of staff...
, decided that he would restore the legitimate government. This was in accordance with a 1960 treaty between Gabon and the French, which was ironically signed by Aubame in his stint as Foreign Minister. Intervention could not commence without a formal request to the Head of State of Gabon. Since M'ba was otherwise occupied, the French contacted the Vice President of Gabon, Paul-Marie Yembit
Paul-Marie Yembit
Paul-Marie Yembit was a vice president of Gabon under Léon M'ba.A member of the Bapounou people, he was born at Moussambou and educated in local Catholic schools, then at the public secondary school of Lambaréné. He was a businessman in Mouila from 1943 to 1952, then was elected to the Territorial...
, who had not been arrested. However, he remained unaccounted for; therefore, they decided to compose a predated letter that Yembit would later sign, confirming their intervention. Less than 24 hours later, French troops stationed in Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
and Brazzaville
Brazzaville
-Transport:The city is home to Maya-Maya Airport and a railway station on the Congo-Ocean Railway. It is also an important river port, with ferries sailing to Kinshasa and to Bangui via Impfondo...
landed in Libreville and restored M'ba to power. Over the course of the operation, one French soldier was killed, while 15 to 25 died on the Gabonese side.
Trial at Lambaréné
Aubame and Gondjout fled Libreville as fugitives, though were eventually discovered. In August, the trial of the military rebels and provisional government was opened in Lambaréné. A "state of precations" was enacted, which decreed that the local government maintained surveillance over suspected troublemakers and, if necessary, order a curfew. Special permits were required to travel through the town. The trial was held in a school building overlooking the Ogooue RiverOgooué River
The Ogooué , some 1,200 km long, is the principal river of Gabon in west central Africa. Its watershed drains nearly the entire country of Gabon, with some tributaries reaching into the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea....
, near Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer OM was a German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. He was born in Kaysersberg in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, at that time part of the German Empire...
's hospital
Albert Schweitzer Hospital
The Medical Research Unit of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital was established in Lambaréné, Gabon, to study major causes of disease burden in the local population...
. Space was limited, so there was no representative section of the public. One needed a permit to witness the trial, and family members were restricted to one each. Press coverage was limited, and journalists were only allowed if they were representing a high-profile news agency. In addition, there were restrictions on the defence of the accused.
The prosecution called 64 witnesses to the trial. Essone, Mbene, and Aubame claimed that their involvement in the coup was due to a lack of development in the Gabonese army. Judge Leon Auge, the judge in the case, said that if "that is the only reason for your coup d'état, you deserve a severe penalty." Aubame affirmed his position that he did not participate in its planning. According to him, he formed the provisional government in a constitutional manner, at the request of some "putschists". He stated that the French intervention was a illegal act of interference, an assertion that Gondjout and Jean Mare Ekoh, a former education minister, shared.
On 9 September, the judge came to a verdict without consulting M'ba. Aubame was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor and 10 years of exile on a remote island off Settecama, 100 miles (161 km) down the coast of Gabon, as were most criminals of the case. He was not particularly popular during his political career, though according to Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, his arrest "ballooned him to heroic proportions in the eyes of the aroused public". While serving his 10 years of labor, he was beaten regularly by prison guards. Besides Aubame, M'ba imprisoned more than 150 of his opponents, most of whom were sentenced to 20 years of hard labor. The actor and the doctor were given 10 years of imprisonment each. While appealing for peace on 18 February, he pledged "no pardon or pity" to his enemies, but rather "total punishment".
Later life
M'ba's successor as President, Omar Bongo, allowed the return of Aubame to Gabon in 1972. Afterward, Aubame lived in Paris and removed himself from the world of politics. He did visit Libreville in 1981, on which occasion Bongo appointed him "special adviser"—a mostly honorary post. Although not a supporter of the Movement for National Renewal (MORENA), his home was bombed on 12 December 1984 by anti-MORENA extremists. Aubame and his family barely escaped harm.Aubame, whom journalist Ronald Matthews descried as having "a curiously harsh voice, a severe appearance, and... a stern character", died in 1989 in Libreville. The French journalist Pierre Péan
Pierre Péan
Pierre Péan is a renowned French investigative journalist and author of many books concerned with political scandals.-Books, investigations and controversies:...
said that Aubame's training "as a practicing Catholic and a customs official helped to make him an integrated man, one of whom political power was not an end in itself." Michael C. Reed speculates that, had Aubame become president instead of M'ba, he might have made the country more democratic. After his death, a Libreville high school was established in his name.
Awards and decorations
- Médaillé de la Résistance
- Commandeur de la Légion d'honneurLégion d'honneurThe Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
- l'Étoile équatoriale (Gabon)
- l'Étoile africaine (Libéria)
- l'Ordre libérien de la Rédemption africaine
- l'Ordre national du Mérite du Niger
- l'Ordre national du Mérite centrafricain
- l'Ordre national du Mérite de Côte-d'Ivoire
- l'Ordre national du Tchad
- l'Étoile noire du Bénin