“Is it Bongo of Gabon or Gabon of Bongo?”
This is a story about Gabon, a country on the Atlantic coast west of the African continent. This means that there is confusion as to whether it is the Bongo family of Gabon or the Bongo family of Gabon due to the father and son who have been in power for over half a century.
There are signs that the Bongo family’s long-term rule is coming to an end. Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba (64), who is familiar to Koreans as he appeared on a domestic terrestrial broadcast entertainment program in 2015, is currently under house arrest.
Recently, the military led by General Nguma, known as his relative, staged a coup and seized power. Immediately after the coup, President Ali Bongo appealed for support through social media ( SNS ) , saying in a room filled with gold decorations, “I am sending a message to my friends around the world to speak out.”
More than two-thirds of the fading 56-year ‘Bongo Rich’ era was during the administration of his father, President Omar Bongo Ondimba. During his 42-year presidency (1967-2009), he met former Presidents Park Chung-hee and Roh Moo-hyun respectively.
Even in African history, where there are quite a few dictators who have been in power for a long time, the only person who has been in power longer than that is President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea (currently in office for 44 years). At the time of Omar’s death in 2009, he was the world’s fourth longest-serving person in power, following Fidel Castro (Cuba), Chiang Kai-shek (China), and Kim Il-sung (North Korea).
Ali Bongo, who took over the presidency immediately after his father’s death and ruled Gabon for 14 years, was actually planning to extend his term of power by another five years. The term of office of Gabon’s president was shortened from 7 years to 5 years by constitutional amendment last April, and this is because Ali’s third election was confirmed in the Gabon presidential election held on the 26th (local time).
However, just a few hours after the election results were announced, the situation was overturned by a coup, and now the question of ‘Bongo of Gabon or Gabon of Bongo’ seems to have become a thing of the past.
According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, there are at least 30 dictators around the world, excluding kings and monarchs. Although formal elections are held, there are statistics showing that if you include the number of authoritarian dictators, there are 86 people.
Dictators who have been in power for a long time, such as ‘Bongo of Gabon’, usually lose power due to war or coup d’état. However, the Wall Street Journal ( WSJ ) recently predicted that “liquidating dictatorships” will not be easy, saying, “These days, dictators show strong resilience.”
According to WSJ , dictators these days have a new ‘regime survival playbook . ’ The explanation is that they extend their power by spreading fake news, blocking the Internet, and managing and idolizing close associates. This method makes it possible to build a ‘personalized autocracy’ that is more difficult to collapse than an ‘institutionalized autocracy’ centered on political parties, the military, and the royal family.
Spreading fake news and shutting down the internet
President Ali Bongo also followed the playbook. When a phone call between two opposition party figures was circulated on social media before the presidential election , the government accused them of ‘treason.’ They say the content of the phone call is to seize power with the support of foreign powers. Of course, the opposition party ‘Alternative 2023’ denies it, saying it is a manipulation by the president.
On the day of the presidential election, when the election ended, the Internet throughout Gabon was blocked. The Gabonese government previously blocked the internet when anti-government protests broke out during the 2016 presidential election. This behavior of dictators is often seen in other African countries. The BBC reported, “Blocking the Internet and social media such as Facebook and WhatsApp is becoming common in African countries such as Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Gabon.”
The way dictatorships block the Internet is simple. This is a method of ordering the Internet Service Provider ( ISP ) to restrict subscriber access. The ISP that received the order slows down the Internet speed by putting the Internet addresses ( URLs ) of individual sites in the ‘banned site list’ or restricting traffic. ISPs in these countries are unable to defy the government’s illegal orders. If you do not follow this, you may be fined a large amount of money or lose your business rights.
Recently, a country has emerged in Asia where power is passed down from generation to generation. I’m talking about Cambodia. On the 22nd of last month (local time), the Cambodian National Assembly approved the election of Hun Manet (45), the eldest son of Prime Minister Hun Sen (70), as prime minister. In the general election held last July, the Cambodian People’s Party ( CPP ) led by Hun Sen won a landslide victory, taking 120 out of 125 seats, solidifying the one-party rule system.
With his eldest son elected as the next prime minister, Hun Sen’s process of passing down power is virtually complete. Hun Sen’s tenure as prime minister lasted 38 years and 7 months. There are only two dictators in Asia who have been in power longer than Hun Sen: Chiang Kai-shek and Kim Il-sung. When Hun Sen first became prime minister, South Korea was under former President Chun Doo-hwan.
Of course, this does not mean that Hun Sen has completely stepped down from his throne. Although he announced that he would step down from his position as Prime Minister, he said, “I plan to maintain my position as the leader of the ruling party and member of the National Assembly and serve as the King’s Supreme Advisory Committee after his retirement.”
Cambodia’s Hun Sen, ‘passed down’ after 38 years in power
Hun Sen used his children to extend his rule. Her eldest daughter, Hun Mana , owns Bayon TV , a major broadcaster, and Cambodia Thmay Daily, a newspaper company. The eldest son, Hun Manet, who will succeed to the position of prime minister, was a former deputy commander of the Cambodian army and an army general. The third son, Hun Mani, is a high-ranking 스포츠토토member of the Cambodian People’s Party ( CPP ). He passed on the media, the military, and the party to his children.
“Like God”… Dictators who idolize and devote themselves to
The longest-serving dictator in existence is the aforementioned Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the second president of Equatorial Guinea. President Obiang came to power in 1979 and has not stepped down from the presidency for 44 years.
He is the world’s longest-serving dictator other than monarchs. Last year, he was re-elected as president and was confirmed to serve a 7-year term, so it is possible for him to remain in power for half a century (50 years). Even though Equatorial Guinea is a country that elects its president, this is why it is called ‘Obien’s Kingdom.’
President Obiang calls himself ‘El Jefe ‘ , meaning ‘God/Boss ‘, and is obsessed with idolizing him. State radio described him as “God-like,” while other media outlets described him as “the god of Equatorial Guinea who can kill anyone.” Every city in Equatorial Guinea has a street commemorating the coup that ousted his uncle and first president, Francisco Macias Nguema. Followers wear T-shirts with President Obiang’s face on them.
WSJ “After Putin, there is only Putin again”
Britain’s Royal Joint Military Institute diagnosed that “the longer dictators remain in power and the larger the patronage network they build, the more difficult it becomes to oust them.”
Above all, the reason it is difficult to liquidate dictatorships in these countries is because one dictatorship is replaced by another. The dictators of Guinea, Sudan, and Mali on the African continent were all ousted by the military, but other dictators took over. Regarding this, WSJ quoted an expert as saying, “There will be Putin even after Putin (who rules Russia for over 20 years), it just depends on what type of Putin it is.”