Les Indigns du Gabon

Le Collectif des Femmes pour la Lutte contre les Crimes rituels

Mrs Fatou Bensouda Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) International Criminal Court (ICC) Po Box 19519 2500 CM, The Hague The Netherlands Libreville, June 3rd, 2013 Madam Prosecutor, By its creation and, more importantly, by its actions, the International Criminal Court over which you preside marks a major turning point in the history of mankind: after millennia of barbarism, it comes to finally give hope to persecuted people by devoting and symbolizing the end of impunity for torturers and barbarism no matter where they may come from. The Gabonese civil society, peace-loving and fighting to leave to future generations a better country than the one we inherited is leading a constant struggle against the ruling class which has made Gabon, a rich country inhabited by poor people: The 5th largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, classified among the 10 largest world exporter of manganese, uranium and wood, 60% of our population of 1.5 million people live below the poverty line and 10% live below absolute poverty while Ali Bongo and his clan squander fortunes of public money buying dozens of estates abroad, jewelry, haute couture, and limousines, to meet a childish obsession: to be celebrities. One of our compatriots, Gregory Ngbwa Mintsa, while receiving the Integrity Award of Transparency International in Bangkok in 2010, for his involvement in the case of misappropriated public assets, called the attention of world public opinion as follows: "what difference is there between one who is prosecuted for crimes against humanity for having decimated a village by fire and blood and those to whom the red carpet is rolled, despite the fact that they have appropriate public assets which should have allowed the people to be born, to grow up, to be fed, to be educated, to receive health care, to work, to love, to start a family, to raise their children, to give them a better world and to die in peace? The difference is that, because it is less spectacular, the crime of theft of public assets only indirectly interests the media and the opinion when it leads to a famine, when people dispossessed and desperate by poverty and death, take up arms or plant bombs." We endorse this thinking regretting that economic crimes, because they affect the money which is king, are not taken into account by the international courts. We believe, in many ways, that we share the values that you defend. Like you, we believe in democracy. Like you, we are committed to freedom of expression. Like you, we believe that the state must be strong and just, it must protect the weak and ensure the safety of the powerful.

However, it is our duty to remind you that Gabon is a republic and not a dynastic monarchy. We must remind you that Ali Bongo succeeded his father who ruled Gabon for more than four decades in scabrous conditions and by making use of force. We must remind you that the arrival of Ali Bongo at the head of Gabon was imposed at the price of Gabonese blood, spilled by the bullets of an army transformed into a private militia, led by members of Ali Bongos kinship. These historical and verifiable facts cannot be ignored by you. Moreover, one of our fellow compatriots introduced a complaint to that effect, to the institution that you preside. We will not insult you by developing a comprehensive picture of the situation of human rights and wider governance in Gabon, because we are convinced that you know about it as much as we do. We firmly believe that you know that Gabon is a country where corruption, embezzlement of public funds, illicit enrichment, have been incorporated into governing principles. We are confident that you know that the Gabonese justice system is used for political and personal purposes. We are convinced that you know that the press is subjected to systematic harassment and repression from a National Communication Council at the orders of the regime. Would you accompany on the red carpet, the emblematic figure of public treasury crimes and state corruption in Africa? Of course, we have no way to force our views upon you. However, we bring to your reflection the interest of the Gabonese people in the holding of this extremely expensive and absolutely useless forum. The outcome of the first edition (which cost nearly 11 million) proves it. The reality is that, decried by the Gabonese people who are desperate to get rid of his grotesque governance, Ali Bongo squanders the money which could be used to fund at least basic social services, in large operations of communication to purchase the good will of world celebrities (government leaders, Nobel Prize winners, athletes, pop stars ...). On May 11, a protest against "ritual crimes" was violently repressed by the forces of oppression which took into custody activists outraged to see too often mutilated bodies in the headlines. We would have thought that you would come to Gabon to see, for yourself, the increase in human sacrifices since the accession to power by Ali Bongo and the massive violations of human rights on a daily basis. But we learn that you have been invited to participate in the New York Forum Africa. It may not be our place to remind you that this government has officially renamed the ritual crimes (human sacrifice), a true barbarism supposed to guarantee the right of entry into the state apparatus and the perpetuation of power, by blood crimes in an effort to dilute and trivialize the problem. We believe that the participants in the New York Forum Africa accept in their heart and soul to walk the red carpet of the blood of our brothers, sisters and children. We inform you that our fight against the scourge of ritual crimes in Gabon has earned us the support of the activist of the group Anonymous in a warning message sent on April 13 to the Gabonese ruling class, and that we continue to fight for justice.

We have no way to force you to do anything, but we would like to inform you that on May 19, we welcomed the withdrawal of U.S. director Spike Lee. Which is quite an honor for him. We are convinced that that knowing everything that you do, you would, by personal conscience and the credit of the institution you are responsible for, measure with pertinence the appropriateness of that thing. If it is to receive complaints from relatives of the victims of ritual crimes perpetrated by supporters of the regime and also to investigate the merits of the complaint filed with the ICC by our compatriot Jean Douanis, following the post-electoral killings in Port-Gentil, you are Madam Prosecutor, welcome to Gabon. For good principle, please note that the content of this letter will be communicated to the media and civil society and human rights organizations worldwide. We hope you understand our approach. Please accept, Madam, the assurance of our regards.

For The Women Collective Against Rituals Crimes, Blanche Simonny Abegue contact : +241 06 49 08 39 For the citizen movement "a Suffit Comme a", Marc Ona Essangui, Goldman 2009 Awards - contact: 241 06 29 41 40