Minerals and military top agenda at France Gabon meet

LIBREVILLE – Manganese and the future of a French military camp will be the two main topics when Gabon’s President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema visits France next week, both countries said on Friday.

Oligui Nguema, on his second official visit to France, will be joined by business chiefs and political officials from today on a three-day trip, during which he will holds talks with Emmanuel Macron.

Gabon presidency spokesman Théophane Nzame-Nze Biyoghe told reporters that the trip “will be an opportunity for the two heads of state… to follow up on the agreements signed in Libreville last November”.

Oligui Nguema came to power in a coup in August 2023 which ended 55 years of rule by the Bongo dynasty and won nearly 95 percent of votes in elections in April 2025.

French influence is waning in francophone Africa, particularly in the Sahel region, but Libreville remains a close partner of Paris.
Beyond the formalities and a meeting with the Gabonese diaspora in France, talks will focus first on the local processing of manganese, which is used in steel manufacturing.

Gabon is one of the world’s biggest producers and announced last year that it wanted to ban the export of raw manganese from 2029 and develop a local processing industry.

Macron’s Elysee Palace office said there was “a convergence to move towards a timetable for local processing of part of the manganese production.”

France maintains a military base in Libreville but has reduced its presence from more than 1 000 to 100 or so soldiers, as part of an army restructuring.
Gabon is expected to take over the land, which it intends to use for training defence and security forces.

The Elysee said it was “ready to respond to the priorities and objectives set out by Gabon”.
Concerns have grown over repression in Gabon. Social networks have been cut off since February 17 while the country’s main opposition leader has been in jail since April over fraud and breach of trust allegations. – Nampa/AFP