Focus
Gabon
Gabon’s Coup Chief Takes Command as ‘Transitional President’
The leader of a coup that ousted Gabon’s President Ali Bongo was sworn in as interim president and cheered by jubilant supporters in a televised ceremony designed to cast the military as liberators of an oppressed society.
From Gabon to Zimbabwe, African Presidents Are Under Siege
It’s sometimes democracy as we know it—albeit with twists and turns—but there is certainly a new appetite for political pluralism developing in Africa.
France Is Forging New Relations With Its Former Colonies, but Old Habits Die Hard
As most Francophone African countries celebrate their 55 years of independence this year, this may be a good time to reassess relations between them and France.
OPEC Keeps Oil Production on Hold Despite Low Prices
Reflecting its lessening oil clout, OPEC decided Thursday to keep its output target on hold and sit out falling crude prices that will likely spiral even lower as a result.
OPEC Unity Tested by Low Prices, Oil Glut
OPEC oil ministers meeting in Vienna on Thursday are in a bind. Prices are plunging — and in the short term, the cartel may not be able to do much about it.
Gabon Reserves 23% of Its Coastal Waters
On Wednesday in Sydney, Australia, at the opening of the once-a-decade IUCN World Parks Congress, the Central African nation announced it would create a network of new marine protected areas amounting to 23 percent of its territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
