Omar Bongo - Trivia

Gabonese president (1967– ), born in Lewai, Gabon. In 1960 he joined the civil service, then moved into the political arena and succeeded President M'ba in 1967. The following year he created a one-party state based on the Gabonese Democratic Party, and in 1973 announced his conversion to Islam, adopting the name Omar. In 1986 he was re-elected for the third time. Following the discovery of a coup plot, he began a programme of reform which included the introduction of a multi-party system (1991). He was re-elected as president in 1993 and 1998.

El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (formerly Albert-Bernard Bongo) (born December 30, 1935) became President of Gabon in 1967, aged 32, the world's youngest president at the time.

In 2003, the constitution was changed to eliminate any restrictions on the number of terms a president can serve: Bongo's critics have accused him of intending to rule for life.

Bongo's wife is the daughter of Congolese president Denis Sassou-Nguesso. In 2005, an investigation by the United States Senate Indian Affairs Committee into fundraising irregularities by lobbyist Jack Abramoff revealed that Abramoff had offered Bongo to arrange a meeting with U.S. President George W.

Trivia

In February 2001, the then Foreign Minister of Norway, Thorbjørn Jagland, in an attempt to be funny and entertaining, called Mr. Bongo "Bongo from Congo" on national television. Mr. Jagland said "Everybody in the Foreign Office told me I was about to meet 'Bongo from Congo.' During our meeting I almost said Congo instead of Gabon, where he (Mr. Bongo) is from." and Stiggs, the main characters converse by telephone with "President Bongo" of Gabon while making themselves at home in an insurance salesman's house.