Gabon - The African Mirror

Jun

2021

Gabon, Ghana elected to U.N. Security Council

THE U.N. General Assembly elected Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, and the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations Security Council for a two-year term starting on January 1, 2022. All five countries ran unopposed for a spot on the 15-member body, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security. They will replace Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam. To ensure geographical representation, seats are allocated to regional groups. But even if candidates are running unopposed in their group, they still need to win the support of more than two-thirds of the U.N. General Assembly. Ghana…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Gabon’s progressive pro-women laws

NEWS

GABON’S government has proposed new laws to promote gender equality and loosen restrictions on abortion, Prime Minister Rose Christiane Raponda has announced. Parliament is expected to vote during its current session to allow divorce by mutual consent and to eliminate requirements that women obey their husbands and notify them when they open a bank account, Raponda told Reuters in an interview. "The legal changes aim to tackle the issues of violence and discrimination that women face in out society," said Raponda, who became the Central African nation's first female prime minister last year. The U.S. State Department said in 2019…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Fruit famine is causing elephants to go hungry in Gabon

ENVIRONMENT

THE behaviour and life cycles of the largest animals on the planet are incredibly important for the healthy functioning of our planet’s life support systems. Unfortunately, many big species now face extinction due to their value in the illegal wildlife trade, vulnerability to habitat degradation and because they often come into conflict with humans. EMMA BUSH, Scientist, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) KATHARINE ABERNETHY, Professor, University of Stirling ROBIN WHYTOCK, Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Stirling The African tropics host many of these remaining megafauna or large animals like gorillas, elephants and hippos, but they are now losing ground.…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Central African states seek to make forests work for people and planet

ENVIRONMENT

MEGAN ROWLING COUNTRIES home to the Congo Basin rainforest, including Gabon and the Republic of Congo, are working on ways to harness their majestic trees to benefit their people while maintaining climate protection and other natural services the forests provide. This week, the Republic of Congo - also known as Congo-Brazzaville - officially published a new law, approved by the president in July, to ensure more sustainable management of the country's vast forests. Gabon, meanwhile, hopes to have a new forest law in place by next summer, marrying efforts to safeguard the climate and biodiversity with creating jobs in forestry,…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Gabon appoints first woman prime minister amid government shakeup

NEWS

GABON President Ali Bongo has promoted his defence minister, Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda, to prime minister, the first time a woman has held the role in the country. Ossouka Raponda, 56, is the sixth prime minister appointed since Bongo succeeded his father in 2009. Her first job is to form a new government after her predecessor, Julien Nkoghe Bekale, stepped down earlier in the day. She will take on two major challenges: declining oil production and prices, which have weighed on growth in recent years, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Central African country has registered nearly 6,000 cases to date.…