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Gabonese
President Ali Bongo Ondimba speaks in front of the Elysee Palace in Paris Photo:
AFP
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Gabon's President Ali
Bongo has said the arrest of his chief of staff in Paris in August was an
attempt to humiliate Gabon, the news agency AFP reports. Mr Bongo was speaking on the steps of the
official residence of French President Francois Hollande after a meeting with
him in Paris.
His chief of staff, Maixent
Accrombessi, was briefly detained at Charles de Gaulle airport on suspicion of
corruption after an army uniform contract in Gabon was awarded to a French
manufacturer, AFP reported at the time.
Gabon's Bongo To Visit France To Repair
Ties
Gabon’s
president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, will travel to France on September 14 at a time
diplomatic relations have been strained following the arrest and detention at a
Paris airport of the president’s chief of staff, Maixent Accrombessi, over
corruption claims last August 3.
Though
the aide was released hours after his arrest, news of the arrest ignited anger
in Gabon. A presidential statement ‘strongly protested’ the arrest, saying it
violated the fundamental principles of international law.
President
Bongo's upcoming tour to France is being described as a "working and
friendly visit."
His
talks with President François Hollande at the Elysee Palace will cover
bilateral relations as well as the troubled Central African Republic, the Boko
Haram menace in West Africa and the upcoming Cop 21 climate change summit.
President
Bongo Ondimba is the current chairman of the Economic and Monetary Community of
Central Africa, CEMAC. The bloc is made up of six: Cameroon, Chad, Gabon,
Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, and the Republic of Congo.
French
Prime Minister Manuel Valls on his part will lead a business delegation to
Gabon before the end of the year.
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