Omar Bongo

“Economic sanctions rarely achieve the desired results.”

“Therefore, every country has to understand that fighting against international terrorism is not for the sake of the United States, but for the sake of themselves, and, to a larger extent, in the name of stability of international relations.”

“But it is important to observe that when Europe or the United Nations impose sanctions that are supposed to be aimed against a certain regime, usually generally millions of people end up being directly punished.”

“When they favor the access of other people to education and health care, the countries of the North not only demonstrate generosity or solidarity, but also implement the principles of respecting and promoting human rights.”

“Globalization, far from putting an end to power diplomacy between States, has, on the contrary, intensified it.”

“For about ten years now, the struggle for democracy and the respect of human rights has been in the focus point - if not a commodity - of political groups aiming to rise to power.”

“Do not forget that the Arab countries, starting with Algeria and Egypt, are the ones that have paid the heaviest toll because of Islamic terror.”

“The world is now aware that the most unavoidable and most dangerous weapon that exists is the blind decisiveness of a man ready to sacrifice his life for an obscure cause.”

“Because the world is in economic recession, which worsened since this drama happened, and our country will bear the burden of all of these consequences.”

“There is an idea of democracy produced by one-sided thinking.”

“In brief, Western democracy, as other political models, is not exportable to all regions of the world.”

“It is up to African leaders to show their will and political courage in order to assure that this new pan-African institution becomes an efficient instrument and not a place for endless discussions.”

“The shock caused by the September 11 events has also lead to a thorough reflection on the existing disparity between rich and poor countries, on the misery of populations of the South.”

“I am in favor of complete freedom of information and of free access to the new communication tools, in particular the Internet.”

“From the time of independences until the end of the Cold War, in spite of the participation of a considerable number of African states in the non-aligned movement, everyone in fact chose to align with one or another of the two major blocks.”

“Instead of ideological objectives of a political nature, today we are faced with ideological objectives of economic nature.”

“The birth of the African Union should encourage us to reexamine relations between African States.”

“Information on the Internet must be as free as in the newspapers.”

“But since independence, Gabon is one of the few countries in Central Africa that enjoys peace and stability.”

“The resources of our continent attract, more than ever, the interests of rich countries.”