If the response of France following the coup d’etat which overthrew Ali Bongo Ondimba, Wednesday August 30, was expected, the reaction of Morocco was just as much. Like Paris, Rabat maintains privileged relations with Libreville, marked by the close personal ties, forged in the 1970s, between King Hassan II and President Omar Bongo, and subsequently between their respective sons. But unlike France, which formally condemned “the military coup”Morocco refrained from any reprobation, indicating that “trust in the wisdom of the Gabonese nation”.
On the merits, the press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs surprised many observers. Faithful to the foundation of its diplomacy, non-interference, Morocco has not departed from its usual neutrality, confining itself to emphasizing “the importance of preserving stability” of the country, as he did, in particular through the voice of his representative to the African Union (AU), after the putschs in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali. But it is precisely this distance that is surprising in the case of Gabon: hadn’t Mohammed VI got into the habit of considering Ali Bongo, whom he had known since adolescence, as a ” brother ” ?
In 1976, the then crown prince was only 13 when he met Ali Bongo for the first time in Gabon. A snapshot posted on the Gabonese presidency’s Facebook account in 2017 showed the duo in Morocco in the early 1980s, walking around in polo shirts and short-sleeved shirts. The proof of “the exemplary friendship that has always linked the Gabonese president to the sovereign”hastened to raise the Moroccan press. “He means a lot to me”confided Ali Bongo to the magazine Young Africa in 2010, a year after taking the reins of power.
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Since then, the two men have not stopped dating, multiplying “working visits” and “private stays”. The Gabonese president took advantage of the charms of Tangier and Marrakech, where he had a “palace” built on land donated by Mohammed VI. The Moroccan sovereign, he spent holidays in his residence at Pointe Denis, not far from Libreville – a gift from Omar Bongo.
“The king has done everything for me”
The benevolent familiarity between the fathers was succeeded by the unfailing fraternity of the sons. When Ali Bongo suffered a stroke in October 2018, Mohammed VI invited him to continue his recovery and rehabilitation in Morocco. Then aged 59, the head of state stayed more than three months in the kingdom. In his speech delivered on the occasion of the 55e anniversary of the Gabonese Democratic Party, in April, it was with a hint of emotion in his voice that Ali Bongo publicly thanked Mohammed VI for his welcome: “The king has done everything for me. »
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