Thursday, September 22, 2011
Dear Mr. Secretary-General:

The Plateforme Citoyenne and the Gabonese community in the United States demand immediate economic and political sanctions against Ali Bongo Ondimba, the dictator who is currently ruling over the nation of Gabon, for his abject and blatant human right abuses and violations.

Not only should it be of shame to the United Nations and its honorable Assembly that corrupt dictators such as Ali Bongo Ondimba should be allowed to sit alongside such illustrious democrats as Barack Obama, Jacob Zuma, and the like, it should also be pointed out that Ali Bongo has, since fraudulently inheriting the presidency of Gabon following his father’s death in 2009, engaged in a very unconscionable and repugnant string of human right abuses and violations, such as, for instance, his politically-inspired decision to suspend the salaries of several civil servants, some of whom are teachers and professors, simply because they dared to put into question his arbitrary and despotic governance.

Thus, since February 2011, several Gabonese civil servants and their families, including babies and underage children, have been starving and reduced to vagrancy, all because of this arbitrary suspension of salary. These civil servants have had to reach out to the Gabonese community in the United States to plead with us that we contact the United Nations about their plight. Among those who, so far, have reached out to us, one finds:

Professor Joseph JOHN-NAMBO (Spokesperson of the group, reachable at +241.07.84.77.33)
Mr. Raphael BANDEGA-LENDOYE
Mr. Francis AUBAME
Mrs. Marie Agnès KOUMBA
Mr. Paul Marie GONDJOUT
Mr. Pierre NDZAMBI
Mr. Jean Grégoire MAPAGA
Mr. Alfred MEMINE ME NZUE
Mr. Fabien MBENG ECKOREZOCK
Mr. Michel DELBRAH
Mr. Thierry NANG

Dear Mr. Secretary-General:

These citizens, as civil servants in their own country, and rightful deservers of equitable and lawful treatment by their own government, should not be penalized for not supporting Ali Bongo Ondimba’s dictatorial pursuits. The freedoms of expression and of assembly are sanctified by the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As a member state signatory of the UN Charter, Gabon is bound by its terms. Citizens of Gabon should not have to reach out to their expatriate fellow citizens, or to the United Nations, to seek reinstatement into, or affirmation of, rights which should be guaranteed to them by principle and by law. Furthermore, citizens of Gabon should not be held hostage to Ali Bongo’s undemocratic practices, practices that seek to punish anyone who dares to refuse to side with, or proclaim allegiance to, the Bongo regime.

In view of the long string of human rights abuses in which the Bongo regime has engaged since the fraudulent enthronization of Ali Bongo in 2009, abuses which we know you are fully aware of, and in view of the urgent need to restore the aforementioned citizens into their human dignity, we ask, Mr. Secretary General, 1) that you demand that the Bongo regime immediately reinstates these citizens into their rightful civil servant positions and salaries, and 2) that you ask the UN General Assembly to implement immediate economic and political sanctions against the Bongo regime until such time as it has fully acceded to, and complied with, the pressing democratic demands of the Gabonese people.

Henri Omva
General Coordinator, Plateforme Citoyenne

Allhen Allhan Ambamany
Executive Director, Plateforme Citoyenne

Dr. Daniel Mengara
Spokesperson for the Founders’ Committee of the Elders, Plateforme Citoyenne