Gabon has recalled its ambassador to France after the latter’s Prime Minister appeared to question the legitimacy of President Ali Bongo’s election in 2009, the central African country has said.
This latest sign of deteriorating relations between Gabon and its former colonial ruler follows a French investigation into the origins of the wealth of the Bongo family, which has ruled the oil producing nation since 1967.
French PM Manuel Valls was asked in a television interview whether Bongo had been democratically elected and he said, “No, not as I understand it,” Reuters news agency reports.
Gabon’s Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya told state television late on Sunday that the government was seeking clarification of Vall’s remark.
“We are surprised and shocked by the words of Manuel Valls when our two countries have such excellent relations,” he said.
France’s foreign ministry said it was “extremely attached” to its relationship with Gabon under the presidency of Bongo since he was elected in 2009 after the death of his father, Omar Bongo, who had ruled since the 1960s.
Foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal told reporters that the ambassadors of both countries had met government representatives in each capital on Monday, “to remove any misunderstanding”.
Gabon has twice before recalled Ambassador Germain Ngoyo Moussavou in recent years, although each time he has been reinstated.
